Upgrade to Group 27 RV batteries

[Phil Saran]

My 5th wheel came with one Group 24 RV battery and I would like to upgrade to dual Group 27 RV batteries.

It seems they only come with a one year warranty.

Walmart - Ever Start - $81.67

Costco - Interstate - $87.99

Interstate Store - Interstate - $128.00

Open to comments and opinions.

Thanks IA

[oldjohnt]

Hi Phil and welcome, good question here's my own personal take I'm sure others will follow.

For RV house battery use (especially for dry camping) I highly recommend a full true Deep Cycle (such as for Golf Carts) Battery   NOT  any cheaper sometime referred to as RV/Marine which are semi deep cycle "Dual Purpose"  for STARTING  huge marine engines then perhaps more of the traditional DEEP CYCLE use like running the trolling motor. IE Often a battery labeled RV/Marine is NOT a full true Deep Cycle...……..

Often (not always) on Deep Cycle batteries you see them labeled in AMP HOUR CAPACITY while on Starting or RV/Marine Batteries you see the Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) or perhaps Reserve Capacity.

In order to get the needed 12 volts plus true deep cycle many use two 6 Volt Golf Cart batteries in series. However in recent years I see more and more true deep cycle batteries in 12 volts and especially I'm seeing more 12 Volt full true Deep Cycle AGM batteries which is what I chose recently so I don't have to check and add water.

if you must use Group 27 there are options out there (But Id still use a Deep Cycle instead of any "Dual Purpose" or RV/Marine) and if mounting and space is a limiting factor you have less choices, however, if you have the room you might consider larger frame size batteries or even what I use is a frame size 4D 12 Volt 208 Amp Hour Deep Cycle AGM unit (129 lbs), I have three of them.  

Here are a few websites (Trojan, Interstate, Batteries Plus) concerning Group Size 27 Deep Cycle Batteries

https://www.trojanbattery.com/product/27-agm/

 https://www.batteriesplus.com/battery/rv/deep-cycle?q=group 27 batteries

 https://interstatebatteries.com/recreation-vehicles/rv-batteries/deep-cycle

There are a ton of good Deep Cycle (Flooded Lead Acid or AGM)  brands out there, a few that come to mind are Trojan, Crown, Rolls Surette, Interstate, FullRiver etc. Then there is Lithium Iron Phosphate for less weight, quicker charging, deeper discharge ability BUT high in initial cost and they don't like freezing temperatures...BUT they may be the wave of the future !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I were younger I may have gone down that road myself

Best wishes

John T

Edited July 26, 2019 by oldjohnt

[Chad Heiser]

I agree with oldjohn that a true deep cycle battery is much better than any RV/marine hybrid battery.  If all you do is go from full hook up site to full hook up site then you could get by with an RV/marine hybrid battery, but if you do any dry camping at all then you should use a true deep cycle battery.  

Since you plan to upgrade to two batteries, then I would also recommend going with two 6 volt golf cart batteries wired in series to make 12 volts.  Costco sells a pretty inexpensive 6 volt golf cart battery that is a good battery to learn with (because it is relatively inexpensive and you don’t have to worry so much if you kill it).

If you intend to do some dry camping, then I also highly recommend you get a good battery monitor that calculates true state of charge of your batteries.  This way there is no guess work and you always know what state your batteries are in.  You do not want to take a typical lead acid or AGM battery below 50% state of charge because it will greatly diminish the battery life of the battery.  For a stand alone battery monitor, I recommend the Victron BMV 712.  It has Bluetooth built in and will let you connect your phone or tablet to it through an app to get all the pertinent information about your batteries.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Chad Heiser