Deep Cycle Battery Recommendation

[metricmonkeywrench]

After 5 years the original House battery on our 5th wheel the has finally mostly given up. I forget the off brand but it’s a 650cca, I found out everything was dead when I headed out to the inspection station to get my yearly inspection stickers, it seemed to charge up on the way there, so I thought a light or something may have been left on after our last trip. Luckily it took enough of a charge long enough to pass the state inspection which requires triggering the breakaway switch which is powered by the house battery. Not a crushing loss at this time of year as we only have a short distance trip or two left and we are either connected to the truck or shore power. At 5 years old it owed us nothing, but given its age I figured a load test was in order even though it took a charge. A quick trip down to the local parts place load tester confirmed the diagnosis, bad.

So the question is what’s a good brand name of deep cycle batteries these days, my price range is less than $200. I don’t intend to do any conversions or upgrades, just replace what’s there (Mama don’t do no dry camping, we have 2 A/C units on the camper for a reason she says). Within reasonable driving distances I have the usual gang of auto parts shops, tire shops, Batteries Plus, TSC and of course Wally World. I do not plan on going to the RV or Boat shops and their inflated prices or doing an online order.

Recommendations?

[Outpost75]

West Marine or Boats US "house" brand you can get within your price range. For a deep cycle battery don't pay any attention to cold cranking amps, but instead look at amp-hours and reserve capacify comparing different brands of batteries having the same BCI Group rating. Better is to look for Trojan, Deka, Concorde, Optima, but you may be hard pressed to get anything in your price range.

[Idaho45guy]

I need to see what brand my dad used. When he died, I was cleaning out his shop and found 4-5 Deep Cycle batteries that he used for his camper and electric trolling motors. They were older and had been used quite a bit, but they all took a charge and are working great.

[reloader28]

As much as I hate to admit it, the cheap walmart batteries have been been tested to be very good. We use battery back up in our house and they have proven great. When we had to replace them after 6 or 7 years of hard use we got a good deal on Autocraft batteries. NEVER would I recommend them. After 1 year of storage and 2 years of use I am down to 4 of 10 and I'm babying them along.
If we're camping I take along a Harbor Freight solar panel as back up

[Outpost75]

Wal-Mart batteries are made by East Penn, which is an established US producer of outstanding reputation. They also make OEM replacement Mopar batteries for Jeep, Dodge Ram and Fiat-Chrysler.

West Marine batteries were made by Johnson-Controls, recently taken over by Clarios, a German company which also sells batteries in the EU under the Varta brand, which is said to be excellent and the OEM supplier for VW, BMW, Mercedes and Audi.

[farmbif]

I for years have gotten most all my batteries from sams club. a whole bunch of 800 to 1000 cranking amp batteries ive been switching over from group 31 with 12 month warranty to group 27 that have about the same power but 3 or 5 year warranty. but recently I found a new favorite battery source while searching for an odd size battery for a cub loboy 154. found one that would fit at super low price of $60 at the interstate battery warehouse store. the regular price is about $180 but this one came out of the blemished rack. has a full 1 year guarantee and no interstate label on it its a plain Jane battery with some marks on the case but they guy said its the same exact battery inside as the regular one. they had quite a few different group sizes all brand new and priced at $60

[Jsm180]

Around here, central FL, Sams and Rural King are my choice for batteries. I swap out the truck batteries every 3-4 years and then use those in the 5th wheel. I carry generators so no need for 12 volt only or deep cycle.

[jonp]

As much as I hate to admit it, the cheap walmart batteries have been been tested to be very good. We use battery back up in our house and they have proven great. When we had to replace them after 6 or 7 years of hard use we got a good deal on Autocraft batteries. NEVER would I recommend them. After 1 year of storage and 2 years of use I am down to 4 of 10 and I'm babying them along.
If we're camping I take along a Harbor Freight solar panel as back up

I've switched to Walmart brand and have not been disappointed. The best thing is that if it is within warranty there is a Walmart most everywhere.

[Beerd]

I just replaced a 7 year old Interstate with another one of the same brand.
..

[rockrat]

I go to the Interstate battery people when I need a battery.

[Outpost75]

I go to the Interstate battery people when I need a battery.

Interstate batteries are made by Exide. Good product.

[Idaho45guy]

I happened to see the batteries today in my shop and they were the Napa brand Deep-Cycle Marine batteries.

They get good reviews...

https://www.thebatterygenie.com/who-makes-napa-batteries-and-are-they-good/

[steveu]

Walmart battery and a Deltran battery tender. I had one in my truck for 9 years.

[metricmonkeywrench]

Thanks for the replies and recommendations so far. Seeing a lot in favor of the Wally world route, which just for convenience is the closest place to me and just makes sense.

For those who don't know the layout of electric trailer brakes here's the simplistic description, about all 2 or more axle trailers have a manditory DOT approved breakaway switch system where a cable is attached to the towing vehicle to a breakaway switch. In the event of a complete separation of the trailer from the towing vehicle the switch is triggered (generally a plastic pin separating the electrical contacts) full trailer battery power is applied to the trailer brakes to keep the trailer from rolling away uncontrolled. For Cargo and car trailers this is normally provided by a small battery pack generally on the tongue if the trailer. For RV's there is generally a 12 "house" battery that provides power to the internal services such as trailer house lights, furnace, radio, water pump, fridge controller etc for when the trailer is neither connected to the towing vehicle or plugged into an outlet. Both style batteries are normally charged when the trailer light plug is plugged in, one of the circuits is a simple 12v power for this purpose, the other connections are of course for brakes, lights etc. RV's have one more layer for charging as there is normally some sort of charger/inverter built into the system to provide 12v to charge the house battery and provide additional power to the internal services.

By comparison Semi trucks also have a breakaway system of sorts, for them it takes air pressure to turn the brakes off. If the air lines are disconnected or there is a major leak in the system the brakes will apply. Also some surge brake systems like boat trailers or U-hauls rental trailers have a toggle hooked to a cable that will stroke the surge brake master cylinder and apply brake pressure for the same effect.