Coach Batteries

[Curt Krueger]

Well, I can't put it off any longer, coach batteries are not holding a charge any longer. Whats the hot setup for replacements, acid or gel?

Any help would be appreciated,

Curt

[rdlamb]

Hi Curt:
I changed my coach batteries from wet to AGMs, Orbital blue tops. Reasoning was this:
We full time, camping 2-4 weeks at a site, plugged into shore power. The coach batteries were constantly boiling over, creating white deposits of acid in the lower compartment where the batteries were located.
I looked at Trojan deep cycle, Optima blue, and finally Orbital (NAPA stores).

In my Jeep, I installed an Optima Yellow (starting and deep cycle combo), which lasted 2 years. I bought another Optima, again it lasted only 2 years. Which happened to be the warranty for this type of Optima.

So, I changed to the Orbital. Several sites rated the Orbital higher than the Optima. I'll let you know.

But, AGMs have several advantages over wet cells, the main one being no exhausted fumes to turn into acid, and construction that should last longer than conventional wet cells, and not having to check cell water levels weekly.

I would recommend the Orbitals (demand a discount from the NAPA store), Optima (found at Sam's and Costco), as well as the Trojans.
Safe Travels
Rick

[RayandPamTaylor]

I recently acquired 12 Optima blue batteries and have been thinking of a way to use them? Any suggestions? Since our conquest only had one battery but room for two I did put one parallel there.

[mfa]

I recently acquired 12 Optima blue batteries and have been thinking of a way to use them? Any suggestions? Since our conquest only had one battery but room for two I did put one parallel there.

Might not be a good idea if you put a new battery in parallel with your old battery. If I was doing that, I would only use two batteries of the same type and age.

[RayandPamTaylor]

The coach is a 07 we picked it up last Mar. and the Optima batteries may be a year or two older and still in the original boxes. They seem to work good.