Which Battery - Australia Based

[UFO]

I currently have some very old West Marine batteries - 792AH in total from four batteries that are on their way out.



These take up most of the available space, although there is a very small amount of spare room.


Lithium due to cost and complexity is off the table, so please lets not get into those.


I have 1KW of Solar & Diesel generator.



So far I have been recommended 3 Different batteries available in Australia that will fit (x4):


Victron Super Cycle 12V - 230AH - Approx Aud $900
Full River - 12V 210AH - Approx Aud $900
Force batteries - 12V 200AH - Approx Aud $560


Probably looking for AGM batteries, so are they any other serious contenders that are available in Australia?

[ozsailer]

Gday UFO, have a look at Aussie Battery and Solar. Good selection and have used their GIANT brand batteries with great success



Greg H
Lagoon 440
Oz

[GILow]

Originally Posted by ozsailer

Gday UFO, have a look at Aussie Battery and Solar. Good selection and have used their GIANT brand batteries with great success



Greg H
Lagoon 440
Oz

Greg, not doubting you had a good run with them, but sorry to say, I had a terrible experience of their AGM batteries. Utter rubbish. This was about, I think, six years ago.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by UFO

I currently have some very old West Marine batteries - 792AH in total from four batteries that are on their way out.



These take up most of the available space, although there is a very small amount of spare room.


Lithium due to cost and complexity is off the table, so please lets not get into those.


I have 1KW of Solar & Diesel generator.



So far I have been recommended 3 Different batteries available in Australia that will fit (x4):


Victron Super Cycle 12V - 230AH - Approx Aud $900
Full River - 12V 210AH - Approx Aud $900
Force batteries - 12V 200AH - Approx Aud $560


Probably looking for AGM batteries, so are they any other serious contenders that are available in Australia?

As I noted to Greg, I had a dud pair of AGMs from Aussie Battery. (Oh, and some REALLY crappy solar panels too.)

Other than that, I had one very good small bank of DZ70's from Supercharge, which were still going strong after five years. However, when I decided to build a proper sized bank out of all new DZ70s, they were stuffed within a year.

I've surrendered and gone with the Trojan T105s because, frankly, they just seem to work for everyone who uses them.

Any reason you wouldn't consider these?

Matt

[RaymondR]

Used T105s for years on my old boat and would be using them on the one I have now except the battery box is not tall enough.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by GILow

As I noted to Greg, I had a dud pair of AGMs from Aussie Battery. (Oh, and some REALLY crappy solar panels too.)

Other than that, I had one very good small bank of DZ70's from Supercharge, which were still going strong after five years. However, when I decided to build a proper sized bank out of all new DZ70s, they were stuffed within a year.

I've surrendered and gone with the Trojan T105s because, frankly, they just seem to work for everyone who uses them.

Any reason you wouldn't consider these?

Matt

Correct me if I am wrong but I always thought that the open Lead Acid batteries gassed off considerably more than AGMs which are minimal?


The battery bank is under a double bed, so I wanted to avoid such a situation.


On top of this the T105's in Perth are not much less than the top of the line AGMs, which have the added benefit of no servicing.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by UFO

Correct me if I am wrong but I always thought that the open Lead Acid batteries gassed off considerably more than AGMs which are minimal?


The battery bank is under a double bed, so I wanted to avoid such a situation.


On top of this the T105's in Perth are not much less than the top of the line AGMs, which have the added benefit of no servicing.

Nope, I won’t correct you, because you are right. That’s a key difference, and I agree, I wouldn’t want a FLA under my bed either.

And yeah, the T105’s are not cheap. My set of 6 cost me about AU$2K. That hurt.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by GILow

And yeah, the T105’s are not cheap. My set of 6 cost me about AU$2K. That hurt.

Wow, that's a crazy price for those batteries. In the US they want ~$950(US) for 4 T105s on Amazon. Had these batteries previously in another boat and thought the quality went down hill a bit, so purchased Crown batteries. The ~equivalent 220ah Crown currently is only $130/each ($520 for 4).
We purchased the 235ah Crown (940ah all from same lot) 8 years ago and still going strong. Will be purchasing them again when we need to replace them. Good bang for the buck IMO.
Are Crowns available by you guys?

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Wow, that's a crazy price for those batteries. In the US they want ~$950(US) for 4 T105s on Amazon.

Based on the current exchange rate that’s pretty much exactly what I paid.

[Bill O]

Do they have Crown or Interstate in your neck of the woods?

Both are good batt. manufacturers.
Would try to make certain the batteries were "fresh" (find a seller who sells many of them) and get them all from the same lot as possible.
Here I purchased them from "Battery Warehouse" and as the name suggests their main product is batteries. Since I was buying 8 at one time was able to work a discount (doesn't hurt to ask).


Back to the op (sorry about the thread drift). I agree would not put "open" gassing FLAs under the bed.

Only based on price, would look into the Force batts since you need to purchase 4 of them.

[Jono as 2234]

Talk to Peter at Battery Value. He's an authority and can discuss for hours. Pricing pretty reasonable too

[Bundyon]

I only just now have purchased new batteries for my boat. I will be installing them today.
There are several suppliers of batteries at a reasonable price. Aussie Batteries & Solar in Yatala Qld, He has an excellent range, look at his 6v h.d. Batteries on their web site. I spoke to the guy quite some time back, didn't find him too helpful, maybe he was having a bad day. The other mob that appears to have a good range is Kickass (kickassproducts.com.au) ph. 07)31234715 based on the Sunshine Coast. Their prices seem reasonable. I know you don't want lithium, but if you were going to pay $900 for a good AGM then I techworld have 120ah lithium (i120x) for $975 with a smart BMS that means you can pull your AGM's out and put the lithium straight in and use your existing charger, This, after much tossing & turning is the route I took.
Good luck with it all.

[gbmacca]

MAy not be relevant - but certainly interesting to note.

Was paying $335 for an 8v battery then saw chat site where a guy was using 8v golf buggy batteries at $135 each. Bought them and they worked perfectly.
Now have 4 x 6v golf batteries and they also work perfectly.

Cheers

Gbmacca

[CapnBazza]

LiFePO4 batteries these days are not complicated and getting close to the cost of your AGM choices.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Do they have Crown or Interstate in your neck of the woods?

Both are good batt. manufacturers.
Would try to make certain the batteries were "fresh" (find a seller who sells many of them) and get them all from the same lot as possible.
Here I purchased them from "Battery Warehouse" and as the name suggests their main product is batteries. Since I was buying 8 at one time was able to work a discount (doesn't hurt to ask).


Back to the op (sorry about the thread drift). I agree would not put "open" gassing FLAs under the bed.

Only based on price, would look into the Force batts since you need to purchase 4 of them.

I have not seen Crown or Interstate in Oz, but there are heaps of lower cost ones around - Just trying to find one that will last more than a couple of years