Replacement AGM "House" battery

jimricho · Guru

Replacement AGM "House" battery

PeterD · Guru

With things like this, I reckon what is the best deal with one of your local battery dealers is the way to go. It's easier to confront someone locally for warranty then deal with someone on EvilBay.

See what your locaL dealers have to offer.

-- Edited by PeterD on Sunday 24th of April 2011 12:02:02 AM

jimricho · Guru

Thanks for your input and good advice Peter, I also had in mind one of the franchises such as Battery World etc, just in case of a warranty claim while "out on the road", although I'm not "locked into" this line of thinking.

Jim

bill12 · Guru

Yes . stick to a recognized dealer, at least they will honour the warrentee. I have an 150 amp/hr Supercharge, lead acid sealed battery,to which I added inox battery treatment, and they doubled the warrentee to 2 years. Which means that the stuff must work. I think AGM batteries are better, but they are also twice the price.Have you had any experience with these battery aditives?

tonyd · Guru

Jimricho, I recently bought 2x120amphour Fullrivers in Perth. Have yet to try them, but they come highly recommended. Two drawbacks: They are NOT cheap (over $300 each, and that was with a substantial seniors discount) and they are bloody heavy (over 30kg). Working on a plan to lift them into the vehicle once only!
Cheers, Tony

jimricho · Guru

Hi Tony,

thanks for your comments, from my research $300 is quite a good price for 120ah AGM and yes they do weigh over 30 kg.

Jim

PS: thanks also Bill, no have no experience with battery additives, maybe some other GNs have

-- Edited by jimricho on Monday 25th of April 2011 12:17:31 PM

jimricho · Guru

A bit more on the Inox battery conditioner...

Jaycar give it a good wrap on their website http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=NA1420&keywords=NA-1420&form=KEYWORD

also more details at Inox website http://www.inox-mx3.com/inox.htm

As my battery is still ok, just reduced ah capacity I'll give it a try in conjunction with my Ctek charger that has an equalisation mode.

I mostly stay on powered sites and if off power I only run a few lights with it, it may be worth go. Maybe save my money for more essential things (beer, long boozy lunches etc)

03_troopy · Guru

bill12 wrote:
Yes . stick to a recognized dealer, at least they will honour the warrentee. I have an 150 amp/hr Supercharge, lead acid sealed battery,to which I added inox battery treatment, and they doubled the warrentee to 2 years. Which means that the stuff must work. I think AGM batteries are better, but they are also twice the price.Have you had any experience with these battery aditives?

Wouldn't opening the cells of the SLA battery to add battery treatment void the warranty on the battery? or are you talking about just a terminal corrosion protection product?

jimricho · Guru

03_troopy wrote:
bill12 wrote:
Yes . stick to a recognized dealer, at least they will honour the warrentee. I have an 150 amp/hr Supercharge, lead acid sealed battery,to which I added inox battery treatment, and they doubled the warrentee to 2 years. Which means that the stuff must work. I think AGM batteries are better, but they are also twice the price.Have you had any experience with these battery aditives?
Wouldn't opening the cells of the SLA battery to add battery treatment void the warranty on the battery? or are you talking about just a terminal corrosion protection product?

A bit of an update....

The old battery that is (or now, maybe) due for replacement is normal "wet" (aka "flooded") deep cycle (50 ah). I've added some Inox and I'm using my Ctek charger to see if I can rejuvenate it, tests so far, although not conclusive, indicate that I may be having some success. If so I can put off the expense for a little while. The battery was the aux in the car but I've swapped it with the van battery. It's externally mounted so no issue with using a wet battery in the van.

50ah is the max size I can install in the car due to space limitations and is not an issue in the van as I mostly camp on powered sites but when I replace the van battery I will upgrade to 100ah.

I feel sure that Bill is also using a wet battery. One wouldn't open up a SLA for any reason.

BTW: That extra 12 months (conditional) warranty is (I think) carried by Inox, not the battery manufacturer/supplier.

-- Edited by jimricho on Wednesday 4th of May 2011 06:50:17 AM

03_troopy · Guru

jimricho wrote:
I feel sure that Bill is also using a wet battery. One wouldn't open up a SLA for any reason.

