Lets try this again...walmart replaced my dc batteries.

[73powerstroke]

I dunno how you guys keep up with this stuff.

The best cheap fla's for you solar guys would be the GC2's - 6V golf cart batteries. Unless you're buying high-amp hour blocks, put these in series to reach your operating voltage and run with them. They're heavy, last a long time, perfect for deep cycle, relatively cheap, and very easy to replace one if any develop bad cells. Water them, get a hydrometer, and keep on top of them, they'll last a good 7-10 years.

The Costco ones?

 

[Zwy]

Heh... I can never remember the name...

It's the same building, people and equipment... just independent from JC now:

Johnson Controls Sells Off Its Automotive Battery Business - CleanTechnica

Johnson Controls Power Solutions has sold off its automotive battery business to Brookfield Business Partners for $13.2 billion. That includes its more than 16,000 employees across 56 locations around the world. Brookfield Business Partners is rebranding the business unit as Clarios.

cleantechnica.com

One of the battery manufacturers closed a plant in northern US but I can't remember which one it was.

On a sidenote, both Duralast (Autozone) and Diehard (Advance Auto Parts) are made by Clarios. I had a few Diehard GC2's here lately and tested them for capacity. Brand new, the label states 225Ah. I tried to find out if that is on a 20 hour rate but could not find any information.

I tested the capacity at a 20 hour rate, just like a Trojan T105. All came in at around 175Ah. I figured they are claiming 225Ah but at a 100 hour rate or longer. I ran the figures thru a Peukert Calculator and it came out at 115 min@75A discharge which the label also states. They are selling a 175Ah/20hr battery and claiming it is 225Ah.

Trojan is owned by C&D Technologies, good company. I'm not so sure on Johnson Controls anymore, Johnson used to manufacture for AC Delco and Motorcraft starter batteries which lasted a long time. Not so anymore, Delco and Motorcraft will fail at the 3 year mark regularly.

 

[Zwy]

The Costco ones?

Be careful, I'm not sure if Interstate is the brand Costco sells now.

If it were me in your situation, I'd go buy a couple of cheap LFP like the Redodo for $299 shipped to your door. I bought a pair for my boat trolling motor when they were Zoom, I haven't had an issue.

 

[Alkaline]

You know that the Interstates are essentially identical to the Everstarts? Same manufacturer? Made in Mexico?

Maybe you don't know how to take care of them?

I know that you don't know what you are talking about because interstate is made in Mexico by JCI (now Clarios) while Evermax is made in Deka in East Pennsylvania and if you were unlucky to get batteries during their transition you got screwed.

At one they were made in the same place by JCI but now they are not.

Lay off the eggos Grape Fruit from now on

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I know that you don't know what you are talking about because interstate is made in Mexico by JCI (now Clarios) while Evermax is made in Deka in East Pennsylvania and if you were unlucky to get batteries during their transition you got screwed.

At one they were made in the same place by JCI but now they are not.

Lay off the eggos Grape Fruit from now on

Looks like I was right and wrong, and you are right and wrong:

From OP's post:




"MADE IN S. KOREA" - definitely not DEKA.

And FYI from 2015 (well before the Clarion buyout):



I've been pretty happy with the S. KOREA made Duracell AGM. 4 year full replacement warranty... that I've never needed to use

 

[MichaelK]

The Costco ones?

The ones I have personal experience with are Trojan T-105 golf-carts. After five years of service, when I was ready to upgrade to much larger capacity batteries, they still held a charge and had a specific gravity of 1.265. Instead of recycling them, I passed them on to a neighbor, and they are still in service today. Whether or not the CostCo ones are just as good is not confirmed.

As I have always stated before is that the weak link of lead-acid battery utilization is chronic undercharging. Provide them with max current charging almost every day, and keep them topped off with distilled water, and they will give you long years of service. Hook them up to a dinky little 100W panel and walk away and they die.

 

[sunsurfer]

That's what happened. One worse than the other. It was at 10.7v and the other at 13.5 usually. I have shunt meters with state of charge on them. Sorta odd to read the Chinese manual for calibration.
Of course I'm monitoring them together.

looks like you have a dead(shorted) cell, thats why it reads 10.7. You can verify with a DVOM reading each cell in sequence if you pull off the caps and see which cell exactly. Walmart batteries are pretty much junk. Its not a true deep cycle.

 

[73powerstroke]

looks like you have a dead(shorted) cell, thats why it reads 10.7. You can verify with a DVOM reading each cell in sequence if you pull off the caps and see which cell exactly. Walmart batteries are pretty much junk. Its not a true deep cycle.

These are sealed maintenance free crap. The battery would easily charge back up to normal . But fail a load test.
Either way I decided to disconnect everything and shelve the batteries. I can either sell them since I've not used them or something.

 

[MiSh]

The ones I have personal experience with are Trojan T-105 golf-carts. After five years of service, when I was ready to upgrade to much larger capacity batteries, they still held a charge and had a specific gravity of 1.265. Instead of recycling them, I passed them on to a neighbor, and they are still in service today. Whether or not the CostCo ones are just as good is not confirmed.

As I have always stated before is that the weak link of lead-acid battery utilization is chronic undercharging. Provide them with max current charging almost every day, and keep them topped off with distilled water, and they will give you long years of service. Hook them up to a dinky little 100W panel and walk away and they die.

I'm going into year nine with my 2, T-105's in my camper. Added water twice in nine years! Keep em on a charger topped in storage with zero issues. Pretty much bulletproof for a camping setup.

 

[73powerstroke]

I'm going into year nine with my 2, T-105's in my camper. Added water twice in nine years! Keep em on a charger topped in storage with zero issues. Pretty much bulletproof for a camping setup.

