AGM Battery

[55AS]

Would love to go lithium but too expensive still.
AGM's seem like a good compromise. In the search for a quality AGM priced less than the excellent Lifelines, I found this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Powe...+agm+universal

Anyone used this battery in their AS?

[lewster]

Beware of Chinese batteries!!!!


Lew Farber
RVIA/RVDA Nationally Certified Master Tech
Master Tech Energy Systems, Inc.
AM Solar Certified Installation Center
Lifeline Batteries**Magnum Inverters
541-490-6357

[55AS]

That is my concern. These ones got pretty good reviews, though. People even commented: "Great units even if they are Chinese made."

[lewster]

Several things to consider:

Who will cover the warranty WHEN they fail?

Local places or have to ship them?

Lifelines are MADE IN USA and warranty is covered by ANY Lifeline dealer in the US

For whatever it's worth..... I would rather pay a little more to see those dollars STAY IN THE USA!!!

Could be just me..............,..


Lew Farber
RVIA/RVDA Nationally Certified Master Tech
Master Tech Energy Systems, Inc.
AM Solar Certified Installation Center
Lifeline Batteries**Magnum Inverters
541-490-6357

[55AS]

Who has the best pricing on Lifelines?

[gandttimes]

Originally Posted by BambiTex

Who has the best pricing on Lifelines?

Silly question, but why do you need AGM's. Are they for inside a trailer?


George

[Lumatic]

I am sure Lifelines are tops but, I have had a set of Universals for 4 or 5 years and they are still strong.

[idroba]

Without getting into a debate, which I will not do, the quality of a product does not come from the location it is made, but how it is specified and how those specs are enforced. Each and every country in the world can make good and bad products. We certainly have made some junk in this country as well as some very great stuff. Same for any other country.

Virtually all Apple products are made in China, and they are not junk.

I am old enough to remember when "made in Japan" was considered Junk, now it is considered finest quality.

Lets not stereotype country of origin one way or another. We can prefer to purchase a US made product, and be willing to pay more for that (and sometimes less) but branding any product quality as automatically good or bad by where it is made is simply an error.

[55AS]

Originally Posted by gandttimes

Silly question, but why do you need AGM's. Are they for inside a trailer?


George

Yes, battery will be mounted under the bed. AGM's also need no added water and seem to have much lower self-discharge rate.

[timmaah]

Needed some ASAP so I went with Fullriver (A China brand) from a west coast distributor that will back them up. Only been a year and a half but no complaints at all. This after I had 3 Interstates go bad on me in a year.

Welcome to Fullriver!
Battery Systems - The Single Source Solution!

[Panama Red]

Check the charge rates/voltage per cell on the AGM's and make sure the charger you have meets that spec. I cooked out a few on some generators I maintain before I found out they charge at a different voltage than your regular VRLA batteries.

-Red, cooking high dollar batteries...

[gandttimes]

Originally Posted by BambiTex

Yes, battery will be mounted under the bed. AGM's also need no added water and seem to have much lower self-discharge rate.

OK. Good enough reason


George

[mandolindave]

Ya know this IS the Air Forum. haha I don't think we get to speak our piece unanswered.

I do agree that other countries, and ours, make both good and bad products.

I was a loyal life long user of a particular American made brand of electronic equipment. No problems. They moved manufacturing to China. I got 3 bad units in a row ( open the box to find loose screws jumping around, and functions not working )

I blame not the Chinese manufacturer, but the beating the units took as cargo.

[lewster]

I gave a good friend that USED to manufacture in China. When he started getting an unusually high proportion of his products (LED related components), he paid an independent lab to take them apart and reverse engineer both good and bad units.

After supplying the Chinese manufacturer with exacting specifications for his products, he found that they had cut corners just enough to not be readily apparent, right down to the number of strands the wire had!

He hopped on a plane and confronted the manufacturer with his evidence, to which they replied "oh, we made a mistake, but we promise to correct it AFTER you take delivery of this next production batch" which was ready to ship.

My friend cancelled the order on the spot and brought the assembly process back to the USA. His level of returns 'magically' returned to his statistical projections.

Another example, Xantrex inverters USED to be a quality product until they moved the factory to China. I replace many each year due to failures, and they ARE NOT REPAIRABLE!!!!!!


Lew Farber
RVIA/RVDA Nationally Certified Master Tech
Master Tech Energy Systems, Inc.
AM Solar Certified Installation Center
Lifeline Batteries**Magnum Inverters
541-490-6357

[55AS]

OK, how about this one?
http://www.amazon.com/Exide-MC-31-ME...deep+cycle+agm

Have not been able to determine if Exide are Made in USA or not. Anyone know?

[KJRitchie]

When I lived in Frisco, TX there was an Exide recycling plant located near downtown Frisco. The city forced it to shut down due to waste hazard site and lead emissions coming from the site. They filed for bankruptcy protection in 2013 after Calif forced them to close a recycling plant and they lost their contract to Walmart who went with Johnson Controls as the source for their batteries.