Advice on Golf Cart Battery Brands

[Gray Dog]

I'm in the process of replacing two 8D flooded lead acid batteries with six GC2 Golf cart batteries. I want to stay with flooded lead acid. The brands I am looking at all have about the same price for 220 amp hour models. In consideration is Crown, Interstate and Duracell.

Does anyone have experience with these brands that might help me make the best choice?

Thanks in advance for any information.

Wayne Prichard
1999 Island Gypsy 32

 

[Bacchus]

Wayne
Take a look at RCs article on deep cycle battys.
https://marinehowto.com/what-is-a-deep-cycle-battery/
I think he includes comments on those brands.
I I remember correctly he points out that they all make a "budget" line and a commercial golf cart quality line. So one point is to make sure you are comparing apples & apples.

 

[Wood]

I've got Crown but they are 235AH. They came with the boat last summer. They are four years old. They weren't used correctly. One set is off 0.15 volts @ about 12.6v at full charge.



I would check each manufacturer weight - heavier = more lead..... Higher AH rate = thinner plates in the same form factor.


I am replacing with Rolls - S6-250

 

[rjwilliams11741]

I've had my best luck with Trojan. Tried other brands and they didn't measure up.

 

[Pack Mule]

I’m going to need to replace my house bank soon. I’m looking at Trojan T-105 . A golf cart dealer in town is a distributor for them .

 

[DavidM]

I doubt that any brand, even the budget line, is all that bad. No one could stay in business for long while providing a bad product. The market is just too big. Crappy products will quickly be flushed out.

Premium brands like Trojan and Lifeline might have somewhat thicker plates and provide a bit longer life. As noted above, check battery weight. 10% more weight might mean 10% more life.

David

 

[LaBomba]

I live in a golf cart friendly community and most people use Trojan T-105s, Duracell ar cheaper as are many others and likely for a reason. I used US Battery mfg batteries on my last boat. They had similar specs as the Trojans and after 6 years they were still strong.

 

[bnoft]

We had the three Trojan T-105s in our GB for the house bank. I plan to put them in the Ocean Alexander when the house needs replacing.

 

[O C Diver]

Very happy with my Trojan T-105s

Ted

 

[Ken E.]

I've always used Interstate GC's, never a problem. I have 8 of them for the house bank. I replace them at 5-6 years but they'd go longer I'm sure.

 

[boater3]

sam's club

re-branded Deka

$80 a pop

 

[catalinajack]

sam's club

re-branded Deka

$80 a pop

I've always wondered about "rebranded" products, that is, are they of exactly the same manufacture. I do know that some name brands sold by Home Depot are more cheaply made. For example, what looks like an identical snow blower actually has thinner sheet metal housings. It's the same with some lawn cutting equipment. For that reason, I would never buy that sort of product from Home Depot regardless the name plate. As for the Sam's Club batteries, the "tell" for me would be comparative overall weight any difference likely being attributable to plate weight.

I checked the specs. The Sam's Club battery (Duracell) is rated at 208 amp hours, the Deka is 230 amp hours which suggests to me that the two battery brands are not constructed identically. I am not surprised. Also, today's price at Sam's is $90.

 

[boater3]

I've always wondered about "rebranded" products, that is, are they of exactly the same manufacture. I do know that some name brands sold by Home Depot are more cheaply made. For example, what looks like an identical snow blower actually has thinner sheet metal housings. It's the same with some lawn cutting equipment. For that reason, I would never buy that sort of product from Home Depot regardless the name plate. As for the Sam's Club batteries, the "tell" for me would be comparative overall weight any difference likely being attributable to plate weight.

For this specific model, its pretty much common knowledge that it is identical.

Yes, you are right, some times products can be inferior but not always.

There are certain items that I buy at west marine sitting next to a name brand product but happens to be branded west marine and its the same exact thing at 50% of the cost (especially with a Pro discount).

Some sellers / manufacturers are happy to confirm whether a product is identical and just re-badged. Some you have to do your own research.

