Need inexpensive battery with a lot of storage, longevity not important

jdlobb

Adventurer
Does anybody have a recommendation for a "house" battery to use that can store the most aH for the least money. The number of deep cycles it can stand is not important, it is only temporary and will probably only get used a couple of times.
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
Wallyworld boat battery. 122 amps and around $85.
Made by JCI. Actually a good battery at a very good price.
 

wrcsixeight

Adventurer
The standard measure of battery capacity is the 20 hour rate.

Wally world will use a 10, 5 or even a 1 hour rate and then label their battery as being 122 amp hours, when at the 20 hour rate it might only be 105 A/h.

Buyer beware.

If you've got the room, and do not care about longevity, you could hook a bunch of worn out batteries in parallel rather than buying a new battery just to kill it.
 

jdlobb

Adventurer
The standard measure of battery capacity is the 20 hour rate.

Wally world will use a 10, 5 or even a 1 hour rate and then label their battery as being 122 amp hours, when at the 20 hour rate it might only be 105 A/h.

Buyer beware.

If you've got the room, and do not care about longevity, you could hook a bunch of worn out batteries in parallel rather than buying a new battery just to kill it.

even at the 20 hour rate though, how does that compare to a better quality battery that costs 3x as much or more?

I just checked, and the Optima Yellowtop battery in the same size has a 20 hour capacity of 66Ah, and costs $264.99. For a long term solution that needs to be uber reliable, I would definitely go with that. But as long as the walmart battery lasts the length of its warranty, 1 year, it looks like a solid value.
 

wrcsixeight

Adventurer
even at the 20 hour rate though, how does that compare to a better quality battery that costs 3x as much or more?

I just checked, and the Optima Yellowtop battery in the same size has a 20 hour capacity of 66Ah, and costs $264.99. For a long term solution that needs to be uber reliable, I would definitely go with that. But as long as the walmart battery lasts the length of its warranty, 1 year, it looks like a solid value.


Hard to say about longevity. Many people think higher cost, well marketed batteries will automatically last longer, but the fact is any battery is damaged by abuse, and the easiest way to abuse a battery is to over discharge it and undercharge it, over and over.

In an application where highest capacity is desirable, Optimas would be the last battery I would choose. The same group size odyssey or Lifeline will have 33% more capacity and cost about the same. A Hundred amp hour Odyssey group 31, when bought as a Sears Die hard Platinum, costs $284 when not on sale.

Beware of clever marketing. It plays on ignorance.

There is no point in talking longevity of any brand battery vs another, if it is not going to be recharged promptly, fully and properly. The alternator is not going to do this on a deeply cycled battery, no matter how shiny it is. Additional charging sources will be required to reach true 100% state of charge.

I did not have good experiences with Wally World batteries in deep cycle applications. Failures happened when most inconvenient just out of warranty,and I was so angry I would not have taken a free replacement at the time, if offered.
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
The key is proper maintenance. I should've gotten solar sooner and not discharge my Optimas so deeply so many times...

But the Wallyworld batteries today are not the Wallyworld batteries or yore, remember. JCI took over manufacturing of them not too long ago in a bloodless coup.
I'll see how they go in the long term but they've only dropped 1/10 volt during use overnight with fridge and lights running. They seem to be delivering around the expected amperage.
 

wrcsixeight

Adventurer
JC was the manufacturer of my Wally Worlds which did not take to cycling, then Exide got the contract for a few years but could not handle the forced price point Wally world demands, and JC got the contract back.

JC also makes most of the Kirkland batteries sold at Costco.

Proper and prompt recharging is always Key, but so is a battery designed for deep cycle applications, when deeply cycled.

Marine batteries/ Dual purpose batteries are just Starting batteries that are slightly more tolerant of deeper discharges.

But people see the word 'Marine' and are filled with chest thumping confidence to go along with their chromed highly rated alternator

While Marine batteries have both Automotive studs and threaded posts, this 'might' be the only difference, besides the confidence inspiring sticker of course. it says Deep Cycle right on it!!!

The best bang for the buck is always going to be a pair of 6v golf cart batteries wired in series, but chronic undercharging will kill these too.
 

4x4junkie

Explorer
Do you have a Costco nearby?

Their Kirkland deep-cycle (size 27) is ~100 amp-hours and is around $80. I didn't check their warranty but I suspect is at least two years, maybe three (Costco is usually pretty good about this).
If they're anything like my Delco Voyager batteries (and they just may be) they should last at least 5 years easy (I know you said you didn't care about longevity, but if the batteries are still healthy after you're done with them, you could recoup some of their cost by selling or re-purposing them).


Marine batteries/ Dual purpose batteries are just Starting batteries that are slightly more tolerant of deeper discharges.

But people see the word 'Marine' and are filled with chest thumping confidence to go along with their chromed highly rated alternator

While Marine batteries have both Automotive studs and threaded posts, this 'might' be the only difference, besides the confidence inspiring sticker of course. it says Deep Cycle right on it!!!
.


Must be something unique to Wal-Mart's batteries then... (I've never used them myself) I've yet to see evidence of that in other batteries I've used (one pair of Delco Voyager "Marine/RV" batteries I have are nearly 10 years old now and have been cycled quite deeply at least a hundred times if not more... the Energizer marine/RV batteries in our motorhome that are going on 6 years old now too, etc.). I would agree marine/RV batteries are not the same thing as say, a deep-cycle "storage" battery (made for off-grid residential use or for on-site battery backup power), but a rebadged starting battery with added posts they are not.
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
..... I would agree marine/RV batteries are not the same thing as say, a deep-cycle "storage" battery (made for off-grid residential use or for on-site battery backup power), but a rebadged starting battery with added posts they are not.
They have much much thicker plates than a starting battery but different construction and thinner plates than the UPS or solar station battery.



wrcsixeight's point about maintenance is the best take-away. All batteries die sooner if not fully recharged as soon as possible. Chemical reactions are finite.
 

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
I've been beating the crap out of an AutoZone deep cycle (open cell flooded) for...I dunno...year and half or so. Still doing okay. 115ah Duralast and I think I paid 75 for it. Tried to look it up on their site, but their site keeps doing the nazi nanny thing trying to force me to choose a vehicle and year and it pissed me off - so no link.
 

Stumpalump

Expedition Leader
Find the recycle pile of batteries at a service station and grab the ones that read 12.5 V. Bad batts read less. I ran my vehicles for 25 years on free batteries from behind service stations that way. My current house batteries are used batts pulled from electric powered hospital stretchers. 10v range is a dead giveaway that it's junk.
 

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