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I took Elsie in the second week of December because my heater in engine wasn't working. I did notice a bit of water under her as I pulled in the repair shop. Before they got to the heater, they said the water pump was leaking, then I get a call that they noticed the radiator was leaking and I needed a new one! ACK... The place I took it to has a good reputation and they have worked on my vehicles for over twenty years so I feel like they are honest but, I noticed nothing with the radiator, motor didn't run hot, no odor, no visible leaks when I parked it so I was a bit surprise. The last time they called saying it wasn't ready yet, I asked if they had checked my house batteries and was told they were good. This morning I get a call that, opps batteries are not good, that their original rating was 685 and one is at 295 and the other only 38. I called an RV repair shop and asked about batteries and also about sealed vs the ones you have to check. They said they don't sell the sealed ones and their replacement ones would cost $93.00 each for a group 24, APH 95. I have no idea what that means but I thought I wanted the sealed ones, now I'm not sure. They also said they could remove the weaker battery and if I am usually plugged in to electric I would be fine for awhile. They also said that the water level need to be good when they do these checks or you will get a bad read.

So, bottom line on this whine is, which batteries sealed or unsealed or do I just go with the one for now. Which ever, I'm taking her to the RV place because the fridge need checking and I need propane, plus I thought the battery price sounded good.

I don't know about your other problems but have some experience with batteries. What you want are the deep cycle marine/rv batteries. I don't know about what number they call them. You need to measure where you are putting them to make sure they will fit. I wanted to get the sealed batteries but they are too tall for my compartment. If your rv isn't plugged in at the repair shop I wouldn't doubt that they are going down. Can you get to the batteries to put distilled water in them? I would make sure they have water and try charging them. I have always heard that you need to change both batteries at the same time because the older battery will pull from the new one and make it fail sooner. When my batteries start needing water I check them every month and add water. They will keep working for a while.

Hope you get all this resolved, spring is coming soon.

Martha

Just left rv shop....was asking them about sealed battery....said better off with
Deep cell for housebattery ...butwould get sealed underhood....sealed wont last
as long as deep cell ffor hse battry....so they tol me

If they don't sell the sealed battery, they probably won't recommend them. I wouldn't have anything else. When I went to my RV service people to have inverter and solar panel installed, they wanted to know what batteries I have, thinking they would need to be replaced. When they saw mine they told me I had the best. I have Optima blue top. Here's a link:

http://www.dcbattery.com/optima_blue.html

While Liz won't have anything else, I won't get sealed batteries. So do whatever seems best for you.

Thanks, I think I will get sealed if they will fit, even if they don't last as long. I don't want to have to keep getting them checked. Will see if I can get the Optima blue you suggested Liz. I'm also going to tell them tomorrow I want my RV back by Monday. I told them when I took it in I wasn't in a rush but good grief, had no idea they would take this long. Maybe they took her to FL!

Redetotry wrote:Thanks, I think I will get sealed if they will fit, even if they don't last as long. I don't want to have to keep getting them checked. Will see if I can get the Optima blue you suggested Liz. I'm also going to tell them tomorrow I want my RV back by Monday. I told them when I took it in I wasn't in a rush but good grief, had no idea they would take this long. Maybe they took her to FL!

As Beth said, you should do what seems best for you, but from what I've read and been told, it's the sealed that last longer....average 7 years as compared to 2or 3. It's what was in both of my Roadtreks.

They are available at Autozone, which is where I got mine. They will install free.
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/landing/page.jsp?name=optima-batteries

I'll agree with Liz on getting your batteries at auto zone.

People have asked me why I don't recommend the sealed batteries. An rv place told me that they recommend them in cars, etc but stopped recommending them in RVs because they don't have the same extended life in RVs because we tend to abuse batteries. And I find that to be true. We drain them which causes shorter life span which in turn negates the higher cost.

Regular batteries MAY last longer but only if you make sure they always have full water which means checking them frequently. I opted for sealed because for some reason, I HATE checking the water level and filling. The sealed ones are more expensive but I think worth it.

I think when the time comes I will get the sealed batteries
I have a hard time seeing in the cells, not sure yet where the
water level should be...I will try not to run the batteries down

We have the sealed batteries for all the reasons others have listed. We have had them for five years and they are still going strong. We have a solar trickle charger that keeps them charged when the RV is in storage. We also have a battery disconnect switch so things such as the co2 alarm do not drain the batteries while the RV is in storage.