sleepy
Oak Ridge,Tennessee
Senior Member
Joined: 04/07/2003
View Profile
|
jmacpolo wrote:Wow! Great information. Thank you all very much. Will the standard Lance charger with the charge wizard work OK with an AGM battery?
Yes, Many of us have been doing it for years. No special settings either
2003 Lance 1161,/slideout/AGM batteries/255W Solar/propane generator/Sat dish/2 Fantastic Fans model 6150/AC/winter package
AirFoil, Trimetric, LED lights
2003GMC K3500 LT/Crewcab/duramax diesel/allison/dually/4x4/OnStar/front reciever mounted spare
|
Nemo667
Louisiana
Senior Member
Joined: 10/28/2004
View Profile
 Offline
|
sleepy wrote:jmacpolo wrote:Wow! Great information. Thank you all very much. Will the standard Lance charger with the charge wizard work OK with an AGM battery?
Yes, Many of us have been doing it for years. No special settings either +1
2007 F-350 SRW 6.0L Auto CC SB 4X4
2006 Outfitter Apex 8, 220W Solar and 3 AGM's
2008 Jeep Rubicon 
|
WesternRoamer
Pacific NW
Full Member
Joined: 01/15/2008
View Profile
|
Check your charger specs. AGM's like a higher voltage (~14.4).
- WR
07 Bigfoot 25C10.6 - Trklft, Fast-guns, AGMs, Xtrx L20, PD9270C, H2000i Gen, Solar.
08 Ram 3500 CTD, 4x6, 6sp, 3.73, Ride-Rite, Frnt Hitch, Rear-rack, Jeep Tow.
|
sleepy
Oak Ridge,Tennessee
Senior Member
Joined: 04/07/2003
View Profile
|
WesternRoamer wrote:Check your charger specs. AGM's like a higher voltage (~14.4).
You are making it unnecessarily complicated. The PD 9145 or the PD9245 that Lance uses will charge all of the AGM's just fine.
To be technical:
Optima AGM's can be charged at 14.8 volts (read their literature) I am now doing it with my solar panels. For 6 years I charged them with my PD 9145.
Life line now recommends 14.2-14.4 bulk/taper and 13.2-13.4 float and no equalization charge.
|
narcodog
Georgia
Senior Member
Joined: 04/02/2006
View Profile
Offline
|
I have a Northstar and I am very satisfied with it the problem is that I wanted to add another and called Northstar and they don't make batteries anymore just chargers. Anyway I sent Randy a EM and asked him about both the Lifeline and Universal. He told me he has not had either brand returned. I ordered the Universal, so I'll see how it does.
|
|
|
3 tons
CA.
Full Member
Joined: 03/13/2009
View Profile
 Online
|
After pricing the Optimas & Lifelines the choice was a simple one...Two 6 volt wet cell deep-cycle Interstates for $94.00 a piece. At 234 amp/hrs each, far more bang for my buck than anything else available that I could find. Only bad part was I had to ditch the battery tray due to the extra height of the HD 6 volts. In my view well worth the trade-off.
|
sleepy
Oak Ridge,Tennessee
Senior Member
Joined: 04/07/2003
View Profile
|
3 tons wrote:After pricing the Optimas & Lifelines the choice was a simple one...Two 6 volt wet cell deep-cycle Interstates for $94.00 a piece. At 234 amp/hrs each, far more bang for my buck than anything else available that I could find. Only bad part was I had to ditch the battery tray due to the extra height of the HD 6 volts. In my view well worth the trade-off.
The reason that I haven't gone to the duel 6 volt batteries is weight.
Our trucks can handle the weight.
The frames of our campers aren't designed for the extra weight in a small area. If we could spread the weight out over a large area I'd consider it. Otherwisw... I paid too much for the camper to damage it.
Our TC frames are designed to be as light as possible... not as strong as possible.
I'd like to think that motorhomes can handle the weight of large 6 Volt battery banks... but every transmission shop we pass has at least one MH in for service.
The trick is... how much bang for the buck as you say can you have while keeping your truck camper as light weight as possible.
|
sleepy
Oak Ridge,Tennessee
Senior Member
Joined: 04/07/2003
View Profile
|
narcodog wrote:I have a Northstar and I am very satisfied with it the problem is that I wanted to add another and called Northstar and they don't make batteries anymore just chargers. Anyway I sent Randy a EM and asked him about both the Lifeline and Universal. He told me he has not had either brand returned. I ordered the Universal, so I'll see how it does.
It would be nice if Bigfootford would chime in... he did extensive testing on both of these batteries and is probably the sharpest guy that I've ever known on the practical side and the technical side of 12 volt systems.
If I can ever wear out my Optimas my plan is to replace them with the group 31 Universals from BestConverter.com. Randy has been fantastic to deal with.
|
