AGM Lifeline batteries

rebelsbeach · 01-08-2006, 03:35 PM

Hope I don't upset anyone with the new forum,but I did a search and didn't find anything relatively current.

I know John C. replace his OEM's with Lifeline's and I'm going to do it right out of the blocks,with all your help of course....

I'm most curious about retrofits and any major changes you had to make to the existing compartment.

rebelsbeach · 01-08-2006, 03:35 PM

Hope I don't upset anyone with the new forum,but I did a search and didn't find anything relatively current.

I know John C. replace his OEM's with Lifeline's and I'm going to do it right out of the blocks,with all your help of course....

I'm most curious about retrofits and any major changes you had to make to the existing compartment.

rebelsbeach · 01-08-2006, 04:35 PM

Here's a link to another discussion about AGM's,but from what I can tell,John C.'s the only Winnie owner.....I'm really interested in what Winnie owners have done.

AGM forum

Radarr · 01-08-2006, 04:59 PM

rebel,

I don't understand your reasoning for a change at this early stag in your coach's life, why not wait till the ones that came with your coach get to their trails end. It seems to be such a waste of money and perfectly good batteries. I looked at AGM batteries in a brand coach and came up with the conclusion, that the cost to benifit ratio was not in my favor. Especially if I don't keep the coach more then 5 years. I could buy three sets of wet batteries for the cost of one set of AGMs and I've accomplished the same thing.

radarr

Cruzer · 01-09-2006, 04:10 AM

Looking at the solar-electric.com website I find that they have 6 volt AGMs for just under $200 a pop. They are the same identical dimensions as the wet cell batteries and the posts are in the same place so I don't see any reason why they would need any mods to the compartment or cabling. You will have to reset your inverter/charger from flooded to AGM so that the charging voltage will be correct. Obviously it's an initial expense up front that is not yet needed, but you do gain the advantages of AGM batteries right off the bat, namely a deeper "draw" that gives you more amp-hours, a faster recharge rate, and no more ever having to worry about battery water levels. Plus they are lighter so your cargo carrying capacity should increase by about 6 pounds.

Hopefully John will jump in and give us any details because he's done exactly what you want to do.

rebelsbeach · 01-09-2006, 04:46 AM

Thanks Cruzer....

Radarr,
As Cruzer so eloquently posted,it is indeed an expense that's really not needed,but I feel it's warranted by these benefits mentioned on their web page....

Maintenance free (no adding water or repairing corroded terminals)
Fastest recharge. (no current limitations with voltage regulated recharging)
Deep Cycle (thick positive plates to provide real deep cycle performance)
Outstanding cranking performance (aircraft cell construction lowers internal resistance)
Best charge retention (especially against flooded cell types)
Lowest discharge rates (Less that 3 percent per month unattended)
Easily shipped (even via UPS except GPL-8D and GPLAD because of weight)
Shock and vibration resistant. (100% of plates are covered with separator liners)

smlranger · 01-09-2006, 07:17 AM

I've investigated AGM's for replacing the 24 V trolling motor batteries in my fishing boat. I would also consider them to replace my Interstates in the motorhome but not before the current bats crash.

I did discover that Douglas makes good AGM's at slightly less cost than Lifeline and were available at Battery Mart stores. Every Lifeline dealer within 100 miles of me said they have to be ordered and the freight is not cheap. Cabela's also sells Lifelines under the name 'Advanced Anglers' but, again, the freight on them is pretty steep. Battery Marts had Douglas AGM's in stock.

rebelsbeach · 01-09-2006, 09:32 AM

Thanks Ranger,
Given the benefits the AGM type batteries present,I'm thinking I would go ahead and change them out.
I do realize it's a "nice to have" and not a "need to have", especially with a bank of new batteries.

John_Canfield · 01-09-2006, 12:33 PM

The Lifeline (group 31s as I recall) AGMs were an easy change-out. All of the existing cabling was okay, the mounting was okay, the height was fine. The only issue was my "lighter" wallet

Since the chassis (engine) batteries are also sealed, the only time I open the compartment is when I'm showing off the coach

When we had the coach to Freightliner recently for its initial maintenance we had it running on inverter while they were working on it. We had about a 5-600 watt load for maybe three hours before the auto gen start started the genny on a low battery situation (forgot what I set the value to). That is about a 50 amp/hr discharge rate and we don't want to discharge too deeply, so I think that's pretty good capacity.