Time to replace our house battery bank.

We are working on replacing our house bank batteries and wonder if people have recommendations for reasonably priced batteries. The ones that need replacing are Trojan 125 6volt batteries. We have 6 to replace. Are There particular brands we should avoid? Of course the easy move is to go with the same but batteries are not my area of expertise so I am asking the group for preferences.

Trojan T-105 or T-125 batteries are the gold standard of flooded cell golf cart batteries. Are they better than Duracell's that are available at Batteriesplus? Yes, but how much better is an open question. i suspect not much better because the market would quickly weed out any poor performer in this hugely competitive application.

I think Batteriesplus sells the Duracell GC-2s for near $100 each. Trojans will be more, maybe close to $150 each. At that price differential, I would go with the Duracells.

David

Should be tons of threads on this issue on TF and just as many opinions. I use Trojan T-105s on my golf cart and US Battery 225 AH on my boat , both 6V, and have had no issues with either and had 6 to 7 years use from them. There are lots of cheap knock offs but I would recommend you stay with batteries with good names and proven performance.

the Trojan 105s can be up to $40 difference in price each.so shop around the golf cart centers it is worth an hour drive to save $250.it is to me anyway

Costco or Sam's club has the golf cart batteries for $89. I recently put 8 in my bank. I love the quality of the Trojan battery, but for the price difference, the Duracell pays for itself. You can almost buy two for the price of one Trojan.

If you are not a Costco Member, you can buy a gift card and anyone can use that from my understanding.

The Costco ones are much cheaper than the Trojan, but I wonder about their life span and quality. They are an interstate battery.

kolive said:

The Costco ones are much cheaper than the Trojan, but I wonder about their life span and quality. They are an interstate battery.

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I actually bought the Duracells at Sam's, but saw the ones at Costco also. I could not remember the manufacturer, but many people have mentioned that most are made by the same company and labeled by the re seller.

With the battery priced at 60% of the Trojan, I imagine the battery will last longer the 60% of the life of the Trojan. I am in no way an expert on this subject, though.

this where we bought them for our golf cart. it's the best price I've seen with this price they are always fresh. you may be able to find a good price in you area . they are defiantly not twice the price of the cheaper ones If you shop around.

https://bradsgolfcars.com/golf-car-batteries/trojan-t-105-6-volt-golf-car-battery/

When we replaced our 2-8Ds last year i went to a local battery business and bought 6 Trojan t105s for $103 each. Good enough!

FWIW, we’re replacing our six T105 bank with three Firefly G31s. A lot more money, but we’re taking the long view.

These two articles (and the comments following are very informative.

https://www.panbo.com/archives/2016...ting_with_cole_collins_calder_schwab_you.html


https://www.passagemaker.com/trawler-news/gizmos-new-firefly-battery-bank-working-out-the-details

Keith, on my sailboat I replaced my house bank with 4 x 6v GC. I bought them from Costco and the price was very good and the batteries seemed to perform really well until I sold the sailboat at the end of 2017. I think they are a very good value and for our purposes, I think are a good bet. Now, if I was a full-time cruiser living on the hook out in the boonies, then maybe an argument could be made for spending the big buck on Trojan's. Around here? Nope.

BTW, Budget Batteries on Center is a good spot to get rid of your old batteries. Easy and they give a pretty good value on the core. They are certainly worth giving a call anyway as far as the batteries go. The owner is pretty willing to work with you on price and if you call them as ask them what they have that would compete with Costco, he will give you an honest answer.

I have had good luck with Interstate Batteries on two different boats, both had come with them already installed. They did what they were supposed to do with no issues. I prefer AGM batteries these days for the ease of maintenance.

I used to use Dyno gc, but this last go round I upped the battery count to ten for the house bank and went with lifeline agm. They have more capacity, take a faster charge and also represented almost 4K worth of cost. This winter the marina lost power and had enough surge that the charger went into an error state and would not reset automatically. When I found it, the house bank was so drained it could not run a cheap toy from China. They did take a charge, but the risk of an early death or diminished capacity suddenly seems more tangible than before. Last June at haulout I put in underwater exhaust for a northern lights 5kw and a sound shield. It’s freakishly quiet that I can run it in any anchorage at any time. So that makes me nod more towards cheaper gc, you might beat performance, but not value.

Kolive, sine you are on vashon island I would recomend you get Dyno batteries. Dyno actually publishes their specs. They publish the plate thickness, number of plates and the weight. If you can find another battery that specs out the same for less money great. Most battery manufactures won’t publish their specs but will try to fool you with amp hrs and price to purchase an inferior battery. You can find Dyno batteries at fisheries.

House batteries work far harder than start batteries.

For most folks starting to cruise the first and perhaps second set of house batts will be sacrificial , unless a SOC meter is working.

