lead acid leisure battery recommendation

[laika]

Further to my thread about my gassing batteries last week, seems the whole bank is dead: The remaining 3 batteries seemed to decrease in charge with the fridge on from 12.8 to 12.7 over three hours, then I turned my back for an hour and suddenly it was on 10.8v. I don't feel ready to upgrade to lithium or replace the charger, but it's on the cards so I don't want to re-arrange the battery compartment to accommodate expensive T105s and think I'd just like to get some reasonably priced like-sized replacements for the existing 110Ah platinum marine plus batteries (237x171x328). They don't need to last forever, they won't have a hard life, aren't used for cranking and they'll mostly be kept on charge. recommendations?

 

[jwfrary]

Normal lesuire type sealed batts I have had quite good experience with both excide Marine dual and varta dual.

AGM I fit victron everytime. But I wouldn't pay retail for them. Leochs are pretty good apparently though I haven't had one

I'm not sure the really expensive batts are worth the money they don't really last longer or perform better in ratio to cost.

If your able to use normal flooded cells the 6v trogan batteries I hear good things about but they are a bit of an awkward size for most battery lockers!

 

[Rappey]

I have had quite good experience with both excide

I have an exide in my motorbike which gets left for months at a time, its a bugger to start but the exide just keeps giving.. Ive never come across a small battery like it in terms of never seeming to go flat.

As for cheapys as a replacement i went with these.. years later and so far they are doing well £61.95
Leisure Battery 12V 110AH LM110 Battery Caravan Motorhome Marine Boat DUAL PURP | eBay

 

[Refueler]

They don't need to last forever, they won't have a hard life, aren't used for cranking and they'll mostly be kept on charge. recommendations?

So in fact the batterys needed are not going to work much ... only need to survive a reasonable period while you decide on the system to replace with.
So why spend good money ? Seriously. Decent Leisure batterys are not cheap and TBH many so called Leisure batterys are compromise jobs anyway.
If you really want Lesiure batterys - get to a Caravan / RV Dealers and talk to them ... they have such for their vans. (Dare I say cheaper than chandlers ?)

But I've posted before about 2nd hand car / van batterys from local breakers / 2nd hand parts dealers. I have only ever had 1 2nd hand battery die on me when less than a YEAR in use. All others I used have gone for years on my boat starting my Perkins 4-107 .. running all the 'House' stuff ... etc.
Yes you need to make sure they are charged fully for as much of the time as possible ... but even if they last a year - its cheaper than forking out for new ...

 

[jwfrary]

So in fact the batterys needed are not going to work much ... only need to survive a reasonable period while you decide on the system to replace with.
So why spend good money ? Seriously. Decent Leisure batterys are not cheap and TBH many so called Leisure batterys are compromise jobs anyway.
If you really want Lesiure batterys - get to a Caravan / RV Dealers and talk to them ... they have such for their vans. (Dare I say cheaper than chandlers ?)

But I've posted before about 2nd hand car / van batterys from local breakers / 2nd hand parts dealers. I have only ever had 1 2nd hand battery die on me when less than a YEAR in use. All others I used have gone for years on my boat starting my Perkins 4-107 .. running all the 'House' stuff ... etc.
Yes you need to make sure they are charged fully for as much of the time as possible ... but even if they last a year - its cheaper than forking out for new ...

It never occurred to me to look in a chandlery for batteries. Most places have at the very least a motor factors but generally a good battery shop wont be too far away.

PS. I just fitted 880AH of Victron AGM's in a boat yesterday, that was heavy work ever hopeful that they will do 5 years before I have to fight them back out of the box!

 

[laika]

Convenience is an issue> I have no load tester to check whether a second hand battery from a breakers is ok and getting it back on the bus might be a chore. My plan would be to have new batteries delivered to me at the boat. The batteries rappey links to are a different size to the current ones and would require a (not impossible) re-work to the battery compartment. The platinum plus batteries I had last time are the default choice and I've seen them lurking in a couple of chandlers so some people must like them. I was just wondering if 10 years down the line there were better choices that were roughly the same size and price

 

[Refueler]

Understand your situation .... not something to carry around lightly ..

Breakers yards / 2nd hand parts people usually have a load tester and will test before you part with money.

Pity - you could have saved a lot of money.

Another idea - and I know there are people on this forum that have done just this ... not unusual to see batterys by the bin / skip in the yard / marina ... and some come of boats where owners either change because of age / caution ... or they are showing signs of not being 100% starting their engines. Such batterys can give years of low demand use ... just a matter of applying the multimeter to find the one with reasonable charge on it.
Pal of mine in HYCO swapped out his on-boards like that and years later when I left HYCO - he was still using them.

Just thoughts as you did say low demand use only.

 

[LadyInBed]

I've been using Xplorer™ Leisure battery from Alpha Batteries for over fifteen years and get about seven years out of them.
I see the 110AH are £89.99

 

[Daydream believer]

I've been using Xplorer™ Leisure battery from Alpha Batteries for over fifteen years and get about seven years out of them.
I see the 110AH are £89.99

I bought my AGM from them because they had a size that fitted the space for my domestics. My engine starts easily so as I have very little space I use a 35am Red Flash but that is expensive. Very small though & if I wanted I could put it in the engine bay next to the starter.
As for lead acid, my Varta ones lasted 7 years , but the latest size does not fit the hold. I then used a cheap Exide & they lasted 2 years - hopeless.

 

[Refueler]

Exide lasted 2 years ?? That's terrible ...

My Breakers jobs averaged 4 - 5 years ... only reason I buy new now - is over here most 2nd hand parts dealers have closed down .. and we don't have so many breakers - despite Baltics being the dump site of German Auction cars ...

 

[tjbrace]

My Alphalines are 7 years old now and seem ok now I I’ve replaced the alternator belt. They were from Battery Megastore.