# 6V Batteries For Larry



## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

Larry is ready for new batteries. Currently he has two RV/Marine 12V batteries in parallel, purchased with the vehicle in 2005. Because we dry camp a couple of times a year, I'm going to go with two 6V deep-cycle in series.

I'd love to put in the Trojan T-125, but they are quite expensive (around $200 each).

What experience does the community have with other high quality 6V deep-cycle batteries?

The most common ones I've seen are from Interstate, US Battery and Exide.

Thanks,

Ed

P.S. I have read "The 12volt Side of Life". Great article.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Costco has them at a very reasonable rate. The ones I have are made by Johnson Controls been running strong since 2008.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

CamperAndy said:


> Costco has them at a very reasonable rate. The ones I have are made by Johnson Controls been running strong since 2008.


Thanks. Johnson Controls appears to make most Interstate batteries and the Sears DieHard Gold (at least the automotive ones).

Still looking for more alternatives. Keep those posts coming!

Ed


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## Outbacker47 (Jun 6, 2010)

I went with the 6V Interstates and so far I'm very happy with them. They fit very nice in the battery well on the fifthwheel. I think they were around $130.00 each.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Ed...I bought two Trojan 125's last April from Empire Batteries in Tigard for $359 total. Close to $200...but still $41 saved equals half a tank of gas for your Suburban.









*Empire Batteries
*7320 SW Bonita Road
Tigard, Oregon 97281
United States
Telephone: 503-639-5515


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## john7349 (Jan 13, 2008)

I know it has been said, but Costco is very good. See my signature below...


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## Herbicidal (Aug 29, 2003)

I replied in your post about new springs for Larry the Outback.


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## wolverine (Mar 5, 2009)

I have the Sam's Club Energizer 6 volt batteries and they are still holding strong after 3 years. I paid about $80 for each battery.


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

I went with these - from a local Supplier i know and use

last spring these -US-2200 is 6 volt 232 Ah - i bought for $94.68 ea. http://www.completebattery.com/










I also put this in at the same time - Progressive dynamics intelli power converter 9260 -


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

Since you only dry camp a few times/year, the Trojan's while very good batteries are probably way overkill for what you need. But they will last a long long time. I have a set that is 8 years old on my homemade toyhauler and are basically new, and I put 50+ charge/discharge cycles on them each year. I expect them to last another 2-4 years.

As I understand it there are two companies that make most of the other brand name batteries. Johnson Controls and one other, don't recall the name. They are built to the sellers specs. Based on input from other boards, costco, sams club, interstate, Deka, Energizer etc. all good batteries and seem to have a good reputation.

By checking around, you might be able to get the Trojan T-125's for about $160, I bought 4 for the outback earlier this month and was able to get them for $160 each and no core charge with a little hagling. But you probably can get the other brands for the $100 range or less. Look carefully at the 20Hr AH rating. The T-105 equiv will be around 200AH, the t-125' equiv around 240AH. Since your in beaverton, you might check prices from Battery's plus and Battery exchange as well and the Aloha Costco.

So for your use, any of them should serve you very well and probably work better and certainly outlast the typical 12V "Marine" battery, shop around for price. To get the most life:

1) NEVER let the water get below the plates. That's one of if not the worst thing you can do and it will shorten life. Also ONLY add water if needed AFTER the batteries are fully charged. Discharged batteries will have a lower water level. Only time to add water before charging is if the water is below the plates, then oly enough to cover the plates.
2) NEVER let them get fully discharged. Nice thing about Golf Cart batteries is that you can discharge them well below the 50% level and still get hundreds of cycles out of them, just don't let them get fully discharged. (<10.5V after a rest w/o a load)
3) FULLY charge them when you get home before you put the trailer in storage
4) Either disconnect the batteries or use a disconnect switch during storage and recharge them every 3 months or so.

