Ruined my battery, need a new one

[bryanl]

no wonder so many folks have battery problems!

Forget the building code - I've been doing it my way for years.

Follow me - I'm an authority. Don't ask questions.

Swallow the marketing hype and don't try to find any objective definitions for the terms describing batteries. Empirical and relevant measure? bah - who needs such trash ...

re: "A lot of deep cycle batteries have aH ratings above 100" -- all lead acid batteries have an energy capacity of 45 watts per kg or a usable capacity of about 12 watts per pound.

re: "it would be nice if whatever battery I get has enough capacity to let us use that heater for at least a few nights in a row when dry camping." -- the furnace runs at maybe 100 watts or so. A typical RV battery weighs about 60# so it has maybe 800 watt hours of available energy. 800/100 means you have about 8 hours of furnace runtime on a typical RV battery. Lights, water pump, detectors and other stuff also need some electrical energy so they'll shorten the available furnace runtime some.

The fact is that you just can't carry enough battery in your RV to live like you'd do in an on-grid house. Typical household use is about 30 kWh/day and that'd require something like 2500 pounds of battery. (this is why a lot of the 'discussion' about increasing battery is rather like pickin' nits as even doubling a TT battery capacity won't make much of a dent).

Interesting human factors problem, it is.

[marvinr]

Just wondering what battery most people use. We have a 23ft International with solar panel. Our current batteries (Lifeline) don't seem to be holding a charge. Suppose we need new ones....which is strange as they are only three years old.

Any thoughts on Optima vs Lifeline?

Thanks,
Marvin

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by marvinr

Just wondering what battery most people use. We have a 23ft International with solar panel. Our current batteries (Lifeline) don't seem to be holding a charge. Suppose we need new ones....which is strange as they are only three years old.

Any thoughts on Optima vs Lifeline?

Thanks,
Marvin

See post 15 above.

[thecatsandi]

Originally Posted by marvinr

Just wondering what battery most people use. We have a 23ft International with solar panel. Our current batteries (Lifeline) don't seem to be holding a charge. Suppose we need new ones....which is strange as they are only three years old.

Any thoughts on Optima vs Lifeline?

Thanks,
Marvin

How old are your batteries? My lifelines lasted almost 5 years.
The price difference between the Optimas and the Lifelines was not that significant. I went with another set of Lifelines.

[bryanl]

A wet cell battery properly used and maintained should last about 4-7 years. An AGM might go for 7 or 8 (re NAWS FAQ)

If you are getting substantially shorter life than this, then the issue is with use and maintenance, not battery type, voltage, or brand.

Heat does a job on batteries so avoid the summer sun.

Running the battery down also shortens battery life. Avoid taking the batteries below 12.0v as measured after they have been resting with no significant charge or discharge for at least a half hour.

Leaving batteries sitting with a partial charge is not good, either. Recharge promptly with a modern 3 stage charger rated to provide proper current to the battery. (providing a vigorous charge is where most RV solar systems tend to be deficient)

When not in use, apply a maintenance charger to the battery which will maintain a top charge and implement a sulfation inhibiting technique.

As for which battery: get your batteries from a retailer who sells a lot to folks who use them like you do, offers a good warranty, and will stand behind what he sells.

[Stefrobrts]

Just to conclude this thread (because I hate looking this stuff later and not seeing a conclusion) I ended up calling everyone in the area to see what they had in a deep-cycle group 27 battery, and spent $140 on one at our local Tire Factory. It had the best specs I could find before heading up into the $200+ batteries. It's made by Decca and has a 2 1/2 year warrenty. One of my main reasons for buying there was because the Tire Factory is a local business who knows us well, so as soon as I asked about RV batteries they knew it was for my Airstream, and I like to support those guys.

I got the battery installed today and everything is looking fine. I think the main change I am going to make to the system is to install a cutoff-switch for when we're not using it to prevent battery drain, which is probably what killed the last one, along with whatever the old Intellipower did before it crapped out.

So - new Intellipower, new battery, and a cut-off switch for when we're not using it. I hope that's the last I have to think about it for a while.