Bosch deep cycle battery quality

[GILow]

Hello Cruisers,

I am having a difficult time tracking down reasonably priced Trojan T105 batteries here in South Australia. Plenty on the East Coast of Oz, not so many here. Anyway, one vendor is offering an equivalent battery in capacity and dimensions, made by Bosch, model BGC15.

I am not giving up on finding a decently priced T105 but I am curious if anyone has used Bosch deep cycle batteries and if so, how they held up. This supplier is offering the Bosch at a price that is probably 5% less than the best East Coast Oz price on the Trojan T105, and 30% better than the South Australian price on the T105. I am buying 4 to 6 batteries, so that's a fair bit of dosh to be saved, but no point if they turn out to be no good.

FWIW, application is house bank only.

Matt

[Jubilee39]

I installed Bosch made in Brazil in Ecuador. Dumped them after 3 years. I never got the voltage or capacity expected. These were 4D equivalent size. The Trojans I replaced them with are still going good after 5 years. I am a retired Submarine Master Chief Electrician and have had a bit of experience with leaf acid batteries.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by GILow

Hello Cruisers,

I am having a difficult time tracking down reasonably priced Trojan T105 batteries here in South Australia. Plenty on the East Coast of Oz, not so many here. Anyway, one vendor is offering an equivalent battery in capacity and dimensions, made by Bosch, model BGC15.

I am not giving up on finding a decently priced T105 but I am curious if anyone has used Bosch deep cycle batteries and if so, how they held up. This supplier is offering the Bosch at a price that is probably 5% less than the best East Coast Oz price on the Trojan T105, and 30% better than the South Australian price on the T105. I am buying 4 to 6 batteries, so that's a fair bit of dosh to be saved, but no point if they turn out to be no good.

FWIW, application is house bank only.

Matt

Try super charge (I think that's the brand) 235 AH 6 volt deep cycle. Here on the east coast I paid $200.00 each about 12 months ago. Same dimensions as trojan t105 and made in the USA.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Jubilee39

I installed Bosch made in Brazil in Ecuador. Dumped them after 3 years. I never got the voltage or capacity expected. These were 4D equivalent size. The Trojans I replaced them with are still going good after 5 years. I am a retired Submarine Master Chief Electrician and have had a bit of experience with leaf acid batteries.

Thank you Jubilee39, given your technical pedigree I will pretty well say no to the Bosch then. I am quite sure you knew how to look after them.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Try super charge (I think that's the brand) 235 AH 6 volt deep cycle. Here on the east coast I paid $200.00 each about 12 months ago. Same dimensions as trojan t105 and made in the USA.

Thanks Uncle Bob, I'll look into those and see if they are available here. Might run into the same problem I suspect.

[George DuBose]

The next batteries I buy will be Fireflys. I will replace three Yellow Top Optima Series 31s.

[waltdrechsler]

I work on the automotive side of the Bosch batteries. Previously they were touted as made to specific specifications but recently I have learned this may not be true. Exide was their vendor until recently they switched to EastPenn. Lately they seem to have gone the way of mass merchandiser. Sad really.

I would not put these in my vessel until I was able to get some accurate data.

[jmschmidt]

Bosch is typical of many European designed products, long on hype, short on performance and when they are made in third-world countries, zero on quality control.