RE: Battery & Charger Confusion

4campinfoxes · Sep 28, 2003, 07:05 PM

If you read an earlier post of mine, we are looking for a new battery. We re specifically looking for a group 27, 29 or 31 battery. I ve called a couple of places & we stopped by Sears today and are still confused!

On the battery - Sears had a Deep Cycle Marine Starting battery and a Deep Cycle Marine/RV battery. Cost for the Group 29 Deep Cycle Marine was $80 on sale. I know we don t want one that is for starting, but is the Deep Cycle Marine ok? If not, where do you find the right kind?

On the charger - Sears had a couple of chargers, none specifically for deep cycle batteries according to the sales guy. They had 3 chargers there - for $60 an automatic charger with 50/10/4 amp settings; for $75 a " fully automatic" charger with " float-mode monitoring and 75/12/2 amp; and on sale for $75 a " fully automatic" charger with " float-mode monitoring and 100/15/2 amp. Are any of these what we want? If not - again, what should we be looking for?

Any other information or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We re camping in 2 weeks [

] and need to have this settled before then.

Thanks in Advance!

Sharon

tlhdoc · Jun 01, 2003, 03:45 PM

4campinfoxesIf you have a Sam s Club in your area, check there for a battery. They have true deep cycle (not starting/no cold cranking amps) batteries. The group 31 is around $65 and the smaller batteries are less. I use a battery regular battery charger 100/15/2 amps that has a deep cycle setting. It is OK. The do make dedicated deep cycle chargers that would be better. When I buy a new charger that is what I think I will get. Sam s Club also has my battery charger for around $45.

4campinfoxes · Jun 01, 2003, 08:27 PM

4campinfoxesTracy,
Yep, Sam s is going to be my next stop. I had read an earlier reply you gave mentioning Sam s, I called there but wasn t too impressed with the guy I spoke with but I ll probably do better in person. So the charger should have a deep cycle setting, I ll check on that.

Thanks!

Sharon

tlhdoc · Jun 01, 2003, 09:47 PM

4campinfoxesThey have the batteries in the tire section. Check the dates on the batteries and make sure the battery is not more that a month or two old. For the price difference the group 31 give you a lot more power.

mike4947 · Jun 01, 2003, 11:45 PM

4campinfoxesAn advisory on battery size. Measure your battery box before buying. The larger the group number (except in special cases) the larger the battery size as well as it s capacity. Most frames and boxes that come with PU s won t except a standard off the shelf group 31. They are worth the trouble getting a larger box/frame, especially if you plan on more than weekend dry camping.

Y-Guy · Jun 02, 2003, 01:26 AM

4campinfoxesWal-Mart is another good place to check for this stuff. If you have a specific battery store in your area you may find they have what you need and the prices are good as well. Farm & Home stores are another good place to check for battery boxes.

copcarguy · Jun 02, 2003, 01:36 AM

4campinfoxesHello all!!

I went to Wal-Mart a month ago and got a beautiful charger for $70. It s an EverStart Starter 100, model WM-1510 MA. It does regular batteries and deep cycle. It has a switch to pick what charging mode you d like, and another one for how many amps to charge with. It has a guage to show what s going on and I also like the fact that it has a little green light that comes on when the battery is fully charged - no guessing there. In am emergency, it can also be used to jump start a car. Check out this charger and then shop around - I think you ll find that it s a super deal. Hope this helped!! [

]

4campinfoxes · Jun 02, 2003, 03:00 PM

4campinfoxesSo am I right in understanding that as long as it does not say it is a starting battery a deep cycle marine/rv battery is the right one?

Sharon

mike4947 · Jun 02, 2003, 03:58 PM

4campinfoxesYes and No. Many Marine batteries are hybrids. Supposidly for both starting and deep cycle. While these are better than a regular starting grade battery they still won t perform or have the life of a true deep cycle.
It used to be all you had to do was look for CCA (cold cranking amps) on a battery and you knew it was for starting and could pass it by. Unfortunatly most manufactures for some ungodly reason have started putting CCA on all their batteries.
Best advise I can give you now is avoid battery that are " sealed" gauranteed to be either starting batteries or way expensive AGM or gel batteries and can cost hundreds.

