Goiung round in circles with batteries choices!

[northcave]

Summary:
I have normal sealed leisure batteries and looking to replace before setting off south as a liveaboard towards Patagonia. What should I get?

Long story:
Ok so I have 4 x sealed 110ah batteries fitted in 2012. They have taken a hammering to be fair as I have more than a few times taken them below 50% and ones completely drained them, leaving them over 24hrs before recharging them and they still seamed to come back to life for a full season in Scotland and another in Norway.

Anyway I digress. I was going to fit 4 x Trojan T105s but it would mean completely remaking my battery boxes and all the cabling. I simply haven't got time.

So my options are to replace like for like with something that will fit in a box of 350mm x 345mm. I could replace like for like with these Bosch which I have now or try decent AGM batteries from Trojan?

But they are twice the price. What is the wisdom here and given my circumstances what would you do? (and no lithium is not an option at £1200 a battery!)

[rdempsey]

You beat the crap out of your batteries and got 5 years out of them!
I'd stick with what you have.

[john61ct]

Assuming America's, we use standardized BCI Group sizes.

Yes GC 6V type is best value, especially flooded, but you say you know none of those will fit?

Other common sizes available in quality deep cycle are G-31, 27, 8D and 4D.

If you want sealed, Odyssey and Lifeline are best, also Nothstar. Trojan maybe, not been in AGM very long yet, same with Rolls Surrette.

Trojan great for flooded, also Crown & US Battery, Rolls is tops.

If you contact authorized dealer, give your space available ask them to maximize AH capacity in true deep cycle, come back here with choices and pricing.

Or do the calculations http://www.batteryweb.com/bci.cfm and clarify your preferences.

[smac999]

is that a group 31? if so you have many choices.

can you get fireflys where you are? that would be the best 31 choice

I would not put a maintenance free flooded acid in. get something fillable if flooded

[john61ct]

G31 should be 330 L x 173 W x 240 H, but mfg can vary a bit, double check and leave a little extra room.

For G31 Odyssey's PC-2150 is fantastic, likely Lifeline makes a good one also.

IMO Firefly's justified only for unavoidable PSOC scenarios.

[SailsWithFists]

If you have the space, look at Rolls Battery series 5000. The larger ones come in their own battery cases, so you would only need to strap them down. If you get the optional hydrocaps, water maintenance is usually only about once per year. Plus, the warranty is hard to beat.