Help with House Batteries

[johndes]

Just bought a 1991 Land Yacht Motor home and I need to replace the house batteries under the step. Are there any suggestions out there as to what is the best ones to buy and what the cost should be? Also what spark pluges are now recomended for the Chevy 454 in this coach? Thanks in advance

JD

[swebster]

JD,
Welcome to the forums. Batteries are going to be a combination of price, size and CCA. Ideally marine batteries for the house system. I replaced mine last year with a pair from Sams Club. Good specs, good price and they fit in the compartment and used the right terminals.

Spark plugs on my 86 carberaor 454 are T44 Champoins. Any parts counter guy can tell you what to put in there. I went back to simple single prong Champions after fouling some Bosch Platinums. Also, check you spark plug wires as they are notorious for heat failure on motorhomes.

[Tarheel]

I use the Sam's marine deep cycle batteries, the ones I just replaced were 5 years old.

[Paul Dobbin]

When I replaced our House and Coach batteries, I bought 4 Wal-Mart Marine deep cycle ones with an 18 month FREE Replacement Warranty. Their price and warranty was better than Sam's CLub or anywhere else. In Eleven months the Coach batteries failed and I started over with another 18 month pair. My house batteries are the same and they've done fine. So far, so good.
After I made the purchase another member told me to consider the sealed batteries. Reason: In our coach they are hard to get to to check the water level and the sealed ones didn't require that periodic service. Maybe next time? Anybody else tried them?

[Phil Gobie]

I have a trailer, But as for the house bat. all the same. You may want to look at GSM / fiberglass mat batteries. I just picked up 2 group 27 batteries. They where 145.00 Ea. about 2 to 3 times lead acid. But the take a charge faster and better. They don't vent corrosive & explosive gasses and will discharge more with less damage. For me the advantages more than warrant the price difference. Also maybe the best is that they are maintenance free.

[boatdoc]

Originally Posted by johndes

Just bought a 1991 Land Yacht Motor home and I need to replace the house batteries under the step. Are there any suggestions out there as to what is the best ones to buy and what the cost should be? Also what spark pluges are now recomended for the Chevy 454 in this coach? Thanks in advance

JD

Hi John; In a nutshell, there are good batteries and not so good and defective from the start. As with everything else in this world, everyting is outsourced. Being in marine business for forty one years the truth can be told. The largest rate of failure stems simply from negligence, which includes lack of maintenance, undercharging and overcharging.

Last seven years I have sold Interstate exclusively. Every customer gets an education about do and do not, and that is what minimizes problems. It also must be said here, that I could not be any happier with the service provided by Interstate. My rate of returns is down to maybe 1 percent.

The reason for the sauces is not only the consumer education but the quality of the product itself. This success however could not have been possible without educating the consumer. One can buy the so called "best" brand battery, but without proper maintenance it will most likely fail within one year. With a exception of defects, all batteries fail for a reason as follow;

Overcharging; Good indication of overcharging is the need to add water often.
Deep cycle batteries should be charged at slow 5-10 amp rate with a charger that shuts down completely when the battery reaches full charge. Most of cheap chargers do not provide shut down feature, and that is what boils the battery creating hazardous fumes which are very corrosive and explosive.
In marine application I cannot help but to give Charging International lots of credit for the Quality of their product. We have used their chargers in boats for many years now without ever replacing one. From a single bank charger to four banks, each charge bank senses the condition of each battery separately, instead of all at the same time. No two of the same batteries will always need same amount of charge, this is where the advantage starts. Each bank has its own set of indicator LED's, plug it in and forget it.

Lack of maintaining a charge in batteries is equally destructive to a battery.
If you leave your battery in your TV without a full charge at least once a month over the winter, do not be surprised when the battery cannot be recharged comes Spring. Dirty or corroded terminals may overheat while charging. With the importance of charge rate I personally would not trust my Univolt to properly maintain my battery while unattended. This is why I have the Dual Pro by Charging International. Just about all Interstate batteries provide my customers with four years of service if maintained by Charging International chargers. If you need to add water often, you most likely have a overcharging problem. Also adding tap water instead of distilled will shorten battery life as well. I have also tried gel batteries and found them to be much too expensive and at higher rate of failure than acid batteries. The only advantage is that they do not produce fumes. Overcharging them is even more dangerous to the battery. Thanks, "Boatdoc"

[ljmiii]

Originally Posted by johndes

Just bought a 1991 Land Yacht Motor home and I need to replace the house batteries under the step. Are there any suggestions out there as to what is the best ones to buy and what the cost should be

Your big decision is whether or not you want to use Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) batteries. They are more expensive but maintanance free and are sealed (and thus arguably more safe). I use a Lifeline AGM battery and am very happy with it.

[bhayden]

Originally Posted by boatdoc

As with everything else in this world, everyting is outsourced. Being in marine business for forty one years the truth can be told.

I have also tried gel batteries and found them to be much too expensive and at higher rate of failure than acid batteries. The only advantage is that they do not produce fumes. Overcharging them is even more dangerous to the battery. Thanks, "Boatdoc"

Outsourcing? I thought there were two or three companies that actually manufactured all the "brand name" batteries and they were still made in the US? Is Interstate one of the actual manufacturers?

I only have experience with one Gel cell, that was a Delco with the "Green Eye". It was a fantastic battery. It was in an old Bronco that was rarely used. It had by far the lowest self discharge or longest shelf life of any battery I've ever owned and stood up miraculously to abuse of overcharging, quick charging, being left discharged for long periods, etc. Basicly everything you could do bad to a battery happen to this one since the vehicle was only started once or twice a year, sometimes not even that often. But, like you say, there are good bad and defective batteries of all kinds and I may have just gotten lucky with this one.

A couple other advantages of the AGM batteries are that they are lighter in weight for an equivalent capacity and they're almost immune to vibration.

-Bernie