RV House Batteries - The Top 3 Choices

[Music] hello everyone and welcome to the RV inspection and care channel I'm Duane and I'm a certified RV inspector today we're going to talk about the three main kinds of RV house batteries in use today the ones that are most commonly found and we're going to compare the pros and the cons of each now when I talk about house batteries I'm talking about the batteries in your RV that power your appliances your items in the RV and things like that we're not talking about the batteries that you might find at a motor home that starts the engine they're off the menu today those are called chassis batteries today it's just house batteries and three kinds that we're going to cover number one we're going to talk about the six volt flooded cell lead acid battery number two AGM batteries or absorbed glass mat batteries and number three we're going to talk about lithium batteries now before we get started on the pros and the cons let's mention one thing there's a lot of variables that can affect the lifespan of a battery and some of those variables are how often you discharge and charge the battery how deeply you discharge that battery on a regular basis how will you maintain the battery if it's requiring maintenance and even the temperature that it's normally found in that can affect the life of the battery but what we're doing today is just talking about generalizations in comparing each kind of battery the pros and the cons so let's go ahead and get started now let's start with the 6 volt flooded cell lead battery what are the pros well these are the kind of batteries that are very often found in golf carts and they're readily available you can usually find them in auto parts stores you can find them in sam's club in places like that also the cost is usually a little less than the other batteries that we're going to talk about today now the other pro in their favor is that the technology has been around a long time for these kinds of batteries in golf carts they use thicker LED plates so they're very reliable they take a pounding they're tough batteries and that's a good thing they generally will last about a thousand cycles of complete discharge and recharge now if you don't completely discharge them every time they'll last longer than that but that's a pretty good length of time what are the cons of these 6 volt LED acid flooded cell batteries well number one they're very heady they're heavier than the other batteries we're going to talk about today so if you have cargo carrying capacity issues well these these particular batteries can contribute to that now the second con we want to mention is that you really should only discharge these down to about 50% on a regular basis you they can occasionally take discharge that goes down to 20% or so but don't do it on a regular basis now because they only take about a 50% discharge well then the amp power rating of the battery or how much power it's going to give you is effectively cut in half you'll need twice as many batteries if you only use half the power that it puts out at a time so that's something to consider another con is that they take regular maintenance to keep them up and what is the maintenance well it's monthly watering them you've got to add water to these batteries during the charge and discharge cycle water is often evaporated so you've got to replace that water in the battery to keep it functioning like it should another con is these batteries off gas in other words they put off corrosive gases and that means you cannot keep them inside the RV because that's dangerous so they have to go in a compartment outside the RV that's well vented also if you store these kind of batteries well they'll lose their charge pretty quickly they they will drop their charge about 5% every month that they're stored and not being charged so what can we say about the conclusion of 6 volt flooded cell lead acid batteries who are they best for well you know if you spend all your time in a campground pretty much you know that's where you can be found almost all the time then just a couple of these batteries will do you fine that's all the bank that you need and so you can keep your costs down that way if you are a full timer or a boon docker then if you have a larger battery bank these kind of batteries again you can keep a larger bank for a lower cost than some of the other batteries we'll talk about and if they're very reliable they're tough and they will take a pounding so those that's what we can say about 6 volt flooded cell lead acid batteries but now our next battery is the age em battery or the absorbed glass mat battery what are the pros of AGM batteries well the good news is no water so there's no maintenance with AGM batteries that's a big big Pro also there's not as much off gassing as lead acid batteries put out so it's not quite as corrosive in the compartment they're kept in another big one is you can mount them in any position remember there's nothing to spill so you can put them in any position you want that's good for our beers they have space issues and they may need to put them in places that they can't put anything else they also will charge faster than many other kind of batteries too or most lead acid batteries they can be discharged down to 20% of their capacity on more of a regular basis than the flooded cell led acid golf cart batteries too so that's a big plus there I wouldn't do it on a regular basis but it can be done much more often with an AGM battery while they're stored they have a very low self discharge rate too so that's good and they'll last about a thousand full discharge