House Batteries

[mbrund]

My coach came with 31DT's from the factory. So the pricing is for
the MK/DEKA 8A31DT (AGM) $172, or 8G31DT (GEL) $151. I have a total
of 8 for a battery bank of 780 AH (GEL) currently. If I switched to
AGM it would increase to 832 AH. I have a regular RV based fridge
and don't dry camp so the GEL battery bank is plenty large enough
with out the added 51AH I would get from AGM.

I prefer the add life that you get from GEL over AGM. Like you said,
the death of most GEL's comes from incorrect charging routines. So to
make sure that I don't incorrectly charge the batteries, I am looking
at either getting a Charles or Balmar 3 stage alternator regulator as
to not incorrectly charge the batteries while the engine is running.
I already have plans to replace the IOTA Converters and old Heart
Inverter with a newer Xantrex Inveter/Charger combo.

Michael Brundridge
92 WB40
Georgetown, TX


--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Pete Masterson
wrote:
>
> Previous owner of my coach installed Deka AGMs (6 house model 4D,
3
> engine (smaller) batteries). I still have the engine batteries --
> they seem to be ok, but the house batteries were replaced since
the
> Link 2000 R controller had been 'reset' sometime during the 6
months
> the coach sat in dealer's lots between the previous owner and
myself.
> The batteries were being overcharged during that time and for
several
> months after -- until I figured out what was going wrong. The
> overcharging seriously shorted the life of the batteries.
>
> I replaced my 6 house batteries with Fullriver 8A4D AGM, 216 AH --
at
> about $500 each. (These are big batteries -- about 150 lbs. each.)
> The one problem presented by the Fullriver batteries was that they
> were about 1/2 inch wider than the Dekas ... and I ended up having
> to modify the battery trays and mounting system to accommodate
them.
>
> I would have gotten Deka batteries as a replacement, but I was
unable
> to locate them in this area.
>
> What model Deka batteries are used in your coach? At $151, they
sound
> like they're much smaller than the class 4D used in my coach.
>
> Pete Masterson
> '95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42
> El Sobrante CA
> aeonix1@...
>
>
>
> On Sep 23, 2007, at 10:32 PM, mbrund wrote:
>
> > Well it's about that time to replace batteries. The RV has been
over
> > at the body shop waiting on parts from Blue Bird (seems they
can't get
> > parts shipped out of Blue Bird these days since the change over.
Been
> > waiting 4 weeks for a dang bumper that has been sitting on their
> > shelf). In the mean time, since the body shop does not have a 50
AMP
> > plug, my house batteries went to 0 volts. Well they where on
their
> > last leg anyway!
> >
> > So going to replace all 8 GEL CELLS with 8 new AGM batteries. I
got a
> > qoute for 8 new DEKA AGM @ $151 each plus taxes. Anyone have any
> > good/bad experience with DEKA?
> >
> > I believe the ones I have now are MK (all though they have no
name on
> > them they look just like the MK with the same handle design).
> >
> > Michael Brundridge
> > 1992 WB40
> > Georgetown, TX
> >
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>