[orren]

Harry,

Welcome aboard.. As to batteries, you get what you pay for and when you need them again, give me a call. Any comparison of Lifeline and Universal is a joke.

Also, think about adding your conversion and year as a signature.

[Bill]

At the risk of giving Tom a fat(ter) head I want to poke my nose in this discussion.

Our house batteries are central to making the use of our coaches enjoyable. When they are good, everything works as it is supposed to, and when they are bad, they can create problems and issues that end up driving you crazy.

I’m all for a bargain, but cheap batteries often tunr out to be expensive due to either shorter life, or worse due to the cost of paying a technician to sort out problems that are the result of a failed or failing battery.

Lifeline AGM batteries are not only a proven product in our coaches, but the various reports of support from Tom or the folks at Lifeline show them to be a good choice.

One thing I learned when trading in my last set of used batteries was the Lifeline batteries are significantly heavier than those of their competitors and the battery recycler told me that is the best indicator of quality.

[Bill]

I am currently using the aforementioned offending batteries. Since they are 1/2 the price of the Lifeline batteries I jumped right on them. Mine are currently only about 2 years old but they only need to last 4-5 years for me to break even over the outraveously priced Lifelines. My guess is I will get my monies worth but if not….it won’t be my first mistake. In the meantime, I am very happy and they are preforming exactly as well as my previous Lifelines did. I’m just a working man on a tight budget so the pricing difference was a big deal to me.

[Archived]

FWIW, I don’t think that other guy was promoting them, but rather giving buyers another option. If you want another option at the the Rolls Royce end of battery quality, why not buy a set of these: http://www.rollsbattery.com/

Anyway, there are many grades and types of batteries and what might be right for one may not be right for others. FWIW, I had a boat with several of those Chinese 8Ds and they were still servicable after 4 years. No, I didn’t use Chinese or other lower end replacements, but could have.

Depending on your use, how long you intend to keep your coach, and willingness to spend now versus later, lower end AGM or even wet cell batteries might be right for you. Although life expectancy and number of cycles a battery can withstand are important in your selection, I would be more concerned with the likelihood of catastrophic failure with any lower end widget. If safe, I can’t fault anyone for being cost conscience and accepting a shorter replacement interval.

I’m sure many of buy from Harbor Freight or Northern Tools because of their low prices. There products won’t last, but for infrequent use you may not need to buy from Snap-On for every tool need. This mindset is very similar to this discussion on batteries.

FWIW, my coach was bought with flooded wet cell house batteries and now has Lifelines. To each there own when safety isn’t compromised.

[Archived]

Bill,

I hope your communist batteries last you a long time.:) As for pricing, the Liflelines from me would cost you about 800 more than the Universals. What you get for that 800 is 5 years of unmatched warranty, an expected 5+ years of service life,12 more pounds of lead, 210 amp hours vs 180 and made in America.

Call me when they fizzle out on ya, at least we can talk about it…

[Archived]

Gil is right:

“I’m sure many of buy from Harbor Freight or Northern Tools because of their low prices. There products won’t last, but for infrequent use you may not need to buy from Snap-On for every tool need. This mindset is very similar to this discussion on batteries.”

But pay close attention to what he has said. Like Harbor Freight tools they have a purpose. If they last the one time I need that tool it makes perfect sense to buy one. But unless you are buying new batteries with the intent to flip the coach, give serious consideration to investing a few bucks more because unlike a one use tool, you rely on the batteries every minute you are in your coach.

I have lived with the smell of rotten eggs from batteries. I have lived with batteries that would not hold a charge through the night. I have chased inverter issues that in fact were caused solely be a bad battery. The peace of mind knowing my batteries are good and are going to last is way better than the relatively modest savings.

