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Old 02-17-2011, 10:25 AM   #1
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New House Battery

A month ago I purchased four new Energizer 6 volt batteries from Sams Club. It seems like they loose their charge faster than the five year old Stowaway batteries that were replaced. I thought I had read that the Energizer batteries were as good as the Stowaway, now I am not so sure. Has anyone had the same experience or any new information about the Energizer? Thanks, Don
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Old 02-17-2011, 02:59 PM   #2
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You might have gotten out of date batteries. Google "battery date codes" for info. on how to read them. I consider anything beyond 3 months to be out of date. It isn't usually a problem in quick turnover popular automobile numbers like group 24, but garden tractor, motorcycle, and deep cycle batteries can sit for a long time on the shelf - sometimes over a year if the person stocking the shelves is lazy and doesn't rotate the stock.

If they are indeed old stock I would complain and ask that brand-new batteries be ordered for you to exchange.
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Old 02-17-2011, 04:45 PM   #3
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Trojan
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Old 02-17-2011, 07:14 PM   #4
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Are they the same size (amp-hours) batteries? Maybe you got a deal on a lesser battery than the originals.
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Old 02-17-2011, 07:39 PM   #5
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As I recall GC batteries take about 50 cycles before they reach their peak capacity - if so that might be part of the issue.
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Old 02-17-2011, 07:55 PM   #6
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You bought cheap batteries, and you got cheap batteries. Go for Trojans,
or AGM's from Dekka, or Lifeline. Make sure they are fresh.
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Old 02-18-2011, 01:51 AM   #7
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Unless they changed their supplier they are the same 6 volt batteries that Costco sells which say Johnson Controls on them but are really made by US Battery for Johnson Controls. US Battery specializes in deep cycle batteries and is the closest to Trojan performance in some of Trojan's own literature. There is no way I would ever buy Trojans at around double the cost for a small performance increase if any. The Costco/Sams batteries are actually rated at a few more amp hours than the T-105. I had a set of four Costco batteries still going strong after five years running a 2000 watt inverter with a 100 amp charger and I even let the water get way below the plates once. I finally sold that rig and they were still working great at the time. I am not sure what the issue is with yours.
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Old 02-18-2011, 02:01 AM   #8
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Even though a battery may be new, does not mean it is good. Charge the batteries up and do a specific gravity test with a hydrometer on each cell to be sure you do not have a bad cell in the bank. If you do find a weak or bad cell take that battery(s) back for another under warranty. Good luck and keep us posted.
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Old 02-18-2011, 05:27 PM   #9
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The batteries are dated for manufacture in January of this year. They are manufactured by Johnson Controls. The last batteries I had were Stowaway and seemed to hold the charge better while dry camping. In my 14 years of fulltiming I have only used less expensive batteries from Sams Club or Costco and never had any problems. Thanks for the tips and good info. Don
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Old 02-18-2011, 09:13 PM   #10
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Rvndonm, 14 years fulltiming, I bet you have some good stories to tell. Have you been retired all that time?
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Old 02-19-2011, 11:30 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rvndonm
The batteries are dated for manufacture in January of this year. They are manufactured by Johnson Controls. The last batteries I had were Stowaway and seemed to hold the charge better while dry camping. In my 14 years of fulltiming I have only used less expensive batteries from Sams Club or Costco and never had any problems. Thanks for the tips and good info. Don
So they are still the same ones they have been carrying. Those batteries are really made by US Battery for Johnson Controls. Those are great batteries IMO and have served me well in my last rig and ing current rig.
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Old 02-20-2011, 02:24 AM   #12
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I agree on the 50-60 drain/recharge cycles to get them to full strength....
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Old 02-22-2011, 10:19 AM   #13
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Some thiings change with breakin...

I have a process of testing floated standby battery systems that involves measuring the time it takes to drop to a specific voltage with the measured load, it involves some math and oter measurements, many years of data show the first 6 months with a change in performance of the plant, it looks like the plant fails when new, and gets better over time.

The actual performance of the plant was as designed when new, just the test was off.

What I am trying to state is a new battery MAY test poorly with certian methods but should perform good when new.

If the batteries were old on the shelf where some self discharge or sulfating could be present there could be some issues, if the actual manufacture date is January this should not be the case.

I do not care for non-load type of battery measuring devices such as Midtronics or Alber, but sometime in cases like this they can assist.

You point of purchase may have a portable battery tester, if not contact the manufacturer and ask where the nearest warranty station is and have them test the batteries.

If you have multiple batteries in series then one bad battery makes all of them look bad.

If you have a digital volt meter you can do some measurements as well, with batteries in series, assuming 2 six volt units, the voltage on each should be very close to the same, within 0.5 or less volts difference.

Turn on everything in you MH and recheck after the lights start to go dim, both batteries should still be real close, if not one is bad.

This is called "mid point monitoring", if the voltage is not 1/2 the total then one cell is starting to go open or short resulting in the voltage drifting low (less than 1/2 total) or high (more than 1/2 total) depending on which battery is bad and what the problem is.

The battery that is not close to 6 volts is the bad one.
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Old 02-26-2011, 11:21 PM   #14
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I purchased 4 from Sams last month and have had the same problem as you until I decided to equalize them yesterday. Now they perform as they are supposed to. I did it with my Xantrax RM3012 inverter/charger.

Stan
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