House Battery bank replacement

[Neal Whitfield]

Need some advice/opinions as I get ready to renew my bank of house batteries. I have a '03 36FDDS. I am leaning towards Trojan T105s and staying "wet"� vs. AGM.s. I have already installed the Pro-Fill system for watering the bank.

1. Is there a better battery for the money?
2. Where in OR to buy? Expected price for 6?
3. While I have everything out of the compartment, can I coat the rack with undercoating or some other durable coating to prevent corrosion / rust? Suggestions?
4. Is there a better wiring plan opposed to how the factory did it?
5. Any setting changes on the Heart 458 Combi?
6. Any thing else I should consider doing there while the old ones are out and before I begin the reinstallation?
7. Will be trying also to improve the cover for both banks. Am looking for a 24"� X 28"� X 10"� clear storage container, turned over, top discarded. Two tie down bolts extended with wing nuts to hold. Cut out necessary areas for cable passage and vent holes on rear side. Comments?

Neal

[Neal Whitfield]

Need some advice/opinions as I get ready to renew my bank of house batteries. I have a '03 36FDDS. I am leaning towards Trojan T105s and staying "wet"� vs. AGM.s. I have already installed the Pro-Fill system for watering the bank.

1. Is there a better battery for the money?
2. Where in OR to buy? Expected price for 6?
3. While I have everything out of the compartment, can I coat the rack with undercoating or some other durable coating to prevent corrosion / rust? Suggestions?
4. Is there a better wiring plan opposed to how the factory did it?
5. Any setting changes on the Heart 458 Combi?
6. Any thing else I should consider doing there while the old ones are out and before I begin the reinstallation?
7. Will be trying also to improve the cover for both banks. Am looking for a 24"� X 28"� X 10"� clear storage container, turned over, top discarded. Two tie down bolts extended with wing nuts to hold. Cut out necessary areas for cable passage and vent holes on rear side. Comments?

Neal

[ggbanks]

Check out this site http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/rvflyer.php?id=4
They have a better amp hr rating than Trojan, close to your wet cell. I bought them and haven't had any problem with inverter hours, best of all theres no maintence

[Dave Fernandez]

Hello Neal:

When I did my research I found the amp hour rating for both batteries wet v. agm were almost the same. From the web sites of both manufactures the Trojan 105's have 225 amp hour rating and the lifeline AGM are rated at 220 amp hours. I figured that the different in price I could buy over two batteries for the price of one AGM. So I figured the life expectancy was about the same for the total amount on money. When I priced the batteries I could purchase one Trojan for about $80.00 and one life line for $180.00. I was not sure about the life expectancy of the AGM but I did get four years from the factory batteries. With the Pro-Fill system maintenance is easy.

Trojan Battery Web Site

[EngineerMike]

W/the batteries out, I'd scrape & paint the tray anywhere it is rusty, ACE Hardware's higher grade of spray paint in your choice of brilliant colors to complement your new voltaic piles. Then I'd get some of the thin (flexible) cutting board sheets, thickest I could find that are still sheets, and use them for mats. Cut to size to include a short (~1") return up the side of the batt on all sides, to make a cushion & avoid abrasion of batt case & tray.
Factory wiring is great wire on my rig; don't know about the 03. Looks like welding lead. IIWM, I wouldn't burn any calories on wiring changes.
Might add a paper towel rack or paper shop towel dispenser & rack for other batter tools while in the neighborhood. A cheap voltmeter stored in the compartment (maybe wall mounted where the reading is easy & leads reach everywhere?) might be a cute decorator touch.

[ggbanks]

Sorry Folks, I meant to say the Lifeline AGM's have a better amp hr rating than the Trojan 6 volt AGM's. 20 more to be exact.

Dave, $180 is a bit high for the Lifeline AGM, I bought mine at Battery Plus for $160. Might do better by shopping around. The plant is in Azusa, CA. Might do better on west coast.

This site can answer some question on the difference between batteries and longevity: http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/rvcomps.php

I read somewhere that AGM's last twice as long as wet cell. And believe it there is NO maintenance. Thats the best part.

[SteveS]

Jeff - I did research prior to installing my last set of batteries and went with wet cells. Deep cycle from Sams were about the best price. Have seen many discussions on various RV sites and there seems to be a general concensus that standard deep cycle offers the most bang for the buck. They require maintenance but if properly maintained they last just a long as AGMs for about a third the price. It's a trade off. If maintaining them is a problem, go with the AGMs and pay the extra, otherwise, stick with the standard batteries and save the bucks.

[SteveS]

Neal - I rewired the battery rat's nest to eliminate multiple cables going to single battery posts. Mine was so bad that the heavy cables going to the battery posts would not stay tight and they even caused the battery posts to loosen. I installed two, eight lug terminal strips on the frame. One strip is for the house B+ and the other is for the chassis B+. All cables go to the appropriate terminal strip and now, no battery has more than one cable going to the terminals. This is much improved and now the cables stay tight and it is much simpler to service and change the batteries. From what I understand, the newer coaches have a much "cleaner" wiring system than mine had so what I described may not be applicable to newer coaches. However, every 2002 Alpine and older I have seen has terrible battery wiring.

[Tom and Patty]

Steve you are right about the wiring. Ours has 7 cable and wires on one terminal (coach batteries). Here is a picture of Chuck's coach with the terminal strips.
This is what I plan to do to our coach. Wish me luck

[swansnest]

Tom - Whose picture is that of the battery box?

I have a 40' '03 and I welded a bracket in the open space next to the battery box and put a floor on it so I could expand to 6 house batteries. However, I stayed with Interstate & replaced the 22 hundreds with 24 hundreds and added 1 12 volt deep cycle hi amp which gives me the same as 6 batteries. When I researched replacing my batteries with Trojans or AGM the Service Manager at Guarante advised me not to put in the AGM because they don't get as many cycles and were not worth the extra cost, as Dave pointed out. My battery bank keeps my Amana Refrig running now w/o a problem.

Another thing I found out (the hard way) was that if you go with something that is not standard - if you have trouble on the road with the battery - you will have a problem finding someone with it in stock!

Mike has great ideas (as usual) for the battery compartment!

Tris

[sandy1]

Tom, I was looking at the picture you posted of chuck's battery compartment. I was curious as to where he found the bus bars for the cables. Also how they were insulated from the frame. I am replacing my house batteries and would like to clean up the cables.

sandy and debi
2001 34fdds

[Tom and Patty]

I still have this project ahead of me. Chuck made his. I've been looking at various web sites (marine) and have not found any bus bars that I think are big enough.

[Oregon Coyote]

Neal: Re: Where to buy in Oregon. I would highly recommend you check with Energy Outfitters in Grants Pass. [URL=www.energyoutfitters.com] RVs may not be their business but off-grid inverters & batteries are.

Norm

[doug ABQ]

I bought a Split bolt wire connector and clamped all the wires from the house batteries along with a short cable (made up at the battery company) then insulated the split bolt connection with rubber and plastic electrician tape and tied the cables up out of the way. The other end of the made cable went to the pos battery post. Doesn't look quite as pretty as the picture. but does the job for about less than ten dollars. And you dont have those terminal strips to keep clean. Didn't do anything to the starter batteries