Best AGM Batteries

[LakeWinni]

Who makes the best AGM batteries forgetting price? Need 12v, amp hour > 90

 

Anyone any experience with Lifeline? 

[Jig Man]

How they will be used makes a difference in what I would recommend.  I don’t look at amp hour with AGMs.  If it is for cranking then I want cold cranking amps, cca.  If it is for a trolling motor then I want high reserve capacity, rc.  
 

I don’t know which are the best because I don’t have the knowledge base to answer that question.  I am using the Batteries + X2 with 1150 cca and Pro Guide 245 rc and am very satisfied.

[LakeWinni]

For trolling.

[Jig Man]

That’s not enough information.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, Jig Man said:

That’s not enough information.

Need to know -

how many amps does the trolling motor draw max,

how long do you intend to be out,

is the battery running anything else.

 

All those factor into how 'big' a battery you need.

 

A 90ah battery would run my canoe all day long - but it only had a 30#TM, no lights, and a Striker 7 sonar.

 

I'm looking for at least a 100ah if not two for the TM alone in the F-9...and a separate battery to run everything else.

[WRB]

NSB ( NorthStar) marine batteries are the “best” AGM’s.

Tom

 

[Jig Man]

58 minutes ago, WRB said:

NSB ( NorthStar) marine batteries are the “best” AGM’s.

Tom

 

EnerSys Energy Products bought them out a year or so ago.  Odyssey is their big product.

[22RangerZ520R]

X2 / Northstar 31 series AGM

[LakeWinni]

@WRB

@22RangerZ520R

Or anyone else for that matter, any experience with Mastervolt or Lifeline?

 

I have narrowed it down to these and northstar which the above fellas mentioned. 

Also it's strange to me that the lifeline for example group 31 is 64lb and has 105 AH where as group 27 was 62lb and has 100ah, so close I would go 27 all day, are there other reasons to go with group 31?

[WRB]

Take a look VMax Tank Marine batteries, lower cost and very good battery. The only downside is they a made in China now.

Tom

 

[LakeWinni]

5 minutes ago, WRB said:

Take a look VMax Tank Marine batteries, lower cost and very good battery. The only downside is they a made in China now.

Tom

 

Looking at the lifelines right now, heard much on them from actual users?

[Bird]

Boat size plays a roll also.

I had a Vmax 35ah AGM that would push my fishing kayak around all day with moderate use.......bigger boat, bigger battery. 

[OldManLure]

9 hours ago, LakeWinni said:

@WRB

@22RangerZ520R

Or anyone else for that matter, any experience with Mastervolt or Lifeline?

 

I have narrowed it down to these and northstar which the above fellas mentioned. 

Also it's strange to me that the lifeline for example group 31 is 64lb and has 105 AH where as group 27 was 62lb and has 100ah, so close I would go 27 all day, are there other reasons to go with group 31?

No.  Group size refers to the battery’s physical dimension.  Differences in specs among same line (e.g., a battery maker’s Economy line) are usually insignificant.

[gim]

10 hours ago, WRB said:

The only downside is they a made in China now.

The last time I was at the marine service shop, the tech said every battery is made in China now.

[MN Fisher]

8 minutes ago, gimruis said:

The last time I was at the marine service shop, the tech said every battery is made in China now.

Well, with 2 of the top 5 lithium mining companies based in China - kinda makes sense.

https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/largest-lithium-mining-companies/

[NHBull]

Love me some Tanks

Tanks

 

The MR series are a little less $$ and are darn good too

[Johnbt]

"The last time I was at the marine service shop, the tech said every battery is made in China now."

 

Here's one example to prove him wrong.

 

www.eastpennmanufacturing.com/about/facilities/

 

"East Penn is proud to operate a massive, 520-acre single-site battery manufacturing complex in Berks County, Pennsylvania, with world-class facilities that are the most advanced in the industry. We also operate a facility in Corydon, Iowa to help accommodate our widespread growth."

 

They make East Penn, DEKA and the deep cycle batteries sold at BatteriesPlus and Sams as Duracell. I've been using three of the Group 31 Duracell AGMs from Batteries+.

 

 

[MN Fisher]

They also make the West Marine brand...which I had one in the canoe.

[Redharley]

East penn makes a good battery's, been using them for years with no issues. USA made not waiting on a barge to be unloaded.

[Way2slow]

Any name brand that is stacked cell and not spiral cell batteries.  I've been using Deka by  East Penn for over 20 years.  They also make the Duracell and a number of other brands sold under some of the major auto parts dealers.  I will not buy spiral wound batteries.  Having spent over 20 years repairing industrial material handling equipment, which included bunches of electric pallet jacks.  I never had a single customer that got good service from spiral batteries.  Usually, a year was their life span.  Swap them out for Trojan Deep cycles or Deka's and get five or six years easily.

[MN Fisher]

11 minutes ago, Way2slow said:

I've been using Deka by  East Penn for over 20 years.  They also make the Duracell and a number of other brands sold under some of the major auto parts dealers. 

West Marine is another retailer that gets their batteries from East Penn.

[gim]

1 hour ago, Way2slow said:

Having spent over 20 years repairing industrial material handling equipment, which included bunches of electric pallet jacks.  I never had a single customer that got good service from spiral batteries.  Usually, a year was their life span. 

