|
07-14-2016, 03:30 PM
|
#1
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 8
|
New House Batteries
Any ideas about maintenance free versus regular flooded batteries? I need new house batteries for my 2005 Alpine Coach fdts 38 and am considering maintenance free. I would like to hear from anyone who has used them. I am concerned about the xantrex RS2000 sine wave inverter/charger being compatible. Any ideas about maintenance free versus regular flooded batteries? I'm sure that I have seen another post about this issue but can't seem to find it now.
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
07-14-2016, 04:13 PM
|
#2
|
Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 115
|
I highly recommend the AGM batteries. I have had them on my boat for years and now have 4 Lifeline 6volt 300 Amp Hour batteries on my Tiffin Red. AGM batteries are maintenance free, may be discharged to levels below what flooded batteries will allow, and recharge more rapidly than flooded batteries. Almost all current design inverters will work. You may have to set it up to do so. Do you have a remote panel for your inverter? If so, it will be a snap. They are a bit pricey, but check out the link below for Power Stride. The have free shipping and don't require a core. Good luck.
Steve
sjg1277
2016 Tiffin Red
Jeep Wrangler
|
|
|
07-14-2016, 04:33 PM
|
#3
|
Senior Member
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Lake Wales, FL
Posts: 3,113
|
Don, as a rule of thumb, AGMs run double wet cells, the Li-Iron run 4 times the AGMs. While AGMs can be discharge slightly more than wet cells and are about the same size. Li-Iron can be discharged to 20% and have more AH in a smaller size. So you can get more AH's in the same space as wet cells. I expect AGMs and Li-Iron will come down in price, AGMs more so that Li-iron, but Li-Iron will get less expense as they are more widely adopted.
__________________
Dave, Bobbi and Fenway
2005 38' FDTS Alpine Limited, 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited
Lake Wales, FL
|
|
|
07-14-2016, 04:47 PM
|
#4
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 8,055
|
And check the manual for the charger you have. There are different charging profiles for each type.
|
|
|
07-14-2016, 04:52 PM
|
#5
|
Senior Member
Country Coach Owners Club Solo Rvers Club iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Vancouver, WA
Posts: 37,725
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by nothermark
And check the manual for the charger you have. There are different charging profiles for each type.
|
And in some cases for each brand. Lifeline takes a different profile than other AGM's
__________________
2009 45' Magna 630 w/Cummins ISX 650 HP/1950 Lbs Ft, HWH Active Air
Charter Good Sam Lifetime Member, FMCA,
RV'ing since 1957, NRA Benefactor Life, towing '21 Jeep JLU Rubicon Ecodiesel
|
|
|
07-14-2016, 05:04 PM
|
#6
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 596
|
Many batteries labelled as maintenance free are starting batteries and not suited for deep cycling. Can you list the make and model you are considering? Saying I'm looking at a deep cycle and a maintenance free is like asking for advice on a van vs sedan and not saying which one or for what needs.
|
|
|
07-14-2016, 05:18 PM
|
#7
|
Senior Member
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Lake Wales, FL
Posts: 3,113
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by nothermark
And check the manual for the charger you have. There are different charging profiles for each type.
|
Xantrex RS2000 has the ability to profile AGMs.
__________________
Dave, Bobbi and Fenway
2005 38' FDTS Alpine Limited, 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited
Lake Wales, FL
|
|
|
07-20-2016, 04:01 PM
|
#8
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Livermore, CA
Posts: 201
|
Working in the Aerospace industry and also the Packaging Handling Storage and Transportation side, I will caution those who choose to go with Lithium Ion batteries to pay very close attention to potential shorting sources and charge/discharge levels. While these batteries have much better capacity for their size and offer greater charging flexibility and discharge curves, they also have the ability to rapidly vent in a very undesirable manner if shorted under certain charge conditions/states. That is why you see the prohibitions on these type cells on commercial aircraft etc.
I'm not saying not to consider them, as they are the best battery on the market, but just be aware of the cautions and react accordingly.
__________________
2006 Alpine Apex 40 FDQS
2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee toad
2000 Vette for the track
|
|
|
07-20-2016, 04:09 PM
|
#9
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 35,349
|
Have you ever seen a wet cell battery blow its top off when shorted ?
