Staab Deep Cycle Battery?

[jseyfert3]

I read that US Battery, Trojan, and Crown make good quality deep cycle batteries, among others. However, I there are no distributors of these brands in Peoria, IL. The only thing I can find for sure that is around here is the marine/RV deep cycle batteries, which as I understand are not true deep cycles but a compromise between a deep cycle and a starting battery and will not last as long as a true deep cycle. There are also golf cart batteries but those would end up a little bigger, heavier, and pricier then I want. I would like a group 27 battery.

I found a place called Staab Battery, which is local to Illinois. For an 80 mile drive one way, which ends up being about $25 in gas, I can pick up a Staab brand deep cycle battery for $80 plus tax and a $12 core charge (as I have no battery to turn in). They list this as a deep cycle battery, not the typical Walmart Marine/RV combo which is a cross between deep cycle and starting battery. Could it really be a true deep cycle at this price? Or should I save the time (3 hour drive) and $25 in gas and get the $80 Walmart Marine/RV combo battery?

[tony.latham]

I don't have THE answer for you, but I don't believe you can buy a 12v deep cycle battery for $80. A COSTCO 110 AH (Group 27) marine/RV battery is $100.

Here's a Staab web page:
http://www.staabbattery.com/category/bma.html

Tony aka Suspicious

[les45]

I got mine for $80 at Walmart two years ago and it is working fine for what I need. Admittedly I don't run a lot of gadgets on it, just cabin lights and Fantastic Fan for two or three nights. I plug it in once a month and let the PD keep it charged during the off season.

[jseyfert3]

I don't have THE answer for you, but I don't believe you can buy a 12v deep cycle battery for $80. A COSTCO 110 AH (Group 27) marine/RV battery is $100.

Here's a Staab web page:
http://www.staabbattery.com/category/bma.html

Tony aka Suspicious

That's the page I meant to link. The battery is indeed listed as a deep cycle and not a marine/RV battery, but the price made me think that they slapped a deep cycle label on a marine/RV battery. The group 27 Trojan and US Battery deep cycle batteries are at least $150 for local pickup, which is what made me suspicious if this could actually be a true deep cycle battery at the same price as the Walmart or Menards marine/RV batteries.

I got mine for $80 at Walmart two years ago and it is working fine for what I need. Admittedly I don't run a lot of gadgets on it, just cabin lights and Fantastic Fan for two or three nights. I plug it in once a month and let the PD keep it charged during the off season.

I started to think about this. I wanted two or three nights of Fantastic Fan, cabin/galley LED lighting. Perhaps a voltage regulator to charge a cell phone or two, but nothing else on battery. It probably wouldn't even be used that much, which is the main reason to question the cost of a true deep cycle battery, since batteries age and lose capacity over time even without cycling wear.

[48Rob]

At 90 miles you can get the Trojans in Champaign...

You need to add up the amp hours, multiply by the number of days, then divide by half the capacity of your chosen batteries to determine if a low amp hour setup will get you through.

Napa and Interstate sell similar batteries in Peoria. May be more money, but you have to count the cost of a 180 mile trip.

Rob

[Dale M.]

Why drive..... Battery can probably be shipped cheaper ... And you are not tied to "local" access to battery brands...

Recently I was looking at a Odyssey battery, I could order it out of Florida and have it shipped to west coast cheaper than I could purchase it locally.... When you add your time, and gasoline and wear and tear of you vehicle and insurance.... The hidden price has increases the visible price considerably.... And all you have to do is sit back or work on tear and wait for door bell to ring...

Dale

[jseyfert3]

At 90 miles you can get the Trojans in Champaign...

You need to add up the amp hours, multiply by the number of days, then divide by half the capacity of your chosen batteries to determine if a low amp hour setup will get you through.

Napa and Interstate sell similar batteries in Peoria. May be more money, but you have to count the cost of a 180 mile trip.

Rob

You can? I didn't see a Trojan distributor in Champaign. That actually would be okay, I know a guy that lives down there and works with me, I could pay him a little to pick one up, perhaps.

Staab sells Trojan batteries. That's actually why I called them. I called and asked if they could tell me a price on the battery, and the lady on the phone said "what's it going into?". I told her I wanted a specific battery, the Trojan 27TMX. She put me on a brief hold, then came back and said that the Staab group 27 deep cycle batteries were $70 plus tax and a $12 core charge. Mentioned nothing about the Trojan. I didn't bother to ask at that point, I figured that meant they didn't have it. Looking on their site later, it's not one of the Trojans they have listed for sale.

A Trojan 27TMX has 105 Ah at a 20 hr rate. At 2.3 A on medium, 8 hours a night, that's 2.85 nights. Two nights would be my "normal" camping period, three nights is easy to do without getting to the 80% danger zone, and I probably won't need the fan higher then low, anyway.

Would the NAPA/Interstate marine/RV combo batteries be higher quality then the Walmart ones, if I went this route?

Why drive..... Battery can probably be shipped cheaper ... And you are not tied to "local" access to battery brands...

