In need of a new battery

[airx22]

Looking for suggestions for a new 12v battery. I don't have solar and most of the time we are plugged into power. Probably not gonna do the lithium because of the cost.
Thanks for the help

[KCSA75]

Probably not a lot of difference from one battery to another, but I've been buying batteries for my cars and boat from Advance Auto Parts for several years with good results.

[PaulB12]

I use interstate deed cycle with good results.
PaulB12

[Jagiven]

Welcome aboard! You don't mention what you have for a camper.

If you are 100% always connected to shore power, the battery really does not matter to much, as long as it is not an automotive style battery. The key element; it is required to engage the e-brake incase of a disconnect while traveling. Your standard cheap group 24 dual purpose marine battery will be just fine.

It is nice to have a decent battery, incase you are off the grid periodically or incase of power outages. AMG batteries do not need any maintenance. Wet cell batteries you do need to check the fluid levels periodically, and add DISTILLED WATER periodically.

Sam's club batteries seem to be well priced. If you have a friend who is a member, maybe they will let you tag along to get a battery. I bought a new group 31 AMG battery for $100 last fall, price is a bit higher today. So far I have liked it. They have a wet cell group 24 battery for about $80.

If you want to have enough power for a standard weekend off the grid, I would recommend a true deep cycle battery.

We boondock a fair amount. Up until this past fall we used the cheap dual purpose group 24, that came with the TT and had no issues, but we had to be conservative with our power consumption.

[Route 66 Traveler]

Is the AGM battery considered a Deep Cycle battery?

[Randel J]

I bought a pretty decent deep cycle 12v battery from O'Reilly's Auto Store. Not sure if they have stores in the mid-west and east coast, but they are big on the west coast and are located in almost any good size town.

[airx22]

THis really helps,much appreciated

[Jay2504]

There are 3 “common” sizes of 12 volt batteries used in RVs. They are group 24,27 and 31. There are 2 common sizes of battery boxes. Measure your width of the box that you have. If it’s close to 13 inches wide, it’s the big box and you can put in any of the 3 you want. ( a spacer would have to be made for the smaller group 24. Even if you have to buy a bigger plastic box for $12, it’s worth it to go to the bigger 31 battery. Jay

[edatlanta]

Originally Posted by airx22

Looking for suggestions for a new 12v battery. I don't have solar and most of the time we are plugged into power. Probably not gonna do the lithium because of the cost.
Thanks for the help

I agree with you on the cost, but don't forget your inverter/charger. Most of the OEM ones unless brand new won't properly charge lithium.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by Route 66 Traveler

Is the AGM battery considered a Deep Cycle battery?

No. AGM is a battery technology that is used in starter batteries and in deep cycle batteries.

[fisduki]

The cost of lithium being a limiter for most of us, especially those of us that are weekend/vacation campers. Paying $1000 for a lithium battery seems crazy when you can get a lead acid battery for $100 or in many cases less.

Not sure about the size camper you have, but for us, I tried dry camping at a state camp ground with a single Group 24 battery and wasn't able to make it 2 nights without the battery being drained which left us with no power to pump water for the toilet/faucets.

That lead me to add a second group 24 battery, we did go on a 2 night and was able to go the entire weekend with no issues running out of power. The problem I have with adding the second battery is the weight!

I got 2 group 24 batteries from Costco and put them in the boxes on the tongue of my TT which weight for the pair is 82 lbs and will give me about 75 AH of power. The cost was right at $200. I have since returned those batteries and am getting a Miady 100AH Lithium for $506.

For me, this was a justifiable cost addition for 2 reason.

#1 The 2 lead acid batteries weight 82 lbs compared to 29 lbs for the single Miady lithium battery.
#2. The 2 lead acid batteries will only give me about 75 AH total(you can only use about 50% of the stated power in a lead acid without doing permanent damage to it) vs 100 AH from the single Miady.

For the record, I normally try to camp where I have full hookups, but I rarely leave home without a full fresh water tank and full battery along with solar power backup options(another great conversation).

[airx22]

very good info,,,,thank you for replying

[CastIron]

I recently replaced the deep cycle battery in our RV with a Duracell Marine Deep Cycle Battery, Group size 27 from Sam's Club. It was about $82 dollars with trade in. They also have group 24 and 31.

[billcf7]

Originally Posted by Route 66 Traveler

Is the AGM battery considered a Deep Cycle battery?

Not all are considered deep cycle

[billcf7]

Also you can buy a lithium for only a few dollars more than a top of the line agm and will last 10+ years

[Cavie]

A deep cycle battery is rated in Amp hours. Not cranking amps.





















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[thenne1713]

A Group 27 RV/ Marine 12vdc can be about 10-20% better than the group 24, but you really need to SEE the battery chart to compare your SPECIFIC PART # options. Believe a recent CR report also said testing did NOT Match/ was LESS than MFR literature implied?

[nottherealfloridaman]

Originally Posted by fisduki

I got 2 group 24 batteries from Costco and put them in the boxes on the tongue of my TT which weight for the pair is 82 lbs and will give me about 75 AH of power. The cost was right at $200. I have since returned those batteries and am getting a Miady 100AH Lithium for $506.

I'm in the same boat. My rig came with a interstate marine battery, not too shabby, and I don't currently do a lot of dry camp/boondock so its been fine. However, I'd like to have the ability to dry camp for a weekend if I want, so I was looking around at various battery options to add 100+AH and from what I can see Lithium is actually more bang for the buck.

Yes, an individual lithium is much more expensive than a single deep cycle, but when you look at total AH, how many AH you can actually use before charging, weight and longevity (10 yr warranty), the lithium's start to look pretty attractive.

Like you said, 100AH lithium for around $500, 200AH lithium for around $800 (if you have the space for it).

[joe w]

Originally Posted by airx22

Looking for suggestions for a new 12v battery. I don't have solar and most of the time we are plugged into power. Probably not gonna do the lithium because of the cost.
Thanks for the help

Picked up a marine/RV deep cycle at Walmart, now going on four years, no issues. Keep the water(distilled) level up and run a maintainer if in storage.