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House Battery Replacement

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House Battery Replacement - Duracell GC2-AGM:

We have a 2012 Allegro Bus 43QGP which was built with six Interstate 6-volt GC2-HD-UT house batteries. Have any of you Tiffin owners replaced your house batteries using the Duracell AGM 6-Volt GC2 battery that is available at Sam's Club for about $180 each? This seems to be a good price for an AGM (no adding water) type battery. 

Just wondering if anyone has had first hand experience with these (Duracell AGM 6-Volt GC2) as house battery replacements? 

If I go through the expense/process to replace my house batteries, I really would like to replace them with AGM type batteries so I don't have to bother with adding water or cleaning up the corrosion every 6 months. 

By the way, see the attached picture of this Duracell battery.

IMG_8415.JPG

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.

I have 3 12V Exide SLA deep-cycle house batteries that were installed in 2014. They are doing great-so far, cost about $80 ea back then. When I select the equalize feature, my Xantrex RS2000 inverter/charger will most often run for 5 minutes then display a msg the batteries do not need the equalization cycle and return to normal charge cycle.  It does complete the equalization cycle about once every 6 months, and the time period varies, I suppose due to battery needs.

When in storage our MH is always on shore power, if that makes a difference.

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I went with Duracell EGC2s because I don't drycamp enough to justify the more expensive set up. We will see how long they last. The last ones were over 6 years old. 

Bill

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Campalot, Welcome to the FMCA forums!

To answer your question, yes. I have our coach set up like that for three years now. 

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17 hours ago, Campalot said:

Can AGM batteries on a Class A be mixed with an engine starting wet battery?

 

Be sure to select AGM at your inverter/charger remote for the house batteries.  

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The Duracell AGM came on my 2011 Allegro Bus...had no problems for the 3 years I had the bus!

I now run NAPA AGM's...8 + 2 Series 31 Start Batteries, no problem for 5 years now.  

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On 9/9/2019 at 8:49 AM, jleamont said:

Campalot, Welcome to the FMCA forums!

To answer your question, yes. I have our coach set up like that for three years now. 

How does that work? AGM batteries require a different charging pattern than standard lead/acid batteries. I'm wanting to do what you did, but from everything I've read about AGM batteries vs lead/acid I would have to have 2 different chargers. I run the equalize charge function about once each 3 months for both house and chassis battery banks, AGM batteries cannot be equalized, how would I handle that?

Take a peek at both these links and you quickly see why I'm confused. https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/absorbent_glass_mat_agm

https://surplusbattery.com/batteryimg/10_facts_about_agm_batteries.html

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10 hours ago, RayIN said:

How does that work?

Driving down the road the my Alternator switches between chassis and house batteries. The batteries I run are a direct replacement for a flooded acid battery which means they can withstand the charge rate of the alternator which isn't uncommon in today's AGM. No AGM will take an Equalization charge kindly, which my alternator is NOT capable of producing. When parked the inverter charges both banks but not at the same time. My inverter is set to AGM so it will not go into an Equalization cycle. 

Over the road sleeper tractors are also set up this way when they have Hybrid or Battery powered APU's, very common amongst that industry to have flooded to start the engine and AGM on the APU.

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I was set up that way until 2014, then I changed all to AGM.  On my Magnum Panel, I have 4-6 volt on each 2,800 W, inverter/charger...my engine batteries charge by Alternator and separate trickle charger, I dialed in AGM on each bank...

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2 hours ago, jleamont said:

Driving down the road the my Alternator switches between chassis and house batteries. The batteries I run are a direct replacement for a flooded acid battery which means they can withstand the charge rate of the alternator which isn't uncommon in today's AGM. No AGM will take an Equalization charge kindly, which my alternator is NOT capable of producing. When parked the inverter charges both banks but not at the same time. My inverter is set to AGM so it will not go into an Equalization cycle. 

Over the road sleeper tractors are also set up this way when they have Hybrid or Battery powered APU's, very common amongst that industry to have flooded to start the engine and AGM on the APU.

Thank you for explaining.

FYI; BCI GROUP NUMBERS, AND DIMENSIONAL SPECIFICATIONS

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