Is this a decent battery?

[DFrank]

http://www.batterymart.com/p-9a65-12-volt-group-65-agm-battery.html

9A65 High Performance Group 65 AGM Battery.

I need to buy 4 new batteries. Two for under the hood and two for the camper.

I'd like to avoid the $300 price tag of an Odyssey or even the full retail of the platinums. Of course I hated reading about them on sale a month ago. Probably cant wait for the next sears sale.

I'm thinking they might as well all be the same and have the ones under the hood be deep cycle as well, so it matters less when the camper drains off the truck batteries.

I know doing that repeatedly has shortened the life of whats under there now, and I'd like to be able to use the trucks for camper power without worrying about over draining them.

Does this sound like a good idea?

Should I get a thicker wire to connect the alternators to the camper batteries? Right now they only recharge via the + pin on the trailer connector. I have no idea if driving alone or idling for 30+ minutes adds much to the charge.

The pop up sits on the truck 99% of the time. (I took it off once this year to allow it into an 8' garage door for new injectors).

Also considering a small generator and continuing to use the weakening camper batteries.

 

[The patriot]

I went to the local big truck shop and got 2 group 31's made by Exide with 900+ CCA's for $89 ea.
It's a tight fit in the stock battery tray, but on a warm day you can just get them in.

EDit: My truck is a 1998, I dont know if the battery tray is the same in yours.

A good (Honda) generator will set you back about $1000 minimum.

 

[mfurrh55]

Not much of a warranty, only 6 months

 

[DFrank]

Not much of a warranty, only 6 months

I did notice that

Patriot, are the Exides a deep cell?, I bet the battery trays are different. My '03 takes a group 65.

 

[BIGNASTY]

I put Costco Batt's in mine and have had nothing but the best luck with them, I wouldn't hesitate one bit on buying them again, FWIW they are made by Johnson Controls for Costco,

the same batt's are a different color and have Interstate on them and sold for a higher price at NAPA.

 

[TFucili]

That looks like a Deka AGM battery. Deka AGMs are hard to beat. That outfit may be buying them private-label, and supplying their own warranty.

 

[mfurrh55]

I put Costco Batt's in mine and have had nothing but the best luck with them, I wouldn't hesitate one bit on buying them again, FWIW they are made by Johnson Controls for Costco,

the same batt's are a different color and have Interstate on them and sold for a higher price at NAPA.

Big, you running these in your Dodge?,Monte

 

[BDaugherty]

I don't know anything about the batteries in your link. My comment will refer to how you have them connected to your truck.

I suggest using a battery isolator along with heavier wiring. I use this: http://www.wirthco.com/battery-isolator-series-p-601-l-en.html in my service truck.
It's an automatic battery isolator that allows me to run all of my accessories such as inverter, work lights, laptop and cell phone chargers, etc off a single deep cycle battery while keeping the main battery in reserve for starting and powering up the OEM systems. I have a #6 wire run from my primary battery to the isolator. Another #6 wire runs from the isolator to the auxiliary battery. The isolator has a small ground wire and circuit board that closes a relay when the main battery is above 13.?? volts. When it drops to a predetermined voltage, it open the relay thus isolating the aux from main batteries. I've had mine for a few years and it works great. It also has a manual override button in case I need to jump start my main battery off the auxiliary ones.

Here's another of the same style that's a little cheaper: http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Dual-Battery-140A-Isolator/dp/B00400IYTK

I also suggest running heavier gauge ground and hot wires from your truck's batteries directly to your camper batteries. I'm thinking around 6-8 gauge depending on how long they need to be. This will allow faster charging with less voltage drop as well as taking the stress off your factory wiring.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Big, you running these in your Dodge?,Monte

Yup!!! been in for at least 3 maybe 4 years. Not one problem, put the little red and green washers on sprayed them with some Zep batt. terminal corrosion (red) inhibitor on it and have never touched them. It gets plenty cold here to put them to the test.

 

[DFrank]

They say they are made to order and will ship in 7-10 days. 28$ to ship. Goin got call in the AM and see what they'll offer if I buy 4 of 'em.

Thanks for the isolator link. If I hook up the bigger wires from my primary battery, up the the camper batteries and put the isolator in that line, would I just want to disconnect the positive wire from my 7 pin input to the camper?

 

[AEdelheit]

That looks like a Deka AGM battery. Deka AGMs are hard to beat. That outfit may be buying them private-label, and supplying their own warranty.

Id say Dekas are the best batteries you can buy for the money, at work I replace a lot of dead Interstates with Dekas, had great luck with them!

 

[The patriot]

Theyre regular truck batteries.

 

[Tuesdak]

http://www.batterymart.com/p-9a65-12-volt-group-65-agm-battery.html

9A65 High Performance Group 65 AGM Battery.

I need to buy 4 new batteries. Two for under the hood and two for the camper.

I'd like to avoid the $300 price tag of an Odyssey or even the full retail of the platinums. Of course I hated reading about them on sale a month ago. Probably cant wait for the next sears sale.

I'm thinking they might as well all be the same and have the ones under the hood be deep cycle as well, so it matters less when the camper drains off the truck batteries.

I know doing that repeatedly has shortened the life of whats under there now, and I'd like to be able to use the trucks for camper power without worrying about over draining them.

Does this sound like a good idea?

Should I get a thicker wire to connect the alternators to the camper batteries? Right now they only recharge via the + pin on the trailer connector. I have no idea if driving alone or idling for 30+ minutes adds much to the charge.