What’s a spiral battery?

[MN Fisher]

23 minutes ago, gimruis said:

What’s a spiral battery?

Optimas use 'SpiralAGM' technology - that's why they have the cylinder shapes.

 

[Way2slow]

One thing you have to realize about the industrial use of batteries also.  They are generally abused a whole lot more than the private sector would.  They sometimes go for days of use without being charged.  Some get used heavily and not charged until they quit, some get charged every night, whether they need it or not.  

With this abuse, the plates expand more and faster than they would with proper care.  Being spiral wound, they have minimal room to expand so they short much faster than stacked cell batteries.  If you have ever noticed how typical flood cell, stacked cell batteries start to bulge on the sides after they get some age on them, this is caused by cell expansion, which usually leads to a cell shorting if sulfation doesn't get it first.  Spiral batteries don't have the capability to expand more than a very small amount, causing them to short much sooner.

Now, I'm not saying the spiral batteries are junk, properly maintained a lot of people get years of good service from them.  I just saying, under the same conditions, a quality stacked cell battery will generally give a longer life than the spiral cell.  

Also, it has long been determined, 85% of the bad batteries turned in for cores on new ones were actually good batteries that went bad because they were sulfated from improper maintenance and charging.  Sulfation is the killer of most lead acid batteries, that's one of the reasons LiPo batteries will last so much longer. they don't sulfate.  

Back when reconditioned batteries used to be commonly available, they were nothing but dead batteries that were flushed with a chemical solution to disulfate them.  With today's manufacturing process, that's much harder to do, so they are not as common now.

[Big Hands]

Did some 'research' lately on deep cycle batteries, and batteries in general. A few things I found out:

 

Optima is now owned by Johnson Controls, and manufacturing of those batteries has been moved to Mexico. Quality has been said to have taken a hit.

 

There are batteries being manufactured in the USA. The two biggest manufacturers in the USA are Johnson Controls and East Penn. I believe Exide/Stryten/Atlas is also one of the bigger brands of USA made batteries, but JC and then EP are the two top dogs (with regards to sales) in this type of domestic battery manufacturing. Johnson Controls is said to have over half of the domestic market, so they are the biggest supplier. I have read of some of Walmart's batteries being from East Penn, but all I have seen are from JC.

 

In addition to acquiring Optima, Johnson Controls also owns the Interstate brand, Duralast (junk IME), and many others you see at some large chain auto parts stores. East Penn is also doing that same sort of thing where they make batteries and put the names of various retailers on the same batteries.

 

Some large chain auto parts retailers, such as Napa will sell East Penn batteries in one area, and batteries from Johnson Controls in another area, depending on what distribution channels are available to them. DieHards could come from JC, Exide, and I have heard possibly East Penn as well.

 

The prices and warranty can vary significantly for the same battery, depending on where you buy them. For example, there is a Super Start Group 29 AGM Deep Cycle battery that O'Reilly sells for $209 with a 12 month warranty, and Sam's Club sells the same battery labeled as a Duracell with an 18 month warranty for $159. Both are made by East Penn/Deka. I have one of each. Had I known about the Duracells at Sam's club before purchasing the Super Start from O'Reilly's, I would have two Duracells. 

 

It's good practice to buy batteries from a seller that moves a lot of batteries rather than from one that may not sell very many as the small seller may have had battery on their shelf for a while as opposed from a bigger seller that is getting new shipments much more often.

 

After looking into them for a while, you should be able to tell the difference between a battery made by Johnson Controls vs East Penn by looking at the cases. They're not really trying to hide the source much as it's generally just the labels that look different in most cases.

 

My conclusions after doing my research:

 

If money is very tight, you could get some $100 flooded cell deep cycles from Walmart as try to take care of them. Keep them topped off with distilled water, and don't overcook them.

 

If you have a little more budget to work with, the East Penn manufactured Duracell AGM's you get from Sam's Club at $159 (for the Group 29) are hard to beat price wise, and AGM batteries don't need to be topped off (they are sealed) and should last longer than the flooded cell batteries.

 

I have also run Trojan flooded batteries, and found them to be of very good quality, but you do also have to keep them topped off, or they won't last. I have been running two Trojan 6v golf cart batteries (in series to make 12v) on my travel trailer for several years. I also had them in my 19' Ranger many years ago as it was a 12v system (42 lb thrust Merc Thruster anybody?) and had good luck with them in that situation.

 

There are some relatively boutique branded AGM batteries that the car audio types are into that are very respected that also cost more that could perform very well, but I don't have experience with.

 

If you have a fair amount of disposable income, you could look into lithium batteries as they have many strong points with regard to durability, mounting options, light weight, and the ability to discharge further than even really good deep cycle batteries. BUT, I have read about needing to be very careful about how you use them with some of the fancy trolling motors that would also be found on many of the same type of boats. Do your due diligence about that as I have only heard about it, but don't have personal experience with the latest Gucci offerings.

 

For most people, the way the batteries are treated and maintained will probably have more of an effect on how long they last vs what the source is, but I tend to lean toward the East Penn camp if I need to choose.