4campinfoxes · Jun 02, 2003, 05:06 PM

4campinfoxesMike4947 s answer is exactly why I m confused!!! I found an interesting battery site online (actually I ve found several today). Hopefully I can insert the link here

http://www.winsdun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm

Again, it mentions that many marine batteries are a hybrid and that it is difficult to be sure what you are buying at the discount stores.

I just don t want to spend the money and find out I got the wrong thing! Especially because I read that hybrid types should not be discharged more than 50% but deep cycle batteries are designed to be discharged as much as 80%.

Well, hopefully I ll end up with something that works, and for a long time! It s almost bound to be better then the one we have now! [

] As long as we get the right charger to go with it of course!

Thanks for the advice,

Sharon

SactoCampers · Jun 02, 2003, 05:57 PM

4campinfoxes

QuoteORIGINAL: 4campinfoxes

Mike4947 s answer is exactly why I m confused!!! I found an interesting battery site online (actually I ve found several today). Hopefully I can insert the link here

http://www.winsdun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm

Again, it mentions that many marine batteries are a hybrid and that it is difficult to be sure what you are buying at the discount stores.

I just don t want to spend the money and find out I got the wrong thing! Especially because I read that hybrid types should not be discharged more than 50% but deep cycle batteries are designed to be discharged as much as 80%.

Well, hopefully I ll end up with something that works, and for a long time! It s almost bound to be better then the one we have now! [] As long as we get the right charger to go with it of course!

Thanks for the advice,

Sharon

I wouldn t worry too much about it. Yes, a true deep cycle is better, but I ve been using starting/deep cycle battery (bought it on accident) for a year and a half now and it holds a charge just as much as my newer Costco deep cycle battery. Properly charged, you should get several good years out of it. They re so cheap and they recycle them when they go bad, that it doesn t really make that much of a difference whether you buy the wrong one.

mike4947 · Jun 02, 2003, 10:55 PM

4campinfoxesSacto s answer was probably the best one providing it s a " wet cell" and not a sealed battery; but one thing you should remember is that NO battery should be discharged more than 50%. Any battery discharged past this point will lose life.
Your link came back with the dreaded " not available, try refresh button" so I can t comment on it. and I m surprised I didn t add my favorite 12 volt links.

http://www.dcbattery.com/faq.html#1
http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm
http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volta.htm

My current battery is 6 years old and still tests in the " new" range. My charger is a 20 year old cheapy with 2 switches (6/12 volt) and (sealed/wet) and an amperage gauge. You can lose yourself in batteries and some use them for a hobby. I just want some power when camping so I follow some simple rules.

Get a decent battery
charge it as soon as you get home (partially discharged batteries lose life)
charge it before you leave (no sense going camping without a " full load" )
charge it at least once a month during the " off season"
disconnect it when not camping (there are " parasitic draws" like the Propane detector that keep running no matter how many switches you shut off)
Get a decent battery charger with a deep cycle setting (even the " marine batteries" if wet cells can use it)
and check the electrolyte level before and after every charging.

raven339 · Jun 03, 2003, 01:49 AM

4campinfoxesMike & I have been involved in this discussion before on another board, I had the dealer supplied grp 24 battery and needed more capacity.

Mike and others have convinced me to buy the capacity I need and then maintain the battery properly.

To that end I purchased a Trojan 31XHS grp 31 battery, rated at 130AH and 225 RC while still fitting in a grp 27 battery box. It costs ~$85.00 and it all fits on my existing battery brackets, however, it does weigh 67#, significantly more than a grp 24.

I ve also purchased a quality 3 stage Deep Cycle charger from MajorPower.com for ~$145.00.

My whole learning process can be painfully viewed at IRV2.COM.

Skol...

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