Lead Acid Battery Recommendation

Hello All:

I cannot currently swing the cost of a lithium battery and need to replace my house battery. Does anyone have recommendations for a maintenance-free (I don't have to add water) lead acid battery for around $200.00?

I have a Thor Freedom Elite, Class C Motorhome. A functional battery is required for my propane auto-igniters (they cannot be lit manually) for the fridge, hot water heater, and heat pump.

I have an Onan on-board 4000 watt generator and 100 watts of solar that I intend to connect to the battery when I boondock to help keep the battery from discharging.

I appreciate your thoughts/feedback!

Thanks!!!

It seems to me a lot of people were recommending Walmart batteries as they can be warrantied nation wide at any Walmart.

I buy my batteries at Rural King and haven't had any problems with any of them. They supply Agricultural and domestic needs. I've looked at their batteries for the house battery in my own rig too. I believe RK's batteries are made for them by Exide.

Rural King AGM Battery

List of Stores

130 Stores in 13 States

I used to purchase batteries at Walmart when they were all 24/7.

You may want to watch this Youtube video about used LiPo4's.

Used Lithium Batterys from Hospital Equipment

I like the Walmart RV batteries for the reasons stated above but also because they are very good about not needing to be topped up with water like other batteries. Lead calcium? With my charge controller set to 14.8 volts I haven't had to add water at all over the three + years I've had them.

I like this $189 AGM battery on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Renogy-Batte...fos.d977788f-1483-4f76-90a3-786e4cdc8f10&th=1

The price of lithium batteries has fallen dramatically, Amazon has Chinese lithium batteries < $275 that might be worth trying if you can afford it. For example, this one even has a 4 year warranty available:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09L5XT8HB/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A793D3B497JF&psc=1

Willow4303 said:

(I don't have to add water

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This requirement typically doubles the cost of lead deep cycles.

Willow4303 said:

need to replace my house battery

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What-a-a-a-a--aat is the existing house battery?

For $300 I found these by googling "lifepo4 drop in replacement"

https://www.eco-worthy.com/collecti...-Nkg0ry1Y1CPNPxMjOQ89fnnj5x8i7OIaAhgOEALw_wcB
https://ipowerqueen.com/products/12...HfMT94am_gmrxjkizaeRApYVZnausBJIaAiGSEALw_wcB

Willow4303 said:

I have an Onan on-board 4000 watt generator and 100 watts of solar that I intend to connect to the battery when I boondock to help keep the battery from discharging.

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This means that the house battery is also a starting battery for the generator, (unless this has been changed by you or a previous owner)

You will know that your Onan is using the house battery for starting if your interior lights dim or flicker briefly when you fire up the generator.

In this situation, I recommend you go with an RV/Marine starting/deep-cycle battery:
AGMs are spendy, but a flooded battery that will do the job with both types of terminals (post and wingnut) and will be less than $100 at most Walmarts and most autoparts stores.

I found an online price of $169.99 (in my zip code) for an AGM of this type at O-Reillys:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...p-size-34m-top-post-battery/ssbj/34magm?pos=0

I looked up that Power Queen battery and in the description it does say, 'not for starting'.

frater secessus said:

This requirement typically doubles the cost of lead deep cycles.





What-a-a-a-a--aat is the existing house battery?

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A lead acid door stop of unknown manufacture. It does not hold a charge for more than an hour when I'm not connected to shore power and nothing is on.

frater secessus said:

This requirement typically doubles the cost of lead deep cycles.





What-a-a-a-a--aat is the existing house battery?

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Oops, I replied to this question in the wrong place. It's a lead acid door stop that does not hold a charge for more than an hour when I'm not plugged into shore power. Can't find manufacturer name any where that I can see.

tx2sturgis said:

This means that the house battery is also a starting battery for the generator, (unless this has been changed by you or a previous owner)

You will know that your Onan is using the house battery for starting if your interior lights dim or flicker briefly when you fire up the generator.

