Batteries died...sheesh

[emcvay]

Good morning,

In less than 5 years the batteries the dealer sold us for our AF990 died.

I had been very careful with them as I learned the hard way at our cabin years ago. Keept the camper plugged in unless putting it away for mo the (rare) and turned off the main switch to disconnect when it was 'put away' with topped off Batts. Never drained them down etc.

The. had the wind blow out my lp pilot on a 2hrish drive and and when I arrived then batts were drained to 10.9v.

Knowing that cut remaining cycle life in half it charged them back up but I was wrong. They have very little life left in them now.

So time to replace.

ot looking to spend $700+ on Li Batts and associated charger upgrades which I assume I'd need.

Thinking maybe gel cells.
Thoughts?

[time2roll]

emcvay wrote:


So time to replace.

ot looking to spend $700+ on Li Batts and associated charger upgrades which I assume I'd need.

Thinking maybe gel cells.
Thoughts?

I like LFP lithium. I would avoid GEL unless you mean AGM.

Flooded Costco GC2 will also serve you well.

Best to post the converter brand and model for best options for longest battery life.

[JoeChiOhki]

opnspaces wrote:

HTElectrical wrote:

pianotuna wrote:

emcvay wrote:
So stopped by Costco and their Interstate battery replacement for the napa with slightly more RC was a whopping $90ea....ah, no Brainer! Bought two.

Add a modest solar charging system.


I would have purchased sio2 batteries.

I hate to say it, but I used to ALWAYS read and respect your posts, until recently with your ALWAYS pushing the sio2 BATTS that 99.9% of people DO NOT need. Give it a rest. You know this poster more than likely doesn't need that expensive niche battery.

Emcvay I have to take the opposite on this one. I still read and respect all of Pianotuna's posts. Sure he likes his sio2 batteries but so what? I'll bet you there is at least one other person on this forum who read his posts and went with sio2. And even if I'm wrong I still fall back to the saying "there is more than one way to slice a cake" sorry I happen to like cats. 🙂

Eh, I count it better than the bucket of gatekeeping around LifePo4 batteries vs anything else.

I'll take a recommendation vs that behavior any day of the week :).

[opnspaces]

HTElectrical wrote:

pianotuna wrote:

emcvay wrote:
So stopped by Costco and their Interstate battery replacement for the napa with slightly more RC was a whopping $90ea....ah, no Brainer! Bought two.

Add a modest solar charging system.


I would have purchased sio2 batteries.

I hate to say it, but I used to ALWAYS read and respect your posts, until recently with your ALWAYS pushing the sio2 BATTS that 99.9% of people DO NOT need. Give it a rest. You know this poster more than likely doesn't need that expensive niche battery.

Emcvay I have to take the opposite on this one. I still read and respect all of Pianotuna's posts. Sure he likes his sio2 batteries but so what? I'll bet you there is at least one other person on this forum who read his posts and went with sio2. And even if I'm wrong I still fall back to the saying "there is more than one way to slice a cake" sorry I happen to like cats. 🙂

[Grit_dog]

covered wagon wrote:

emcvay wrote:
So stopped by Costco and their Interstate battery replacement for the napa with slightly more RC was a whopping $90ea....ah, no Brainer! Bought two.

I do not know why but, I have never used the automated mode on my fridge. I guess I like to be in control and I think loosing some food is better than eating up the batteries. However, in your case getting 5 years out of a set of batteries is only short a year of the average life span on wet cells. So not too bad really. I have gone almost 7 years but, they get really tired by then, not much use

When my fridge flame blows out it tells me it's time to clean the burner tip again of carbon build up. The second time it was bad I found out before going on a trip by mere sound, it did not sound as robust when burning. I pulled it out and found it rotted away and was a good shot finding an aftermarket burner tip that looked like it was a better made with stainless steel.

I'm not sure you're responding to the right thread?
But then again, who is better with loosing the food in their fridge than using the batteries in their camper? LOL
That's like saying I'd rather hit the car that stopped in front of me than wear out my brakes!

[mellow]

Just to throw out what I went with: https://rollsbattery.com/battery/12-fs-31/

I pretty much only offgrid camp so I have two of those in the 1191 and with solar I am good to go. Very beefy batteries as long as you are not worried about weight they will do great.

[covered_wagon]

emcvay wrote:
So stopped by Costco and their Interstate battery replacement for the napa with slightly more RC was a whopping $90ea....ah, no Brainer! Bought two.

I do not know why but, I have never used the automated mode on my fridge. I guess I like to be in control and I think loosing some food is better than eating up the batteries. However, in your case getting 5 years out of a set of batteries is only short a year of the average life span on wet cells. So not too bad really. I have gone almost 7 years but, they get really tired by then, not much use

When my fridge flame blows out it tells me it's time to clean the burner tip again of carbon build up. The second time it was bad I found out before going on a trip by mere sound, it did not sound as robust when burning. I pulled it out and found it rotted away and was a good shot finding an aftermarket burner tip that looked like it was a better made with stainless steel.

[emcvay]

HTElectrical wrote:

pianotuna wrote:

emcvay wrote:
So stopped by Costco and their Interstate battery replacement for the napa with slightly more RC was a whopping $90ea....ah, no Brainer! Bought two.