[Archived]

Tom, this aspect, “communist batteries”, ticks me off. I just had to replace the factory FM/Sat antenna on my 2009 VW. Even this $200 antenna was made in China. I look forward to the day America fully embraces insourcing and globally competitive pricing. As for your $80 premium to buy Lifelines, it sure sounds worthwhile on quanity of 1. At a quanity of 6 or 8 that could be $640, which is enough for some to think about it.

[Rodney]

This is thread drift and if Tom objects I will delete this. This is not political but is an observation on how to accomplish what Gil suggests.

We can compete in this country against offshore producers, but it is easy for companies to source their products elsewhere mostly as a means of replacing their own production which was closed or is no longer competitive due to what manufacturer’s face in the US today.

If we all agree as humans that our workplace laws regulations and practices along with our environmental regulations are morally the correct thing to do to protect worker safety and well being as well as protecting the environment we literally have the solution to the outsourcing in our own hands. But pay close attention to what I just said. We have to agree the laws and regulations imposed on our domestic manufacturers are justified. If so, then it follows that we just need to quit sticking our head in the sand and face the fact if those laws are morally the right thing to do, then we just need to pass an omnibus law that says we can outsource any product or service and import it with no tariffs or duty as long as the goods or services were created or provided in strict conformance to the laws and regulations imposed on our domestic suppliers.

If we opt to not do that we are exporting our environmental and human safety issues offshore and pretending they don’t exist.

I am now off my soap box. Please return to the subject of antennas.

[Archived]

See that, Jon was so worked up he thought he was on the antenna thread……

Now back to foreign made batteries…

[Debi]

I cant speak for anyone else but I will say that I am so sick of buying inferior quality products from china that I just may stop eating chinese food. Gee did I stray from the thread a little?

[Archived]

I went with a private label battery 18 months ago. Tom offered me Lifelines at a great price but I saved over $1,200 and it was worth it at the time. The company delivered the batteries to me on the road and picked up the old ones for no extra charge.

I thought they were going to be rebranded Interstates but they were rebranded Deka AGM batteries. They are doing well so far but only time will tell whether or not the chance I took was worth it. At the time I was thinking if I got 4 years out of these then I would be ahead. After pulling the old ones and installing the new ones I have come to the conclusion that 4 years is not enough. If these do not get 5 years then it will be Lifelines for sure next time.

I have 8 4D batteries and they are all in difficult places to reach. That is too big of a job to do very often!

Davy

[Doug]

Also remember guys, most recycle centers will pay around 400 each for your old batteries. That will help the pain a little bit.

[Archived]

Not sure about the $80 premium but the best price I could find for an 8-D Lifeline was about $600 each. I paid exactly $300 each (no freight, no tax) for the 8D Communist batteries. X4 batteries, that’s a big savings.

I love “made in the USA”. I just can’t always afford it.

[Bill]

I have to jump in here with my experience with “other brand” (not Lifeline) batteries…. when we purchased our coach it had Deka batteries installed… we were new to prevost and knew nothing…didn’t even know there were any Prevost sites for help. We “thought” the batteries were fairly new, just a couple of years old we were told.

Long story short we had numerous problems popping up every trip and after a visit to a Prevost service center we were told the batteries were shot so we replaced them with new Deka batteries… BIG mistake… they barely made it 30 months… they were maintained properly… chargers were good…inverters set correctly.

We had learned in the meantime that “Lifeline” was the only way to go, so we contacted Tom & they were delivered in 2 days nicely wrapped on a pallette ready to install. Can’t beat that for service and his price was cheaper than any other “lifeline” price to be found…. awesome service !!

Yes, we saved money on the Deka batteries, no they didn’t last, then we had the expense & hassle of changing them out at $70 per hour…

At the end of the day, we didn’t save a cent …. in fact all said and done the Deka’s cost us more !!!

You do get what you pay for…. can’t argue with that… gotta look at the “big” picture !!

Cheers,

Diane

[Bill]

“new Deka batteries… BIG mistake… they barely made it 30 months”

Ouch! 30 months is going to be way too soon to repeat all of that work!

DKO