Why AGM battery?

[thirdktm]

We need a new coach battery.
My current battery is a low-end 12V deep cycle. It is less than two years old.
It never has seemed to hold a charge for longer than a day or two. It requires a generator boost more than once a day, when we dry camp.
An AGM battery will eliminate battery worrries, I am told.
And they cost double the standard wet-cell battery.
Please advise....
Thank you....

[Bookemdanno]

I don't know that the AGM's are "better" then a wet cell..you can get both that are comparable. I'd say that the benefit to an AGM battery is the lack of having to do any maintenance to it, other than keeping it charged. You don't have to check the water levels in an AGM. I'm lazy, so I like AGM...I have 3 in my 5er.

[Pfflyer]

Originally Posted by Bookemdanno

I don't know that the AGM's are "better" then a wet cell..you can get both that are comparable. I'd say that the benefit to an AGM battery is the lack of having to do any maintenance to it, other than keeping it charged. You don't have to check the water levels in an AGM. I'm lazy, so I like AGM...I have 3 in my 5er.

I am in the same camp. Our battery slide is going to limit how many usable Ah battery you will be able to fit in there. You wont increase the usable Ah's by much with AGM or standard wet cell over the wet cell that came in mine. There was another thread on the forum about building your own lithium battery for not much more than AGM. I researched it a little and it was still twice the price or more than AGM but you get more usable Ah's. I didn't take any measurements of how many Ah bank of lithium will fit, if any would but you could multiply the # of usable Ah's by quite a bit making the price per usable Ah cheaper with lithium.

[Les7h]

What they said - if you don’t mind keeping the water level maintained - a true deep cycle 6 volt “ golf cart battery “ ( a pair of Trojan T-105 batteries will give you 225 amp hours ( 112 useable ) ) much more bang for your $$ - 5-7 years of battery life ( or more ) Les

[Camper_bob]

I've always preferred AGM over wet cell in standard 12V applications. They handle heat and deep discharge better than standard batts. Also better with vibration too. Where I am, heat kills batteries, and AGMs stand up better.

That being said, my current plan for the MH is to drop an AGM in the engine bay, and wire up 2x6V GC2 Duracells for the house. Sure, I'll have to water the house batteries, but for the money and AH, I just can't pull the trigger on AGM right now. 2xAGM 6V batteries is cost prohibitive for me, and 1x12V would cost the same or more as the 2x6V GC2s with A LOT less AH capacity.

Perhaps by the time I burn up the 6V GC2s, Lithium will have come down in price a bit.

[RetiredLEO]

Advantage also is they can even be used inside the coach.......no "off-gassing" If you are solar equipped I would suggest checking out Battleborn Lithium. More money but they're half the weight, can be taken down to zero charge w/out hurting it instead of 50% like AGM's and wet cells. They recharge four times faster, rated to be able to recharge 3,000-5,000 times.

[GeorgiaRV]

I know this is going to create a lot of thread chatter but...I first swapped my OEM house battery out for the same reasons you are having with yours. I put in AGM. It lasted about a year of full time RVing. I have sinced swapped the AGMs out for Battleborn Lithium batteries. They perform amazingly. I know they are like three times the cost but if you use your rig alot and will be boondocking you should go for the extra cost of Lithium batteries.

[shadester]

Just got the AGM. Liking them so far after the first trip. I'm hoping i don't get the corrosion I had with the wet cells. Took awhile to freshen up the battery box. But sitting in service so long probably didn't help the matter with the wet cells.

[thirdktm]

I have made a decision: Buy a standard wet-cell 12V battery, not AGM and not lithium.
I talked to several people and spent way too much time reading about batteries online.
The gist of what I read was an AGM might get double the life of the standard wet-cell. But there's no guarantee. And if we dry camp a lot, which we do, some people told me that AGM is the way to go. To that, my reply is that I have a 90W solar panel, which is my backup for when the battery gets low. Just two weekends ago, the battery lost a lot of power overnight, so much that it would not even start the generator. So at dawn, I aimed the solar panel to the east. In short order, the battery was nearly fully recharged. The solar panel is magic and I would say nearly essential for dry camping more than two days...

[RetiredOne]

Is your battery located under the steps like in my unit? I had a second spot there to put an additional Group 24 DeepCycle battery, which now doubles the available amp hours.

I know many people upgraded to AGM, but my feeling is just stay with lead acid. I'm out farting around and checking things all the time, so topping of the water is no big issue.

The BIG thing with your battery (or batteries) is to NEVER let the run down below 12 volts. Keep a digital voltmeter handy and use it. This, more than anything, will shorten it's life. ALWAYS keep them charged or topped off, and you get years of service out of them.

[thirdktm]

To: Retired One......
The battery is located in an outside, slide-out drawer just behind the passenger door. It sits in a tray that is the size of the battery. No space for two 6-volt batteries or a longer 12V.
As for keeping the charge up while the coach sits in the driveway, I probably am failing at that. And I know better...
A couple of the people I talked to about AGM told me the primary advantage is that it does not need to be serviced, i.e., top it off with distilled water. To me, that is easily done, in less than 5 minutes. And I'm not willing to pay for that "convenience."
Cheers....Jim

[Half Ton Heavy]

A lithium battery has many advantages, and only one disadvantage (two if you leave it out in the cold), and that is $$ upfront. Other than that, they last MUCH longer, have much less weight, and have much greater energy density, and with the proper charger, much quicker recharge times, which means less genset run times.

[Rusty Nuts]

I’ve heard a lot on this forum about Lithium batteries but nobody has mentioned the possibility of fire with Lithium’s especially while charging. Has anybody heard of any fires using them in RV’s? I am actually curious about this so please take this as a legitimate question not as a criticism to those that use them. Thanks.

[32Pinnical]

Over the last 15 years, I have used wet cell deep cycle batteries from all the major manufacturers. The batteries I buy now are from WalMart and last me an average of 5 years before dropping voltage due to age and heavy use! Been using WalMart brand for 7 years now with no complaints! You can pick the freshest batteries from the rack!