in charge cycles kind of like the golf cart type battery so what can we say about the cons of AGM batteries well the cons are that they do cost more so they're a little more expensive than lead acid batteries they also are going to need a charger that's capable of charging AGM batteries this is not a major issue but you just do not want to use single stage chargers with these kind of batteries and the reason for that is the next con they don't take overcharging well not at all it can really damage the battery so be sure you have a good charger for them they also must be installed in a vented compartment out the RV because again they don't off guess as much as lead acid batteries but they do off gas at times and so what is the conclusion then about AGM batteries well they're very good for full timers and Boone Dockers who have a little bit more money to spend on their battery bank and they're very good for solar now let's move on to our third kind of battery the lithium battery and the pros of lithium batteries are number one very light incredibly light they're about half the weight of a flooded cell lead acid battery number two no maintenance there's no water to have to replace or any maintenance at all to them the next pro they can be installed in any position because there's nothing to spill so that's a great advantage here's a real good pro no off-gassing none so what does that mean in many cases you can install these batteries inside the RV and not have to worry about it that's really good for folks who have very limited cargo carrying capacity and so they might need a unique kind of space to be used for batteries like travel trailers for instance now the next pro is the how long these batteries can last they have a lifespan of 3000 to 5000 complete discharge charge cycles I mean that is really amazing they just last and last and last another Pro they charge quickly up to four times faster than other batteries and as far as you know storing these kind of batteries very low self discharge rate here's another big one and this is huge these kind of batteries can be discharged almost a hundred percent Wow that's incredible you really get the full use out of the battery with a lithium battery well what are the cons of lithium batteries well you know lithium batteries actually saw most of the cons of all the other battery types so there aren't a lot of cons but there's one big one cost they cost four to five times as much as lead acid batteries so that's that's a big con but in all fairness because they last so long they may actually be cheaper in the long run than these other battery types it's just that you've got to come up with that big upfront cost to buy them and that's a big pill to swallow what is the conclusion lithium batteries are great for full timers boon doctors of all stripes and they are super for solar setups well now let's mention just a couple more things about batteries and that is whatever kind of battery you use make sure that you use a quality battery charger with it charger converter one of the biggest reasons that batteries get killed in RVs is because they're used with a single stage type charger that just pulls away at that battery oftentimes even overcharging it well what you really want is a multi-stage charger converter and what that means is that it will have a stage where it does both charge the battery up to about 80 percent but then it goes into an absorption stage and when it finally gets the battery charged then it just float charges it without overcharging so make sure that no matter what battery bank you have you use a good multistage charger with it the number two thing we want to mention never mix and match any of these kinds of batteries together that's a no-no don't go down and get half flooded lead-acid batteries and then half the AGM - oh no that don't work consistency is the name of the game here so keep it consistent the same kind of battery the same kind of manufacturer as much similar as you can get and it will reward you for doing that well that's it on batteries for now you know we could go on talking about batteries and all the various things that that are interesting to know about batteries and we could just continue to talk about them for a very long time but what I wanted to do today is just familiarize you with the pros and cons of the main kinds of hot house batteries and help you get a good idea of what might work best for you if you like this information would you do me a favor and like the video because YouTube likes likes on the video so that helps us YouTube creators when you like our videos also if you have any comments about RV batteries or your experience with them or anything you want to add to what we've talked about or even if you disagree with what we've talked about that's fine enter it in the comments below we want to hear from your experience also we'd love to have you visit my website RV inspection and care.com there's a lot more information there then you will even find on my youtube channel and finally I would love to have you become part of our online family and all you have to do is just hit that subscribe button to do that that way you won't miss any of the videos I'm putting out on a twice weekly basis well that's it for now as safe and happy travels my friends until next time [Music]

Channel: RV Inspection And Care

Views: 48,400

Keywords: rv batteries, rv house batteries, lithium batteries, agm batteries, deep cycle batteries, motorhome batteries, fifth wheel batteries, travel trailer batteries, rv tips, 6 volt rv batteries

Id: qq2ByDCbUxA

Length: 15min 5sec (905 seconds)

Published: Tue May 12 2020