That's awesome what do you usually run with them when you're using them

 

[MiSh]

That's awesome what do you usually run with them when you're using them

Typically the water pump, propane furnace/fan and lights. We can usually go for 3-4 days without worry or charging.

 

[73powerstroke]

Typically the water pump, propane furnace/fan and lights. We can usually go for 3-4 days without worry or charging.

How much do those batteries cost nowadays

 

[Zwy]

I'm going into year nine with my 2, T-105's in my camper. Added water twice in nine years! Keep em on a charger topped in storage with zero issues. Pretty much bulletproof for a camping setup.

I'd love to test the capacity.

I assume you haven't done any EQ or you would have to add water then.

Sulfation is the killer on capacity. These are large capacity to begin with 225Ah/20hr rate is impressive. I have some T105's from a golf cart I recovered to 80% to 90% that were sulfated and mistreated, never had EQ done, batteries are about 5 years old. It takes 20 hours @11.25A to discharge these.

 

[Browneye]

I'd love to test the capacity.

I assume you haven't done any EQ or you would have to add water then.

Sulfation is the killer on capacity. These are large capacity to begin with 225Ah/20hr rate is impressive. I have some T105's from a golf cart I recovered to 80% to 90% that were sulfated and mistreated, never had EQ done, batteries are about 5 years old. It takes 20 hours @11.25A to discharge these.

The research I did many years ago for FLA proved IOTA was the leader with their IQ4 charging profile. The EQ keeps batteries in tip-top shape. Yes they need to be kept fully charged, and yes they need to be equalized (to 15.2V) and yes they will need distilled water occasionally. Golf cart batteries are pretty tough - they hold up WAY better than any 12V rv or 'marine' deep cycle battery - these latter are not true deep cycle batteries.

I had a big sailing yacht way back when and it had a 8D for the house battery. Now THAT is a battery! LOL. I guess they use them in bulldozers and forklifts.

T105's run $150 to $200 these days. Also-rans about 20% less. The days of $75 GC2's are long gone - the cheapo ones at costco sams or wallyfart are about $125 now.

I forget the name of the battery seller, but they moved from LA county to Tri-Cities WA, and they were a bargain for all kinds of batteries - they had Crown for about $125, and a local warehouse to pick them up. You have to do a local search cuz shipping lead costs too much. Deka can be found, Crown, Rolls-Surrette, and Trojan are all good options.

I was going to replace my costco/interstate pair, they were seven years old, still working but a hydrometer showed one cell starting to sag, so I thought to replace them before they all went. For about three times the cost I got twice the capacity with a DIY lifepo4 Eve cell battery. Updated charging and added solar charging in the process. Very happy with the performance. If you want the cheapest option the GC2's are definitely still the ticket.

 

[73powerstroke]

The research I did many years ago for FLA proved IOTA was the leader with their IQ4 charging profile. The EQ keeps batteries in tip-top shape. Yes they need to be kept fully charged, and yes they need to be equalized (to 15.2V) and yes they will need distilled water occasionally. Golf cart batteries are pretty tough - they hold up WAY better than any 12V rv or 'marine' deep cycle battery - these latter are not true deep cycle batteries.

I had a big sailing yacht way back when and it had a 8D for the house battery. Now THAT is a battery! LOL. I guess they use them in bulldozers and forklifts.

T105's run $150 to $200 these days. Also-rans about 20% less. The days of $75 GC2's are long gone - the cheapo ones at costco sams or wallyfart are about $125 now.

I forget the name of the battery seller, but they moved from LA county to Tri-Cities WA, and they were a bargain for all kinds of batteries - they had Crown for about $125, and a local warehouse to pick them up. You have to do a local search cuz shipping lead costs too much. Deka can be found, Crown, Rolls-Surrette, and Trojan are all good options.

I was going to replace my costco/interstate pair, they were seven years old, still working but a hydrometer showed one cell starting to sag, so I thought to replace them before they all went. For about three times the cost I got twice the capacity with a DIY lifepo4 Eve cell battery. Updated charging and added solar charging in the process. Very happy with the performance. If you want the cheapest option the GC2's are definitely still the ticket.

I've just pulled everything. It's not enough to run my house on electric heat in the winter no matter how many batteries I buy. I have 6 panels on a 40a epever charging a old group 65 battery at 12v and a cheap 1500w pure sine inverter so that if needed something basic during a power outage I'll at least have something

 

[MiSh]

I'd love to test the capacity.

I assume you haven't done any EQ or you would have to add water then.

Sulfation is the killer on capacity. These are large capacity to begin with 225Ah/20hr rate is impressive. I have some T105's from a golf cart I recovered to 80% to 90% that were sulfated and mistreated, never had EQ done, batteries are about 5 years old. It takes 20 hours @11.25A to discharge these.

Well, you just gave me an idea to try. I will run an equalization this spring when I get the camper out of storage. I'm curious to see how much more I can get out of them too. I figured 10 years would be fantastic.

 

[Browneye]

Anything over five years is a bonus.

 

[73powerstroke]

Anything over five years is a bonus.

I used to get 8 years out of reg car batteries till I moved to Arizona. I've seen some cars with batteries as old as 12 before in customer cars.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Desert AZ car batteries 2-3 years typical. 100°F+ shortens life substantially.

 

[73powerstroke]

Desert AZ car batteries 2-3 years typical. 100°F+ shortens life substantially.

Yep. And here it's 100 in the summer and 20s at night in the winter. Was 17 2 days ago! That can't help much either. Out of curiosity has anyone on here used the LV6548 battery less operation?