Add a modest solar charging system.


I would have purchased sio2 batteries.

I hate to say it, but I used to ALWAYS read and respect your posts, until recently with your ALWAYS pushing the sio2 BATTS that 99.9% of people DO NOT need. Give it a rest. You know this poster more than likely doesn't need that expensive niche battery.

No worries 😉 This isn't my first Rodeo 😄 I am more versed in batteries and solar than many might think, having built my own system and up graded it a few times at our cabin and having worked in communications for some 27 years.

I ask questions though, to get ideas and learn new things. I got some feedback from folks here and appreciate it, made my informed decision and will move one happy having spent only $180 for two batteries that might last me to the end of my use of this camper (probably upgrade it at some point after all).

I think a lot of time folks assume someone doesn't know anything because they asked a question, or the way they ask it 😉 But it's all good!

[emcvay]

I went through this at my cabin which is 100% off grid and I built the system myself.

Yes Trojan L16's were almost 3x better than GCB's but the GCB's were so much cheaper I could replace them 3 times, get more life out of those 3 replacements and still save money.

Looking at LithiumIon batteries I considered the need to keep them warm (they don't take a change under 50F if memory serves me correctly) and I am often in sub freezing temps when camping. How much drain on the batteries keeing them above 50F in 10F weather? Cost appears good at $259x2 for two LI batts...for a total of $518 to get me what? Maybe 15 years (not convinced on that as a hard fast number).

So let's do the math: $89x2 for the two batts I bought at Costco - $178.00 and they should last me 5 years like the last ones did. So $178x3 = $534. No worries about cold, no need to update4 charge controllers for my solar panel etc etc.

Or $518 and I need to make some changes, need to keep them warm, probably have to spend even more money and may not get a full 15years out of them.

Yes I could get more AH's out of the LI's but I don't need it the way we use our camper. These two batteries did all we needed. Yes, I could add an inverter etc but honestly, if I was going to do all that I'd just go to the cabin where I have plenty of all of the above (4000 watt pure sine inverter that peaks at 12k watts, 55amp charger, EcoGen, 9 solar panels kicking out all the power I need, etc etc etc.

I'd say it's 6 of one, half dozen of another 😄

[jimh406]

BigSwick wrote:
I looked this up on Scamazon.

Since you seem to be regularly scammed, do reviews and report them to Amazon. I find Amazon better than almost anywhere since Amazon tries to make any fishy stuff right.

[HTElectrical]

pianotuna wrote:

emcvay wrote:
So stopped by Costco and their Interstate battery replacement for the napa with slightly more RC was a whopping $90ea....ah, no Brainer! Bought two.

Add a modest solar charging system.


I would have purchased sio2 batteries.

I hate to say it, but I used to ALWAYS read and respect your posts, until recently with your ALWAYS pushing the sio2 BATTS that 99.9% of people DO NOT need. Give it a rest. You know this poster more than likely doesn't need that expensive niche battery.

[BigSwick]

jaycocreek wrote:
I agree it seems like a no-brainer this day and age..Will Prowse has a nice video on this battery and a tear down..There is a heated version for less than $100 more..

I looked this up on Scamazon. I thought LifePo4 batteries were considerably lighter than AGM. Why does this one weigh 60 pounds?
Several of the reviews mentioned the 60 lbs, so I don't think it was a misprint. But go to ebay, and a similiar listing shows 26 lbs
Item specifics
Condition:
New: A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging (where packaging is ... Read moreabout the condition
Custom Bundle:
No
charge voltage:
14.6V/set
Nominal voltage:
12.8V/set
Type:
Battery
Typical capacity:
96AH
Weight:
26.4 lbs
Deep Cycle Life:
2000-8000 cycles
Reusability:
Rechargeable
Battery Size:
12.71x8.34x6.49 inch
Terminal:
F12 (M8)
Feature:
Built-in Smart BMS
Brand:
WEIZE
Manufacturer Warranty:
10 Years
Application:
Emergency Lighting, UPS Backups, Wheelchairs
Amp Hours:
100 AH
Chemical Composition:
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4)
UPC:
0840140912777

[Chuck_and_Di]

nickthehunter wrote:
So if you spend $225 +/- on new batteries and they lasts 5 years, if you spend $700 (3 times as much) on li batteries will they last 15 years (3 times longer) - or be 3 times better?

Yes! in fact more than 3 times longer and better in other ways too. Expect to get 20 years out of them based on charge discharge cycles. Also you can draw them down all the way without damage, so they have effectively double the usable power for the same amp-hour capacity, and they weigh about 1/3 of lead acid. Over life they are far cheaper than lead acid - you just pay more up front.

[jaycocreek]

I agree it seems like a no-brainer this day and age..Will Prowse has a nice video on this battery and a tear down..There is a heated version for less than $100 more..

[mbloof]

A good LiFePo4 can be good for +3000 cycles or more when typical cheapo FLA's are good for ~300 cycles.

So spend ~$100 every ~5yrs for 50AH of usable capacity or ~$350 for 100AH usable capacity and ~+3000 cycles.


Seems like a no-brainer to me.


- Mark0.