I would think your caution goes with any large capacity storage battery.
|
|
|
07-20-2016, 04:28 PM
|
#10
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Prescott, Arizona
Posts: 3,564
|
I have 6- 6v Fullriver AGM's hooked series/parallel. I had the same in Lifelines prior, but were out of stock when I changed coaches/and batteries. The Lifelines were good for the 6 years I had them and the Fullriver have been good so far. But I've only had them 2 years.
__________________
'04 Newmar MADP, 1100w of solar, Rubicon toad
|
|
|
07-20-2016, 04:57 PM
|
#11
|
Member
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 77
|
Alternative Chemistry
You may want to consider the Lithium Ferro Phosphate; which are also called Lithium Iron; batteries if you use your house batteries a lot. Lithium Iron batteries will outlast any other chemistry if they are being frequently discharged and recharged. They are still very expensive and may be financially impractical for many but if you can afford the initial cost they have the lowest cost of ownership of any battery chemistry that is to be frequently discharged and recharged. They will deliver many times the number of discharge cycles of Lithium Ion chemistry batteries. They are rapidly becoming the chemistry of choice for any installation were replacing the batteries is physically difficult or requires expensive access such as helicopter time. The Lithium Iron batteries would be appropriate for RVers who prefer to use sites were site provided power is not available and around the clock use of a generator is inappropriate. Lithium Iron batteries are also much lighter per ampere hour than any of the other available chemistries.
__________________
Tom Horne
|
|
|
07-20-2016, 05:50 PM
|
#12
|
Senior Member
Alpine Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Lake Wales, FL
Posts: 3,113
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by HORNETD
You may want to consider the Lithium Ferro Phosphate; which are also called Lithium Iron; batteries if you use your house batteries a lot. Lithium Iron batteries will outlast any other chemistry if they are being frequently discharged and recharged. They are still very expensive and may be financially impractical for many but if you can afford the initial cost they have the lowest cost of ownership of any battery chemistry that is to be frequently discharged and recharged. They will deliver many times the number of discharge cycles of Lithium Ion chemistry batteries. They are rapidly becoming the chemistry of choice for any installation were replacing the batteries is physically difficult or requires expensive access such as helicopter time. The Lithium Iron batteries would be appropriate for RVers who prefer to use sites were site provided power is not available and around the clock use of a generator is inappropriate. Lithium Iron batteries are also much lighter per ampere hour than any of the other available chemistries.
|
As a rule of thumb, AGMs run double wet cells, the Li-Iron run 4 times the AGMs. While AGMs can be discharge slightly more than wet cells and are about the same size. Li-Iron can be discharged to 20% and have more AH in a smaller size. So you can get more AH's in the same space as wet cells. I expect AGMs and Li-Iron will come down in price, AGMs more so that Li-iron, but Li-Iron will get less expense as they are more widely adopted.
__________________
Dave, Bobbi and Fenway
2005 38' FDTS Alpine Limited, 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited
Lake Wales, FL
|
|
|
07-20-2016, 06:24 PM
|
#13
|
Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Spicewood Texas (West of Austin)
Posts: 4,511
|
There is really only a couple reasons to buy AGM's over quality wet cells. Maintenance and ventilation. Trojon T-105's actually have a higher "number of charge cycles" rating than Lifelines. If you don't want to mess with cleaning or watering them, have poor access to them, or don't have adequate ventilation, then it makes perfect sense to go with the AGM's.
__________________
Scotty and Kristen, Airedales Dagny and Wyatt
2007 Newmar Mountain Aire 4528, 450 HP ISM, Allison 4000, 8 Lifeline AGM's
2019 F250 King Ranch 4x4 Powerstroke - SOLD
2022 F350 DRW King Ranch 4 x 4
|
|
|
07-21-2016, 11:11 AM
|
#14
|
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 149
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scottybdivin
There is really only a couple reasons to buy AGM's over quality wet cells. Maintenance and ventilation. Trojon T-105's actually have a higher "number of charge cycles" rating than Lifelines. If you don't want to mess with cleaning or watering them, have poor access to them, or don't have adequate ventilation, then it makes perfect sense to go with the AGM's.
|
This I believe still holds true. I worked for Trojan as an engineer for three years many years ago and was involved in almost every technical aspect of their product line. This included capacity and cycle life of all competitors (AGM, gell, flooded). Nothing came close to number of total cycles that the T105 would get.
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Discussions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|