Recently I was looking at a Odyssey battery, I could order it out of Florida and have it shipped to west coast cheaper than I could purchase it locally.... When you add your time, and gasoline and wear and tear of you vehicle and insurance.... The hidden price has increases the visible price considerably.... And all you have to do is sit back or work on tear and wait for door bell to ring...

Dale

Shipped for $150. That's an actual quote I got for a Trojan 27TMX. Found another site that said free shipping to most locations in the 48 lower states, with a disclaimer that municipal restrictions limit a lot of residential areas. I called and they said they couldn't ship to me.

I'm guessing the Odyssey are AGM batteries? AGM and flooded have WAY different shipping regulations. I've bought a non-activated AGM battery online, and activated it myself when I got it. I'm going to do it again soon for my current bike. $65 off Amazon. I couldn't find any place that said the flooded deep cycles could be shipped unactivated with a separate acid container, my guess is the amount of lead or acid puts it into hazardous shipping regulations. I.e. freight truck shipping.

With the cost of shipping a flooded deep cycle, I could probably get an AGM battery. Which is probably overkill for what I really need...

[48Rob]

http://www.bspgc.com/

I only looked into 6 volt golf cart batteries, but if the 12 volt batteries are not true deep cycle then they may be on par with Walmart.

Rob

[MtnDon]

I couldn't find any place that said the flooded deep cycles could be shipped unactivated with a separate acid container,

As far as I know the only batteries you can buy dry these days are ones like Rolls / Surette. They do it on a special order. However, they do not ship the acid; it must be obtained locally. No discount on the price either last time I checked. It does simplify the shipping, it is the acid that is the hazardous component. I've known people who have ordered a string of Rolls 2 volt cells for off grid use and have ordered a spare cell dry. A dry battery does not age as it sits.


I'm curious about the comment about activating an AGM battery after purchase though. Is it a low maintenance battery with provision to have the cap sealed as in being spill proof. An AGM has no liquid acid, the acid is held (Absorbed) within Glass Mat plates. Cut one open and they do not leak.

[jseyfert3]

I couldn't find any place that said the flooded deep cycles could be shipped unactivated with a separate acid container,

As far as I know the only batteries you can buy dry these days are ones like Rolls / Surette. They do it on a special order. However, they do not ship the acid; it must be obtained locally. No discount on the price either last time I checked. It does simplify the shipping, it is the acid that is the hazardous component. I've known people who have ordered a string of Rolls 2 volt cells for off grid use and have ordered a spare cell dry. A dry battery does not age as it sits.


I'm curious about the comment about activating an AGM battery after purchase though. Is it a low maintenance battery with provision to have the cap sealed as in being spill proof. An AGM has no liquid acid, the acid is held (Absorbed) within Glass Mat plates. Cut one open and they do not leak.

Exactly, no age wear from sitting dry. It's why I'd actually prefer they just activate the battery when I buy it, but they are all pre-activated now (at least nearly all of them).

As to your comment on activating, yes, it is a sealed maintenance free battery. Yuasa mentions these non-filled batteries that ship with their own acid containers:

And to remain factory-fresh the AGM battery is shipped dry along with its own pack of high-gravity acid that's added at the time of installation.

The empty AGM battery comes with tape over the acid fill holes, presumably to keep dirt out. It also comes with a compartmentalized acid container (6 attached compartments), with foil seals and a row of attached rubber type seal on top of that. To activate, you remove the tape from the battery and remove the rubber seal strip from the acid container. Flip it upside down, line up with the holes in the battery, and push down. This punctures the seal, and the instructions say to leave it for like 20 minutes to drain into the battery (it only takes a couple at most). Remove the now empty acid container, and place the rubber seal strip you removed from the acid container, place it over the battery acid fill holes, and press to seal. You now have a maintenance free, newly activated AGM battery ready to go into service, no charging required.

Here is the picture on Amazon's listing, showing how it is shipped.


Inactivated Yuasa AGM w/ Acid Container by jseyfert3, on Flickr

This particular motorcycle AGM battery is $65 with free shipping (free two day shipping if you have Amazon Prime membership). My only guess is the quantity of acid these smaller batteries have or the type of container it's in allows it to be shipped as non-hazardous shipping.

[MtnDon]

That's cool. You could keep one on hand.

I haven't seen a dry vehicle battery since the late 60's, maybe early 70's. We used to have them in the service station I worked in back then with a 5 gallon cube of sulfuric acid on a shelf in the back room. Fill the cells and give them a booster charge, install and good to go... took a couple hours more than today.

[GuitarPhotog]

That Yuasa battery is only a 10AH battery. At $85 for the 18 AH version, I can think of lots of more economical solutions.

<Chas>

[jseyfert3]

That Yuasa battery is only a 10AH battery. At $85 for the 18 AH version, I can think of lots of more economical solutions.

<Chas>

Indeed, that battery I'm only getting because I need one for my motorcycle, I wasn't planning on using it for my TD. I just brought it into the discussion because it's unactivated and ships with it's own battery, seemingly has a non-hazardous shipment.

[Shadow Catcher]

They appear to manufacture their own http://www.batteryfaq.org

[Shadow Catcher]

They appear to manufacture their own http://www.batteryfaq.org