Also, the WFCO charger in the outback isn't known as reliably going into "boost" or "bulk" mode charging, especially if it is very far away from the batteries. Results in pretty long charge times since the voltage is 13.6V not 14.6 and current is in the 20A range. And 13.6V will NEVER get you to a fully charged battery. Not getting to full charge will eventually result in sulfation and shortened battery life.

Like Clarkely, I put a PD9260 in my pass through and wired it with #4 wire to the battery and it gives a solid 60+A initial charge. The 9260 is about the biggest charger you can run off a 2000W generator and get full current without overloading the generator.


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## raynardo (Jun 8, 2007)

Trojan's are great. I had a pair that lasted just over five years.

But when it came time to replace them, I went with the Costco 6v batteries at about ½ the cost. They've been in about 8 months and have performed flawlessly. They stay continually fully charged since I now have a solar system on top of Obi.

If the Costco batteries last over ½ as long as the Trojan batteries, I'll be ahead of the game. And I'm guessing they will.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

LarryTheOutback said:


> Johnson Controls appears to make most Interstate batteries and the Sears DieHard Gold (at least the automotive ones).


It turns out the link between the retail brands and manufacturer is much more complex that I could have imagined. There is a website that claims to have an accurate map between brand and manufacturer. This seems to be an actively updated website. LEAD-ACID BATTERY MANUFACTURERS AND BRAND NAMES LIST 2013

A couple of interesting notes:

Interstate GC series deep-cycle manufactured by C&D Technologies (more well known in the industrial battery world)
Interstate U series by U.S. Battery​
A good tip from the website:

_"To identify the manufacturer, ask the dealer or check the battery's Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). The manufacturer's code number on the battery will also identify the manufacturer. "_​
Ed


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

You go cheap -you get cheap .. i have been doing this 6V battery thing for a long time --the only two that i recommend are the Trojans (105/125/145) and the COSTCO ... i can give you a dissertation on why going cheap will cost you in the long run but pretty sure you have heard it all already ... becareful with HYBRID batteries --(batteries that say they that they are deep cycle but really aren't) .. do your research .. but Trojans are well worth the money


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## willingtonpaul (Apr 16, 2010)

i have (4) CROWN 235AH 6V golf cart batteries. CROWN is also an excellent manufacturer. i paid $135 each at a local battery shop.

and if you like to dry camp, i can't recommend going solar enough. i have rooftop panels, and if i am under tree cover, portable panels to augment them.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

willingtonpaul said:


> i have (4) CROWN 235AH 6V golf cart batteries. CROWN is also an excellent manufacturer. i paid $135 each at a local battery shop.
> 
> and if you like to dry camp, i can't recommend going solar enough. i have rooftop panels, and if i am under tree cover, portable panels to augment them.


Paul - You have a lot going on on the output of the one battery. How many things do you have directly connected to the battery?


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## willingtonpaul (Apr 16, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> Paul - You have a lot going on on the output of the one battery. How many things do you have directly connected to the battery?


yeah, it's real cabbage soup in there, on both the input and output sides. at some point i might make up a shunt / fuse board and mount it inside the front storage compartment next to the solar charge controller and inverter. but room in there is at a premium, and at some point it creates more to have to remove and change if i decide to trade the trailer (which is a constant threat every time i go to a freaking RV show







)

but anyways, what's connected:

the two banks of batteries, in series and parallel, then all running through the cutoff switch, so i can isolate everything (except the inverter and trimetric monitor) from the trailer.

a direct line to the 1000w inverter with an inline fuse
another connection to the power tongue jack with an inline fuse
the connection to my battery monitor (trimetric 2025RV) with an inline fuse
the input of my blue sky 2025ix MPPT charge controller that controls the rooftop solar panels, with an inline fuse
the inputs of my 3 portable solar panels, on quick connect pigtails each with their own inline fuse

what makes it weird is that all the negative inputs and outputs have to go through the shunt so i can measure total inputs or outputs through the trimetric. and it looks like everything is connected to the one battery on the end's positive post, but that is the junction point of the two 12v banks in parallel and the cutoff switch, so anything to that post is connected to both banks. i threw up a few more pics. the trimetric photo is what i can put back on with everything in pretty full, direct sun (about 35 DC amps/hour). the rooftop system alone is about 22 amps.

