GEL Batteries

[Jim]

I know there is a lot of activity these days with Lithium, but has anyone replaced their house batteries with GEL batteries? And if so, did you have to use a different charger? I'm getting ready to replace my house batteries and I don't want to go the Lithium route. Mostly because of the cost, and I would rather not have to replace my current charging system. But it appears I might have to change my current charger anyway, if I were to go the GEL route.

From what I can tell, it comes down to the amount of charge you can safely put into the GEL battery, and if your able to control that part, the current charger may be just fine. I haven't learned enough about my coach's current charging system to know if I can control that or not. But with all the other configurations available, for almost everything in the coach, being able to configure the amount of charge going into the batteries seems reasonable.

So my question is, does anyone know if the charging paramaters in a 2016 LADP can be configured? And secondly, has anyone used GEL batteries when replacing their coach batteries?

TIA

 

[Neal]

Jim, you'll want AGM batteries and from what I'm reading Lifeline are the preferred choice. @Chuggs I think you recently installed these?

I believe you already have AGM batteries installed so it should be a simple swap and probably no change to the inverter settings.

Compare Battery Types - Lifeline Batteries

Today, there are three distinct types of lead acid batteries manufactured and any one type can be designed and built for either starting or deep cycle

lifelinebatteries.com

GPL-4CT AGM Battery - Lifeline Batteries

6 volt, Deep Cycle Marine/RV Battery with 1 of 3 variable terminal arrangements. The GPL-4CT is a high performance, Mil-Spec, AGM battery, produced in the United States. Due to the Lifeline Battery's quality construction, it has an industry leading 2% per month self discharge rate at 77°F...

lifelinebatteries.com

 

[Neal]

@Jim can you share what exact battery you have installed now? Picture of label would be great.

 

[Scotttkd2]

Finding the model number of your charger/inverter (may need to crawl into a bay to locate it), that will allow you to look up its specs and capabilities for other battery types

 

[Jim]

@Jim can you share what exact battery you have installed now? Picture of label would be great.

OK, can't remember off hand, but I'll get that tomorrow. But I do know there are 8, 6 volt, 75 ah AGM batteries, in series and then in parallel. Total 300 usable amps.

I'm looking to replace them with 8, 12 volt 100 ah batteries. I was originally looking at 200 ah batteries, but they were quite a bit larger than the 100 ah batteries, so I could only get 3 of them in the bay. So that wasn't a benefit. And lord were they heavy.

 

[Neal]

Do we know how old the batteries are that you have? Did the prior owner recently replace them? I ask because they looked really good.

If you change from 6V to 12V you're going to have some serious reconfig to do such as in how the batteries connect, bus bars, etc. If you stay with 6V you have a drop in replacement. Food for thought...

P.S. Take pictures and document thoroughly your current setup.

 

[Jim]

Do we know how old the batteries are that you have? Did the prior owner recently replace them? I ask because they looked really good.

If you change from 6V to 12V you're going to have some serious reconfig to do such as in how the batteries connect, bus bars, etc. If you stay with 6V you have a drop in replacement. Food for thought...

P.S. Take pictures and document thoroughly your current setup.

Four of the eight batteries tested bad, four are OK. I'm going to take the four that are OK and use them as a backup for the parks Starlink setup. As for the "reconfig" from 6 volt to 12, that's not a problem. Actually, quite a bit simpler than the other way around.

 

[Jim]

@Jim can you share what exact battery you have installed now? Picture of label would be great.

 

[Neal]

Can't read the label but probably moot. You have a plan.

 

[Jim]

Can't read the label but probably moot. You have a plan.

It appears to be "Discovery". I've not heard of them before, but that doesn't mean much.