 

[Lou_tribal]

Last year I bought 4 gc2 from costco. Looking at the model I found that they are made by a us company (sorry don't remember the name). Considering the discount price at costco, even if they last half the life of a trojan ( what I would doubt, as even if I expect difference I don't expect it to be so much) it would be a good deal. Battery life depends on usage but also on maintenance.
Anyway I will see and experience will tell.

L

 

[Tom.B]

Take a look at NAPA branded. Without oversimplifying it, the heavier the battery, the better. Look for East Penn manufactured ones... the name on the label doesn’t really matter too much. That said, don’t set one foot out of West Marine with any of their batteries in your hand.

 

[Xsbank]

Costco for sure, they just don’t always have them when you need them.

 

[Bacchus]

Take a look at NAPA branded. Without oversimplifying it, the heavier the battery, the better. Look for East Penn manufactured ones... the name on the label doesn’t really matter too much. That said, don’t set one foot out of West Marine with any of their batteries in your hand.

TomB
I agree re East Penn but do believe wt is an real over simplification...
Ex: Nothing much heavier than 8D but most resources advise they are not a good choice

 

[fryedaze]

We have 8 Crown 6volt. They are 4+ years old. We anchor frequently and use our boat 12 months a year. I also have a 4D Crown for engine start. Its 5 years old. I take SGs about 4 times a year and have seen no decrease in performance. For some reason the Crown resting voltage is higher than other batts. I will buy them again.

 

[BruceK]

TomB
I agree re East Penn but do believe wt is an real over simplification...
Ex: Nothing much heavier than 8D but most resources advise they are not a good choice

Even 8Ds vary in weight.

 

[jleonard]

I have Interstate, and they have lasted good so far.

 

[CMS]

I'm in the process of replacing two 8D flooded lead acid batteries with six GC2 Golf cart batteries. I want to stay with flooded lead acid. The brands I am looking at all have about the same price for 220 amp hour models. In consideration is Crown, Interstate and Duracell.

Does anyone have experience with these brands that might help me make the best choice?

Thanks in advance for any information.

Wayne Prichard
1999 Island Gypsy 32

Crown's are excellent batteries, Duracell's are re-stickered East Penn/Deka, also a decent product.

Interstate is owned by JCI (Johnson Controls) and their GC2's have been made by various manufacturers over the years, including, at one point in time, US Battery. The JCI made GC2 6V batteries are less long lasting in our experience but today it is a guess at who actually makes their GC2 product as it changes..


If those were my only three choices I would choose the Crown product..

 

[rjwilliams11741]

Costco for sure, they just don’t always have them when you need them.

Bought Costco golf cart batteries when we were cruising Mexico, they were OK but didn't hold up like my Trojans did (7 years). Ended up replacing them after 3 years with new Trojans which cost a fortune down there as they had to be shipped from the US. The Costco batteries were, at the time, being supplied by Johnson Controls. Don't know if this has changed.

 

[Larry M]

If you go with Trojans and want bolt on terminals, I would suggest you go with the EHPT (embedded high profile terminial) post. The difference is the ability to stack more than 2-4/0 or 2/0 battery cables per post. With the standard post, the ELPT (embedded low profile terminal), you are limited to ~2. If you look at the lower right terminal, I have 1-4/0 and 2-2/0 lugs on the post. I would like to have a little more post height. It's an ELPT.

When we picked up our batteries, the seller went out of his way to stress that we use the correct torque for the nuts on the posts. He showed us 2 new batteries where a buyer (s) got a little carried away over tightening the nuts. Trojan lists the torque value at 95-105 in-lb for the ELPT or EHPT posts.

 

[CMS]

I checked the specs. The Sam's Club battery (Duracell) is rated at 208 amp hours, the Deka is 230 amp hours which suggests to me that the two battery brands are not constructed identically. I am not surprised. Also, today's price at Sam's is $90.

#1 Not all Sam's locations sell the East Penn made products. If it says 208Ah, at the 20 hour rate, it is not the East Penn made GC2.

