Best Bang for the Buck Batteries?

[John61CT]

Sorry thought you said you bought two.

If you grab something because you need it now can't wait skint at the time,

that is not a good basis for recommending to others.

But I'm sure it will indeed be fine may last a few years if cared for.

But for others, for a category like this IMO it is better **if you can** to wait a bit and save up for better quality.

 

[becida]

Sorry thought you said you bought two.

If you grab something because you need it now can't wait skint at the time,

that is not a good basis for recommending to others.

I bought a second the next month.   It's called getting by. 
We all do things differently and they work to our satisfaction or they don't. Those batteries worked for me, they cost less than $100, they were easy to find and they fit in my space. 

Do I need to say they worked for me again?  What more can anyone say about a 12v battery that worked.....

You answer the original question to the best of your ability then you walk on down the road, the reader will figure it out.

I can't think of anything more to say about a 12v battery from Walmart....

 

[BobW55]

I can relate to buying what one can afford vs buying what is best.
I wanted two 6 volt 200 Ah golf cart batteries, the golf cart place I was going to buy them from was going to sell me the set for $200 out the door.
When I went to get them, they now quoted me a $300 price. Didn't have the money at the time, ended up with a 12 volt (75 Ah ?) deep cycle for under $100.
While it may NOT be a true deep cycle, and low on capacity, it will more than fill my needs. Would be a major flying day if I ever got near dropping the battery down to 50%. I only fly on weekends for now, my only major draw is when I fire up the 750 Watt inverter to charge my computers.
It all boils down to bang for the buck.
What will last the longest, while supplying your power needs, and not break your bank.

 

[tripper]

I have had good luck with Trojan batteries, they have a retailer in every big city about $175 for the 27 TMH 105 AH battery. I see locally in Tucson that Duracell Ultra 6v golf cart batteries are $99 each.

 

[Weight]

My Duracell EGC2 batteries, that is 230 amp hour, were $109 each.

 

[John61CT]

For the sake of apples to apples clarity for newbies coming in cold,

it would be really great if people would give their example costs as

$ per AH @12V

The ~$1 figure is not actually "paying more", it is as cheap as it gets, and a small fraction of what 99% of the deep cycling world pays, for much lower quality.

And that's just up-front cost, before taking into account that

$ per AH @12V per year

is actually the true metric to pay attention to,

but that depends more on the infrastructure, situation and knowledge of the owner.

 

[RogerD]

Batteries Plus has Duracell Ultra )230 ah) 6V for $119. Order online and pick up a local store for a 10% discount. Makes them $108. Plus tax and core charge.

Core charge is $27.

I have no cores. Thought about placing an ad on craigslist and see if I can get any 6v GC batteries cheap or free.

 

[rsday75]

Batteries Plus has Duracell Ultra )230 ah) 6V for $119. Order online and pick up a local store for a 10% discount. Makes them $108. Plus tax and core charge.

Core charge is $27.

I have no cores. Thought about placing an ad on craigslist and see if I can get any 6v GC batteries cheap or free.

My experience with Batteries Plus is they will take any battery as a core for the 6v GC batteries. I traded 2 group 24 for the 2 6v.

 

[John61CT]

Stop by a mom & pop garage or junkyard.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Sam's Club has Duracell GC2 6 volt batteries for $93.88.  If you don't have a membership find someone who does, they can take you in as a guest.

 

[RogerD]

I called batteries plus and they said they just want the cores to be approx the same weight.

Placed an ad on CL. Had a guy contact me with 3 GC batteries so far. He is asking $10 each.

I'm really trying to get dead ones for free.

Since it's the first day, I'm in no rush to pay for them.

If everyone ends up wanting money, I'll just offer like $5 per battery and see what happens.

 

[Bobflhtc]

I purchased 2 Trojan T105 flooded 6 volt deep cycle batteries for $130 each with a core charge of $30
2 1/2 years ago in Parker AZ. They are supposed to last 5-8 years. Wired together for 12 volt they store 224 AH.
100 percent charge is 12.73
50 percent charge is 12.10

I'm a full-timer and I rarely take them below 12.40. I'm unable to run the air conditioning in my trailer but other than that everything else. So far so good

 

[wayne49]

It would be a no brainer if the same spec was available for each battery.
225AH@20 for the Duracell.
With the 12V we are lucky to see AH@20. CCA is sometimes all there is.
I have been looking at the weight as an indicator of lead content.
Assuming they wouldn't substitute titanium/gold to make the battery heavier.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

 . . .
225AH@20 for the Duracell.
With the 12V we are lucky to see AH@20. CCA is sometimes all there is . . .

I don't know what you mean by the @20.

You are talking about two different types of batteries:
 - Starter batteries are spec'd in cold cranking amps (lots of thin lead plates that release a large current for a short time).
 - Deep cycle batteries are spec'd in AH (thick lead plates that release small amount of current slowly for a long time).
CCA is a poor specification for a deep cycle battery and AH is not a useful spec for a starting battery.  Marine batteries are a compromise between the two and are generally a better starting battery than a deep cycle battery.

Weight of battery is a good indicator of deep cycle capability; ~ 60 lbs for 100 AH @ 12V.

Your 60lb gold battery would cost over $1,000,000.

 

[Weight]

Deep cycle capacity standard is calculated with 20 hour discharge rates. That is the '@20'. As example; 100 amp hour means discharged under exacting parameters, a steady 5 amperes discharged for 20 hours at a constant temperature of 70F to end with a dead battery. If an other than deep cycle battery lists something called 'Reserve Capacity', that can be roughly, inexactly, referenced to double the 20 hour rating.

 

[John61CT]

It would be a no brainer if the same spec was available for each battery.

If the spec is not published, definitely not worth buying that brand.

> 225AH@20 for the Duracell. With the 12V we are lucky to see AH@20. CCA is sometimes all there is.

You misunderstand. The 20-hour rate means 225AH ÷ 20 = 11.3A is the discharge rate that will bring that battery down from 100% SoC to a 10.5V or 0%.

Most batteries mentioning cranking or CCA at all in the sell sheets are not true deep cycle batts. The top few AGM makers are exceptions.