as a side note, when i post up pics here they come in being so large. i can't figure out how to make them smaller. here is a link to a D&T thread when i tested the system with a hair dryer off the inverter, and some potentially easier to see pictures:

http://www.dogandtrailer.com/camper-modifications/solar-array-performance/


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Paul the pictures are big as they are in the native resolution since you attached them directly to the thread. Use the IMG picture insert button and that should re-size them, this requires that they be posted/stored on the web somewhere like photo bucket.

If you want to attach them directly but make them a more reasonable size you have to do the re-sizing prior to attaching them to the thread.

As for making a remote fuse board, I would highly recommend that. It would make isolating and or troubleshooting branches much easier.


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## willingtonpaul (Apr 16, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> If you want to attach them directly but make them a more reasonable size you have to do the re-sizing prior to attaching them to the thread.
> 
> As for making a remote fuse board, I would highly recommend that. It would make isolating and or troubleshooting branches much easier.


ok, i guess at some point i will figure out how to re size a photo in iphoto. thanks.

agreed on the board. luckily, everything is working perfect right now. so prolly when something fails and i can't figure it out i'll then build the board ! (or just strip everything off 'cause i am trading it !) i love the trimetric, and that is the main reason i did it that way, with the shunt out there. i toyed with putting it all in the trailer, running everything through the back of the converter, but space is really tight under there with the furnace and whatnot. just did not want to get involved pulling it all out, so i ran everything up front and left the trailer stock inside with no holes to patch if i do trade or sell it.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

Thanks for all the opinions and ideas. I ended up with a pair of the Trojan T-105.

These batteries are a different geometry than the Group-24 Marine/DeepCycle batteries that were there before. One issue was how the battery and battery box fit on the provided platform (between the metal angles welded to the A-Frame). I found a GC-2 battery box that fit, but was a bit of a "press fit" into the platform (the issue was the width). These are the NOCO HM306B.










The next challenge was fitting the batteries underneath the aerodynamic cover. When I did a test fit of the boxes, I noticed that the box covers were trying _*very hard*_ to poke through the plastic aerodynamic cover. I thought I was out of luck, until I noticed that the covers for the old Group-24 battery box did _*barely *_fit onto the bottom of the GC-2 battery box, and the old cover (below, on the left) has a shallow angle rather than a sharp point (below, on the right).










It's a tight fit all around, but it works. Special thanks to Gilligan for installing the propane mount off-center.










Here are some resources I used:

Trojan Users Manual (doesn't ship with the batteries)
Good article on battery maintenance and charging.
An alternate battery box from Powerhouse I considered.
And of course the canonical article The 12-Volt Side of Life

Ed


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

Glad you were able to make them fit.

I continue to be suprised at how many trailers are designed to either barely have enough room for GC batteries or in some cases no way to put them in. The newer trailers with the aerodynamic fronts seem to be one of the bigger offenders. then there is my 295RE that I was able to mount 4GC on top of the tongue and have plenty of room for access!!


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Ed...

Where did you buy your batteries? I got new Trojan's (2) last summer from Empire Batteries in Tigard.

You're going to LOVE them. We can go 5 days without firing up the generator. We do a good job of turning off lights, but still I am amazed by these batteries.


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## raynardo (Jun 8, 2007)

When I found that the battery covers wouldn't allow the aerodynamic cover to fit anymore, I just decided not to use battery covers, figuring that the aerodynamic cover would be good enough. It's worked that way perfectly for me the past five years.

My theory on this was that most of the cars I've ever had didn't have an enclosed battery compartment.


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