Not all SLA's are gell cells, some SLA's are also wet cells (wet cell with rubber cap over cell opening and a vented plastic blank spot glued over that, flush with battery surface) which is the reason I asked. And for sure you wouldn't normally open one, unless you are recycling the lead as sinkers or course

-- Edited by 03_troopy on Saturday 7th of May 2011 01:02:54 PM

bill12 · Guru

Yes.12months from the battery mob and 12months from inox.I have a wet cell battery, I don,t know about adatives on the sealed batterys.

jimricho · Guru

I owe you a thank-you Bill, It was your post earlier on in the thread that put me on to the Inox. I think I may recovered mine with the Inox and my Ctek charger, time will tell.

I'm heading north in late June/early July and I'll be mainly staying on powered sites so I'll put off the battery purchase for the time being. My battery needs in the van are modest anyway.

03_troopy · Guru

bill12 wrote:
Yes.12months from the battery mob and 12months from inox.I have a wet cell battery, I don,t know about adatives on the sealed batterys.

Yes OK, just that your initial post said you had a "lead acid sealed battery" Made it all a little confusing.

Further on AGM batteries, when i went to purchase one to fit to my Troopy as an auxilliary battery, the salesperson at the battery outlet said they wouldn't warranty AGM bateries that were fitted under the bonnet of a car. They said that it was too hot for AGM batteries to be fitted under the bonnet. Seems a bit strange though.

jimricho · Guru

03_troopy wrote:

Further on AGM batteries, when i went to purchase one to fit to my Troopy as an auxilliary battery, the salesperson at the battery outlet said they wouldn't warranty AGM bateries that were fitted under the bonnet of a car. They said that it was too hot for AGM batteries to be fitted under the bonnet. Seems a bit strange though.

Does seem strange as some AGM batteries are specifically designed for starting, and therefore mounted under the hood, the Optima "Red Top" for example. Maybe applies to some AGM batteries or perhaps they are confusing them with gels.

I think the best plan would be to change battery dealers to one who will honour a warranty, provided it's used in accordance with the manufacturer's conditions and specifications.

PS: If you go to http://www.federalbatteries.com.au/application/STARTING/AGM/ you'll see that that list a number of AGMs as starting batteries

-- Edited by jimricho on Thursday 19th of May 2011 07:54:22 AM

03_troopy · Guru

jimricho wrote:
03_troopy wrote:

Further on AGM batteries, when i went to purchase one to fit to my Troopy as an auxilliary battery, the salesperson at the battery outlet said they wouldn't warranty AGM bateries that were fitted under the bonnet of a car. They said that it was too hot for AGM batteries to be fitted under the bonnet. Seems a bit strange though.
Does seem strange as some AGM batteries are specifically designed for starting, and therefore mounted under the hood, the Optima "Red Top" for example. Maybe applies to some AGM batteries or perhaps they are confusing them with gels.
I think the best plan would be to change battery dealers to one who will honour a warranty, provided it's used in accordance with the manufacturer's conditions and specifications.
PS: If you go to http://www.federalbatteries.com.au/application/STARTING/AGM/ you'll see that that list a number of AGMs as starting batteries

-- Edited by jimricho on Thursday 19th of May 2011 07:54:22 AM

Yes, I agree. There's no way you'd fit a starting battery remote from the engine unless you used 95mm welding cable to counter voltage drop at nearly 200A. I ended up going to another place anyway and purchased a Commander CC30H Deep Cycle/Starting Battery. I think she must have been confused with gel cells.

http://www.commanderbatteries.com.au/asp/index.asp?pgid=11256&cid=6279&application=59&producttype=105&productsubtype=0&type=1021

03_troopy · Guru

Yeah, I think she was confused as well. I ended up going to a different dealer and getting a Commander CC30H deep cyle/ starting battery. It's a flooded wet battery but that's fine in the Troopy. I ended up getting a couple of 135AH vrla deep cycle batteries for the camper trailer as well, they are second hand about a year old but test good and were $180 for the pair (about $350 each new). They're designed for solar and UPS systems and supposedly designed for a 10yr lifespan. Bloody heavy at about 40Kg each though.

jimricho · Guru

100 ah AGMs weigh around 30 kg so I guess 40 kg would be normal for that class of battery. Assuming you have these wired together in parallel I would suggest you disconnect them from each other when not in use as leaving batteries connected in parallel can reduce their lifespan, also make sure they are fully charged before storing them, preferably by a smart charger.

Since swapping my batteries around I've further tested the Optima Red Top (aux in the vehicle) and found that I can achieve better than a half recharge from 11 volts (the trip point of my low voltage cut-out) with only one hour's idling of the engine. The initial charge rate was almost 50 amps and was 27 amps at the end of the one hour. The alternator voltage is 14.4 and 14.1 at the battery terminal.