Batteries for motorhome - RV-Dreams Community Forum

MooreFun · RV-Dreams Family Member

Batteries for motorhome

ahoweth · RV-Dreams Family Member

Need to know what type of batteries you have, (Gel, lead acid, etc.).

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

My 2004 Dutch Star came with four 6-volt golf cart batteries. I now have four Lifeline AGM golf cart batteries and could not be happier. They did cost more than buying normal wet golf cart batteries.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Saturday 18th of June 2011 01:56:12 PM

MooreFun · RV-Dreams Family Member

We will need golf cart batteries, but wanted opinions on the AGM, gel or regular acid (water-filled). Thanks, Bill for your comment about the AGM. Can I ask about how much they run? If we wanted to do maybe a week to two boondocking, would any type be better than another?

Bill Adams · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you were able to milk 9 years out of your current battery bank I would replace them with similar type. Whatever you are doing, you are doing right!

MooreFun · RV-Dreams Family Member

They are just plain old Interstate 2200s (I don't think we can get them anymore, we might have to go up to the 2300). Yeah, I agree, that's a long time for batteries, huh?

ahoweth · RV-Dreams Family Member

AGM's have some advantages over wet cell batteries and that is why they are being used more often even though they are more expensive. The biggest advantage is that they do not require regular servicing to check water levels, and they do not vent hydrogen, an explosive gas, like wet cells do. They also have different charging characteristics so if you change to AGM's you need to be certain your battery charger is up to it. Properly maintained AGM's can last a long time. Ours are 7 years old and a load test this last winter revealed they are still perking right along.

Bill Adams · RV-Dreams Family Member

We also put AGM's in our coach as the battery area is not easily accessible and I am quite lazy about that kind of maintenance! Our wet cells generally lasted about a year and the out-gassing really messed things up in that compartment. Gel's would be much better than wet but clearly the AGM's are best (at a huge up-charge). Our AGM's are not in their 8th year and they are showing some reduction in capacity but still good enough to our purposes. If/when we do have to replace them it will certainly be with another set of AGM's but OUCH!, that's gonna hurt as we use 4 - 8D batteries (about $500 each).

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

If one planned on not doing ANY boondocking at all, what would be the best choice of batterie/s

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

A wet cell Interstate deep cycle , or a sears Die Hard.

MooreFun · RV-Dreams Family Member

Ouch, indeed. We'll look into them, but we better put our work clothes on again...Thanks for all your help, everyone. I can always count on friendly advice here! See ya down the road!

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks GENECOP

jcw · RV-Dreams Family Member

The new thing coming down the pike is lithium batteries. Significantly lighter and smaller for the same amount of amp hours. Also they charge quicker and hold the charge longer. But very pricey. They don't cut the price/benefit matrix, but if you've got money to burn they are a *great* solution. I hope that in the next few years they come down in price as the volume being sold increases. We saw them demonstrated at the FMCA rally in Perry last spring. I think they wanted $4500 for a battery pack that provided around 800 Amp hours. Our 4 Lifeline GPL-6CT AGMs with 600 total Amp Hours ran us around $1500 back in Dec '09.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

A friend in the business, Greg Holder of Amsolar.com, is testing the lithium batteries and in many ways they are great, but still need some tweaking to work for RVers. The batteries have active electronics in them and behave very differently than the other batteries. You will also have to upgrade the firmware on your battery charging systems to work with these batteries. Not all inverter/chargers, converters and solar chargers can be upgraded or programmed to charge lithium. Give it a couple years and be willing to go with new charging systems if needed.

But if you normally need 800 Amp hours of normal batteries as JC said, because you can only use 400 Amp hours to keep them above 50%, you only need 400 Amp hours of lithium since they can be run down to 5% and still last a decade or two. You can read about Greg's experience here - http://www.amsolar.com/home/amr/smartlist_22/lithium.html. I know a bit more but that is because we had dinner with Deb and Greg in late May.

For me it would take some welding and modifications to fit more than the 4 golf carts we have for 440 Amp hours of batteries. I really want 600 to 800 Amp hours of standard batteries due to how we end up dry camping. Two 200 amp hour lithiums would fit our space with no modifications and give us the usable amp hours we want.

TXRVr · RV-Dreams Family Member

I bought eight reconditioned Interstate 2200 batteries 7 months ago from one of their dealerships at a cost of $45 each. They came with a 6 month nationwide warranty. Considering that I saved $100/battery and they are still working well, I'm a "happy camper." It remains to be seen how long the service life will be, but if it's a couple years I will come out ahead on battery replacement costs.