The ability to no hassle return/replace the killed batts easily is worth more than a "forever" set of batts.

ghost said:

I used to use Dyno gc, but this last go round I upped the battery count to ten for the house bank and went with lifeline agm. They have more capacity, take a faster charge and also represented almost 4K worth of cost. This winter the marina lost power and had enough surge that the charger went into an error state and would not reset automatically. When I found it, the house bank was so drained it could not run a cheap toy from China. They did take a charge, but the risk of an early death or diminished capacity suddenly seems more tangible than before. Last June at haulout I put in underwater exhaust for a northern lights 5kw and a sound shield. It’s freakishly quiet that I can run it in any anchorage at any time. So that makes me nod more towards cheaper gc, you might beat performance, but not value.

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@ghost For clarification; you installed the AMG batteries because of the Marina power outage? Or did the outage happen after you did this install and now you've discovered something unsettling? Your testimony could track logically either way, at least to me hence my questions.

To clarify, My Dyno’s lasted about 8 years and started to fade. I upgraded to the agm’s. They are nicer in almost every way. Then I inadvertently drained them to zero and kept them in this state for days because of the marina outage. It’s just something that happened. That may well sap some of the life from them only two seasons into their life. I don’t burn test banks this big so I can’t measure the difference and prefer data over opinion(data scientist here). Subjectively, I’ll have to form an opinion this next season. The simple point is it’s easy to mistreat expensive batteries. Regular golf carts give most of the performance for much less cost.

kolive said:

We are working on replacing our house bank batteries and wonder if people have recommendations for reasonably priced batteries. The ones that need replacing are Trojan 125 6volt batteries. We have 6 to replace. Are There particular brands we should avoid? Of course the easy move is to go with the same but batteries are not my area of expertise so I am asking the group for preferences.

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If they gave you good service life, if they're easy enough to service (access and so forth), and if they give you the capacity you need, think I'd just stay with the Trojan 125s.

You could shop round for prices, and sometimes battery stores will match internet prices.

If they're difficult to service or in a place where off-gassing could be a concern, there might be other solutions... at higher cost.

-Chris

I've had x8 US Batteries 225aH & Crown 235aH golf carts right now....both have been/are fine. But I'll replace the x8 Crowns with x4 Oasis Firefly G31's @ 110aH each, like OldToby at post #10, when the time comes. The much faster recharge times, 80% DoD and overall charge regime robustness more than justify the higher upfront cost in my usage.

Another +1 for the Costco Interstate GC2s at $89 each but being a big fan of Trojan, if I could score a T105 for $110 or less, I'd consider going that route.

I got 5 years from my first set of Costco GC2s, changed in 2016. The replacement set cost about $550 compared to a Trojan bank about 50% higher cost pricing at the time. I also like the ease of return/replacement with several Costco stores close to my marina and home.

I think Al's comment at post #20 above raises an interesting point...which has also come up in the current thread about 8D's. What is a reasonable life expectation for the life of a House bank of golf cart flooded batteries in 'typical' trawler usage. No such thing as typical maybe (though I think there are distinct groups of usage patterns)...but Al seems to be Ok with getting 5 years from his Costco GC2's....whereas if I got anything less than 10-11 years from my Crowns ( & US Batteries before that) I'd be pretty disappointed. I've made a significant investment in a top-notch Victron inverter-charger; in Balmar external regulators and a Balmar 'centerfielder'; in Balmar Duo-Chargers, good alternators, etc etc....so all that makes me demand and expect a 10+ year life for my House bank (and for that matter, 9-10 years for my Start bank too).

Paul, in all fairness to the batteries, their performance plummeted after my 30A shore charger failed on a week out on anchor. I upgraded the charger to 55A and installed a combiner and Balmar 120A alternator before replacing the batts. Realistically, I'd expect 7 years from a set of well maintained LA GC2s.

On my boat height is not an issue but the foot print has its limits. I use L16 batteries, I have 1600 amp hours of capacity and I am expecting 10+ years of life from my lead acid Dyno batteries.

Battery life is determined largely by use and maintenance. The original batteries on my sailboat were 2 wet cell 4Ds. They lasted 10 years. Most of their life was spent on a charger at the dock other than long weekends and the occasional week long cruise. They were occasionally discharged badly, but not often.

The same batteries with more frequent deep discharge and they would have given up quickly.

The use , DOD (depth of discharge) will determine the batts service life.

Most batt mfg have a few charts showing the life at 80% DOD, 50% DOD and 25% DOD.

Weather a desulfation setup will help with folks that go below 50% often is still a discussion.

FF said:

The use , DOD (depth of discharge) will determine the batts service life.

Most batt mfg have a few charts showing the life at 80% DOD, 50% DOD and 25% DOD.

Weather a desulfation setup will help with folks that go below 50% often is still a discussion.

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This is why I have a 1600 amp hour bank

"This is why I have a 1600 amp hour bank"

I hope you have a 300A alternator or some other system to recharge in modest time!

Even only down to 50% DOD , that a bunch of amps to create and stuff into the batts.

FF said:

"This is why I have a 1600 amp hour bank"

I hope you have a 300A alternator or some other system to recharge in modest time!

Even only down to 50% DOD , that a bunch of amps to create and stuff into the batts.

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10k generator & 300 amp battery charger.