The pop up sits on the truck 99% of the time. (I took it off once this year to allow it into an 8' garage door for new injectors).

Also considering a small generator and continuing to use the weakening camper batteries.

Batteries will charge at 6 amps or more each depending on charge level and available power to keep the voltage up. The lower the battery voltage the more amps it will take to try and charge to the limits of wire and alternators/chargers. The trailer charge wire is a bit of a joke for it's size experiencing a large voltage drop due to the small wire size. In short it isn't going to charge the batteries quickly. it's hardly big enough to just 'top off' fully charged RV/trailer batteries. This is a bit of a blessing as alternators really are not rated to charge dead batteries - let alone 4 of them. They are designed to top off the charge and run the vehicle. For best results you will want to get a heaver charge wire to the camper batteries.

Assuming you have a upgraded or heavy duty enough alternator the next step is a deep cycle rated battery for the camper with the suggested battery isolator installed. You don't want to drain all 4 batteries. Jump starting is dangerous and even riskier in freezing weather where a battery could have frozen. Frozen batteries have a bad habit of exploding when trying to jump/charge them without unthawing them. So you want to keep the 'starting' batteries isolated from the camper loads. The camper batteries need to be deep cycle, but, even then you don't want to take the voltage too low by completely discharging them. Start and run the engine to charge the batteries up more often or add more batteries (and alternator upgrade) depending on your needs. A new deep cycle battery vs. what you have now may have the capacity to do what you need vs. old abused by deep cycling starting batteries. Cheaper than a generator and headaches they cause.

Another reason to keep starting batteries 'isolated' is starting with low voltage is hard on starters and other items. Aka brownout with a slow spinning starter generating more heat than it normally does. Best to have charged starting batteries to get a cold engine started easily when you need it.

I wouldn't buy Jonson Controls batteries period. And they sell lots of re-labeled stuff - a research task to avoid them. They bought out Optima, fired a bunch of Colorado employees when they moved the factory to Mexico, and reduced via cost cutting the quality of the product to be on par with a flooded cell battery they make. I have had horrible luck with their Made in Mexico cr@p vs. the made in Colorado stuff their reputation was built on. I have switched to the re-labeled Deka AGM's because it can't be worse then the no-quality Optima's. By the way AGM's like dry cells can leak like dry cell flashlight batteries although they are spill proof. This was the last 3 Optima failures I have had is leaking around the 'unused' posts on different stuff.

I wouldn't buy a 6 month warranty battery like above. I would go with a top of the line deep cycle flooded cell first if budget was a concern. Of course regular starting batteries for the truck with a battery isolator.

 

[DFrank]

Thanks. I hadn't thought about upgrading the alternator.

Any suggestions on what to look for? Would it compromise driving economy much?

I think my camper batteries may be more viable than I thought. I just need to keep them topped off better. The truck batteries are a write off, I presume.

 

[DFrank]

If I go with bigger 6 volts they won't fit in the wheel well, they will need to go inside a front lower compartment. I assume we'll need to put them in a vented battery box, or is that unnecessary if I go with the pricey deka agms?

 

[Tuesdak]

All types of lead acid batteries can gas explosive hydrogen gas so they need to be vented. Including AGM. Some rare cases during overcharging or thermal runaway they can release Hydrogen Sulfide gas.

I would test the batteries you have after a full charge and disconnected from each other. Some battery analyzers can give you a life expectancy used readout.

Add an isolator.

Upgrade camper charge wiring to near the size that comes off the alternator. Don't forget to also upgrade the ground wire from the camper batteries to the frame and frame to the engine.

Next look at upgraded alternators if needed. Increased idle output for this specific use is helpful as you will be idling to charge 4 batteries - 2 with high charge rates from being discharged. The amount you run your batteries down and charging idle time you have can affect this. I am experienced in the firecracker GM CS-130's that blow out trying to charge a discharged single starting battery... As far as the stock alternator or heavy duty option the 5.9 may have -not sure how much idle stress they can take and if a engine high idle option helps. That may be a separate topic others have better advice for the Dodge trucks than I do.

 

[mwilson]

That looks like a Deka AGM battery. Deka AGMs are hard to beat. That outfit may be buying them private-label, and supplying their own warranty.

Certainly looks like a Deka Part Number, for example my Group 31 AGM Alliance Dekas carry a part number of 9A31.

Mike.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I went to the local big truck shop and got 2 group 31's made by Exide with 900+ CCA's for $89 ea.
It's a tight fit in the stock battery tray, but on a warm day you can just get them in.

EDit: My truck is a 1998, I dont know if the battery tray is the same in yours.

A good (Honda) generator will set you back about $1000 minimum.

I don't think group 31's will fit in a third gen though I could be wrong. Our batteries are mounted on top of the fender wells instead of in front of them and ours are rather short compared to normal batts.

Scott

 

[K5IP]

Group 65,
Costco (Interstate) is great is spite of what others have said.
Don't worry about changing the alternator. They are current limited and will not be harmed by high loads. Their 135AH is enough for almost any camping application.
A small generator (I like Honda) is good insurance if you dry camp for extended periods. Even keeps my ham gear on the air. And, you can always use the generator to bring up exhausted batteries if you run out.
K5IP

 

[TFucili]

Certainly looks like a Deka Part Number, for example my Group 31 AGM Alliance Dekas carry a part number of 9A31.

Mike.

That's what initially caught my eye. We sell Deka powersports batteries, but I have access to the whole line. BTW, Mike, my Deka rep is from Maine...