60 replies to this topic

[rock and roll]

It's time to connect a battery to the 25-amp converter/charger in my camper. I've done some searching in the forum and it seems like the Sears DieHard Marine Battery, Platinum PM-1 - Group Size 31M is a popular choice.

I'll be doing mostly boondocking, but weight, size and money are an issue. I plan on installing it next to the water tank. I also plan to charge the battery from my truck alternator using the 12v feed wire (powering the camper when the truck is running) and a SurePower 1314 battery separator.

Does anybody have any recommendations for battery selection?

[HERR42]

Deka

[Vic]

I've never had great luck with wet cell batteries. I always forget to charge them when I get home, or when in storage, etc, and I end up killing them. For the past several years I have been running dual optima blue tops and have been happy. I needed something that could handle several days of dry camping and run the furnace for several nights. First year we had the camper we did a Thanksgiving trip to the South Rim. The deep-cycle that came with the camper died after the first night and we froze. Thank goodness the NPS store sold big bottles of schnapps.

I would have probably gone with 2 Trojan 6 volts if my battery boxes had the room, but they are a bit taller if I recall and didn't fit well.

Best price I could find a few years ago was at CostCo, but they are still spendy. There may be 'better' solutions out there but I like the abuse these Optimas put up with.

-Vic

[K6ON]

Funny you should ask at this time. Overland Journal arrived on my doorstep last Thursday and has a nice comparison of Optima, Interstate, Deka, Sears D.H. Platinum, and $2,200.00 Valence Lithium-Ion batteries.

The Sears Die Hard Platinum P-4 came out on top of all the others. I put a pair of Platinum's in the truck last year, and a new pair in the camper a couple months back. Don't know how long they'll hold up, but have got to be better than the old wet deep cycle marine batteries I had to replace after only 2 years.

I'm kind of hard on my batteries with a 1.5 KW inverter in the camper, a compressor that draws 100 amps under load, a ham radio amplifier that draws over 100 amps, and a Warn 12000lb winch that sucks down a few amps when working hard.. We'll see how long these Die Hard's last

[DirtyDog]

This may be a dumb question - but do some types of car batteries need to be vented outside, making them unsuitable for camper use?

[HERR42]

thats correct. only the sealed types (VRLA) should be installed insidea camper. Gel or AGM.



http://www.dekabatte...s/base/0139.pdf

[UglyScout]

I just bought a CarQuest XTReme AGM battery and confirmed that it is DEKA AGM. And the price was right.... So if you have a CarQuest near you - it is worht a look.

[pods8]

If you want to pinch pennies go flooded cell batteries, put you need to vent/maintain them.

If you can spend a bit more AGM for sure. I'd call some battery distributors and see if they are having any close outs, when I was looking for my batteries I managed to find some 6V 210amp hour batteries closing out for $75/ea (normally ~$225) so I have two of those in series. If I was going to quickly grab a single battery on very short notice I'd go with sears platinum probably just because its easy to find.

With AGM/gel batteries don't ignore the charge profiles recommended by the manufacturer either.

[rock and roll]

Wow, thanks for all of the shared knowledge! What a great thread for the search function, we even have the Overland Journal sourced (Thanks Deltarat).

Because of battery placement I've decided to go AGM. Based on specs I'm going with the best Sears Diehard Platinum 31M. Finding out that Sears Diehard Platinum = Odyssey sure helped. They're made by the same factory.

I'll probably replace the truck battery with a DieHard Platinum while I'm at it.

[SunMan]

I'll probably replace the truck battery with a DieHard Platinum while I'm at it.

Looks like you have a Tundra, FWIW they don't make a group 27f Platinum that fits the Tundra yet. They can put a different size in but they will have to rig it to work. Just a heads up.