In this situation, I recommend you go with an RV/Marine starting/deep-cycle battery:
AGMs are spendy, but a flooded battery that will do the job with both types of terminals (post and wingnut) and will be less than $100 at most Walmarts and most autoparts stores.

I found an online price of $169.99 (in my zip code) for an AGM of this type at O-Reillys:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...p-size-34m-top-post-battery/ssbj/34magm?pos=0

Click to expand...

I didn't think about the generator also using the house battery. I will test that when I get back to my rig. Thanks for that tip!!

tx2sturgis said:

I looked up that Power Queen battery and in the description it does say, 'not for starting'.

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I didn't vet the info... just a quick google for drop in replacements for lead-acid house batteries...

I do know that there are LIFEPO4 drop-in replacements for starter batteries too but don't know links offhand. They are a bit more pricey though from previous research.

Yep, and to be fair, most of these smaller RV gensets can start on a lead acid deep-cycle battery, but a typical lifepo4 battery has current limiting built-in and of course we don't know exactly what that limit might be in this situation.

The OP did mention that cost is a factor so I'm suggesting an off-the-shelf, drop-in solution that will be compatible with not only the genset, but also the OEM built-in RV 120v to 12v converter.

You could also get a 60ah lithium battery(discharge to 20%) which has the same or slightly better overall capacity for the same price as a 100ah AGM ( discharge to only 50%) at 1/3 the weight.
https://www.amazon.com/phosphate-Re...mzn1.fos.18ed3cb5-28d5-4975-8bc7-93deae8f9840

Something that needs to be realized here is that lithium batteries have some costly limitations and requirements even though most are protected by a built in Battery Management System (BMS) most traditional 12 volt charging systems will require modifications to support them and they still will shut down hopefully when high amp loads like a starter is powered. Not a good thing! In my RV I still have a lead acid house battery and a generator but recently purchased an EcoFlow Delta 2 power station which I charge by plugging into the 120 volt inverter that came with the RV powered by running the generator during the day. I use the 12 volt 10 amp outlet to supplement my 12 volt lead acid battery once it discharges to 12.5 volts at night just before I go to bed to run my RV propane heater/fan over night because my lead acid house batteries are about done and I didn’t want to have to modify the system in order to go to lithium batteries or buy new/more lead acid batteries. That was only one of the reasons though as I needed something that was portable and self contained as well for other endeavors. At any rate it keeps the old batteries at a high enough state of charge that I can disconnect the EcoFlow Delta 2 in the morning and still start the generator off the lead acid house batteries, bulk charge them, recharge the EcoFlow Delta 2 with 120 volt AC then let my 100 amp solar finish charging the house batteries as well as fulfill my daytime electrical needs. Not the cheapest solution but definitely the simplest as all I had to do was make a male ciggy plug to male ciggy plug cord to connect the two systems at night. The Ecoflow Delta 2 will last 2 or 3 nights till it needs charged and only requires a couple hours at most to fully charge drawing a little over 1200 watts. Sure beats killing your lead acid battery at 3AM and going several hours with no heater.

Sorry correction I have a 100 watt Renology suitcase solar set up.

There is an advantage to buying your batteries from someone that has a lot of locations in the areas you travel. It sucks to have to travel a long way to replace a defective battery or have to deal with shipping (at added cost) or have to buy a replacement for an in warrantee battery.

tradesman said:

You could also get a 60ah lithium battery(discharge to 20%) which has the same or slightly better overall capacity for the same price as a 100ah AGM ( discharge to only 50%) .....

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Can we stop spreading the fable that LA batteries can only be discharged to 50%. Both chemistries (LA and Li-Ion) can be discharged until the voltage is no longer hight enough to be useful. For typical RV usage (low amps) voltage drops too low at about 25%-30% for lead acid and 15% to 20% for Li-Ion.

If you are shying away from lithium (or cheap lithium) then I wouldn't go any lower than AGM. They say "it's a different formula" and not just a jelled acid battery. By my experience with supposedly "good" Walmart batteries (they won't replace a battery unless they first try to charge yours and prove it's bad) the AGM batteries perform better.