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Old 03-29-2016, 07:42 AM   #1
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Optima batteries ?

Anyone out there using them for house batteries
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Old 03-29-2016, 08:30 AM   #2
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Because they are round cells, you don't get as much capacity out of them as rectangle cells.

Look for AH capacity not hyped up ad's.
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Old 03-29-2016, 09:32 AM   #3
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I had them in one RV. For whatever reason, they swelled and leaked excessively. I replaced then with Deep Cycle RV batteries from my local auto parts store and have never considered them again.
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Old 03-29-2016, 03:49 PM   #4
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These AGM batteries are great for cars, but, as noted, do not have the
power for a motorhome, house or starting.

There are lots of other AGM type batteries that are well
suited to our usage, Lifelines, Deka Intimidators, Trojan AGM
for example.
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Old 03-29-2016, 05:11 PM   #5
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I have Optima batteries for my starting (chassis) batteries. Two blue-top 900cca spiral wound batteries in parallel. My coach has the DHS sound system wired to the chassis batteries. Presumably this was done to allow the use of the sound system for music when rolling down the road without draining the house batteries. The downside is watching movies when parked puts a load on the chassis batteries.

The blue-top Optimas are hybrid technology. They deliver 900cca but also have deep cycle capability making them ideal for my situation. They spin my Cummins ISL over faster than the rectangular AGM 950cca batteries they replaced. Those batteries lasted less than a year due to excessive discharge.
I've had the Optima batteries for about 18 months now and I'm happy with their performance.
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Old 03-29-2016, 05:57 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Koop View Post
I have Optima batteries for my starting (chassis) batteries. Two blue-top 900cca spiral wound batteries in parallel. My coach has the DHS sound system wired to the chassis batteries. Presumably this was done to allow the use of the sound system for music when rolling down the road without draining the house batteries. The downside is watching movies when parked puts a load on the chassis batteries.

The blue-top Optimas are hybrid technology. They deliver 900cca but also have deep cycle capability making them ideal for my situation. They spin my Cummins ISL over faster than the rectangular AGM 950cca batteries they replaced. Those batteries lasted less than a year due to excessive discharge.
I've had the Optima batteries for about 18 months now and I'm happy with their performance.
You could move the sound system back to the house battery and confirm that your chassis charging system charges the house batteries, as it should.

The chassis charging system will cover the sound system load and more.

That will cure your excessive discharge of the chassis battery.
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Old 03-30-2016, 08:05 AM   #7
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There is nothing special about Optima vs any other brand of AGM battery. In fact, they may not even be as good as a more traditional rectangular shape battery. Nor is the "spiral" (round) cell unique to Optima - some other brands are the same internally. Optima just chooses to flaunt it by making the external appearance reflect the internal structure.

So, I think your question really ought to be "is anybody using AGM house batteries?" and the answer would be many thousands of us are. I've been using them since 2002, and my current coach came from the factory with AGM house batteries. I currently use the Trojan 31AGM, which is a Group 31 size AGM battery (4 of them).
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