#2 The GC2 Duracell/East Penn products sold at Sam's are called the GC2 and the EGC2. If made by East Penn (again not all locations) they are identical batteries to the Deka GC10 (black case) and GC15 (gray case). I been to the factory, seen sticker application, & I have had my inside engineering contacts confirm the only difference is the sticker whether it is NAPA, West Marine, Sam's Club or others who hide behind the sticker..



#3 While the price is always good at Sam's, certainly better than West Marine who is selling the identical battery with a different sticker, the inventory can sit for a while depending on club location. If you are not in an area that moves a lot of GC batteries then you'll be better off finding a battery distributor that moves a lot of GCs's to industry or golf sectors in order to get fresh stock. We can actually buy the Deka product for less money at our battery distributor but we are buying wholesale not retail. For retail pricing it is really hard to beat Sam's Club, if you can find fresh stock.

 

[kchace]

I'll add my 2 cents about the Crown CG2 batteries. I have 4 on my boat which were relatively new but quite abused (undercharged for long periods) when I bought my current boat. They responded well to a proper charging routine and are still doing well at almost 7 years.


Ken

 

[JDCAVE]

If you go with Trojans and want bolt on terminals, I would suggest you go with the EHPT (embedded high profile terminial) post. The difference is the ability to stack more than 2-4/0 or 2/0 battery cables per post. With the standard post, the ELPT (embedded low profile terminal), you are limited to ~2. If you look at the lower right terminal, I have 1-4/0 and 2-2/0 lugs on the post. I would like to have a little more post height. It's an ELPT.



When we picked up our batteries, the seller went out of his way to stress that we use the correct torque for the nuts on the posts. He showed us 2 new batteries where a buyer (s) got a little carried away over tightening the nuts. Trojan lists the torque value at 95-105 in-lb for the ELPT or EHPT posts.

Larry: From the photo, it looks like the lower right terminal does not have a lot of room left on the lug (enough threads) to support those connections. I do wonder what circumstances would require more than two cables per post for a 12 volt application? Perhaps for combining batteries for a 24 VDC application?

I don’t have torque wrench in my tool kit so have been quite careful about over torquing.

Jim

 

[firehoser75]

Wayne
Take a look at RCs article on deep cycle battys.
https://marinehowto.com/what-is-a-deep-cycle-battery/
I think he includes comments on those brands.
I I remember correctly he points out that they all make a "budget" line and a commercial golf cart quality line. So one point is to make sure you are comparing apples & apples.

I agree with Bacchus. Take the time to check out the information from Rod at the above website.
Most boat batteries (especially the house bank) are "killed" by their owners and live a "shortened life" compared to what is possible. Therefore, if you are not going to set up a complete system to properly maintain your bank, then you may just be spending more money on batteries than you needed to (and not really gaining any (or little) value). Overcharging and especially regularly operating at a "partial state of charge" (not regularly completely recharging to 100%) prematurely "kill" batteries. If you "look after" your batteries, you will get the most life and therefore value out of them, whatever brand you buy.
However, as Rod explains, some of the "cheap" brands are just that, cheap, and may not be a good investment.
Again, check out his information, you will probably learn a lot and probably ultimately save money as a result.

 

[Larry M]

Larry: From the photo, it looks like the lower right terminal does not have a lot of room left on the lug (enough threads) to support those connections. I do wonder what circumstances would require more than two cables per post for a 12 volt application?...

Jim: It just barely supports the cables, probably 1.5 threads. It’s something that’s not right but I living with it till we replace the batteries.

You may need to stack three if you have Balmar alternator temperature sensor or their Smart Guage. It’s a tight fit if you’re using 4/0 cables.

 

[Gray Dog]

Battery Replacement

Thank you to everyone. I greatly appreciate the information. Will look in person this weekend. Nice wiring project coming up as well.

 

[OldToby]

Larry: From the photo, it looks like the lower right terminal does not have a lot of room left on the lug (enough threads) to support those connections. I do wonder what circumstances would require more than two cables per post for a 12 volt application? Perhaps for combining batteries for a 24 VDC application?

I don’t have torque wrench in my tool kit so have been quite careful about over torquing.

Jim

Here are FOUR stout cables on a lug, running three G31 batteries in parallel and wanting all cable lengths to be equal.