Leisure battery recommendations please

[Capt.Golightly]

I need to replace my three cheapie 120 ah leisure batteries and whilst I fully appreciate that you get what you pay for any advice on brands offering good compromise between price and performance would be most gratefully received.

[Burgiesburnin]

How much did you pay for your "cheapie" ones?

How do you rate their performance for the amount that you paid?

If you paid twice as much for your next three could you expect twice the performance?

 

I know that a better "quality" set may not cost twice as much but I wonder what the return would be if instead of buying say three higher quality batteries you you bought say 5 "cheapie s" and rotated them regularly.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Burgiesburnin

[bottle]

The answer is buy the best you can afford then....

 

Look after them with a lot of TLC

(tender loving care)

 

and the 'cheapies' will last as long as expensive.

 

or

 

Buy the Db's of batteries and treat them badly and they will last as long as the cheapie ones.

[Phil Ambrose]

Bottle, could not have put it better myself.

Phil

[Grace and Favour]

I need to replace my three cheapie 120 ah leisure batteries and whilst I fully appreciate that you get what you pay for any advice on brands offering good compromise between price and performance would be most gratefully received.

We currently have cheapies (Numax)

I have researched and calculated that, (given that we look after our batteries) using the declared cycle life on quality batteries versus the cheapies, when compared with purchase cost - the quality batteries are considerably cheaper.

 

Our next batteries shall be Trojan 105's or 125's

[Jigsawged]

Beware of some companies offering 5 year marine use guarantees. My experience is that years ago when first established the guarantee was honoured however, I had a situation with one set of batts that failed after about two years - which could have been a case of poor maintenance but the company wouldn't even look at them and no amount of telephone calls (which were never replied to), nor were any of my numerous written requests ever acknowledged. This was again repeated in another instance.

 

All I ever got was "all our operators are busy, leave your number and we will get back to you" even that promise was a big fib.

[Naughty Cal]

We are currently using Vartas which have so far given three years of good service with little sign of performance loss so far.

[Taslim]

As Naghty Cal said Varta are good but I've just got some megga cheaps from Batterys UK. To soon to say if good long term but they seem to be doing the right thing..

 

Bottle has the right idea.

[Phil Ambrose]

I look after mt batts,keep them charged, check fluid levels and S.G on a regular basis, try not to abuse them BUt still accept that they are a consumable. We must all accept that they won't last forever

 

Phil

[BlueBelle1]

Great advise, I'm thinking I'll have to buy at least one battery, they just don't seem to charge up at all so I've not managed to run the boat at all yet ..maybe i could buy one as a sort of spare and keep it charged up as I'm hoping this won't happen again once I finally get it up and running...

Edited December 2, 2013 by BlueBelle1

[Grace and Favour]

Great advise, I'm thinking I'll have to buy at least one battery, they just don't seem to charge up at all so I've not managed to run the boat at all yet ..maybe i could buy one as a sort of spare and keep it charged up as I'm hoping this won't happen again once I finally get it up and running...

IF (and it's a big IF) your batteries are shot - then they are likely to all be shot - you need to replace the bank of batteries - not just one.

 

It may help if you knew their history (how old are they?) - how have you tried to charge them? - are they correctly topped up with distilled water? - are all the cable connections clean and tight?

Edited December 2, 2013 by Grace & Favour

[David Schweizer]

I installed two 6volt US batteries more than eight years ago and they still hold a full charge without any problems. They cost £170 delivered in May 2005 so not cheap, but probably more cost effective in the long run. The previous set lasted 13 years!

 

http://www.tayna.co.uk/US-125-Deep-Cycle-Monobloc-Battery-P4121.html

Edited December 2, 2013 by David Schweizer

[Mike Tee]

When you have decided on what you want, and researched the cheapest price on the web, go to your local battery supplier and ask him to give his best price. He may quote more expensive - its then a matter of judgement as to whether you buy remotely off the internet, or perhaps pay a little more, and have somewhere you can walk into and claim on the guarantee face to face.

[Guest]

It is always worth checking leisure battery prices at a caravan dealer - they can offer some excellent prices too.

 

And my philosophy too is 'buy cheap and look after 'em'

[kevinl]

For £75 including VAT & next day delivery these look alright to me, I've never used them but my neighbour has had a set for 3 years and he rates them. Don't know if they'll be open to a deal for buying 3 there is a different phone number for bulk orders you could ask.

K

http://www.advancedbatterysupplies.co.uk/budgetleisurebattery110amp

[bottle]

Another tip, make sure you can fit them in the space you have.

[wirren]

Have a look at Go Outdoors, they will match & then give you an extra 10% off.

 

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/price-guarantee

 

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/search/go?view=grid&w=numax

 

Mark.

[Mike Tee]

Another tip, make sure you can fit them in the space you have.

And check polarity - nothing worse than getting a good deal, and having to spend on new cables 'cause the old ones won't reach.

[David Schweizer]

It is of course a matter of choice, but as most "leisure batteries" are little more tha large dual purpose road vehicle batteries, they will have the same sort of life expectancy. Deep cycle batteries are designed to take a high load and to be re-charged at a high rate, Whilst their principla use is in golf carts, fork lift trucks etc, they are ideal for boats, which is why I would advocate shelling out a bit more now to save a lot in the long run.

 

As for shopping around for a better price, if you manage to find another supplier in the UK for the US batteries that is cheaper than Tanya, please post the details on here.

 

Advanced batteries also suply them but at a higher price :- http://advancedbatterysupplies.co.uk/us125xc2battery242ah

Edited December 2, 2013 by David Schweizer

[Guest]

And check polarity - nothing worse than getting a good deal, and having to spend on new cables 'cause the old ones won't reach.

 

Sometimes it's worth checking that you cannot solve this by simply flipping the batteries around. If the overall layout pattern remains the same or close to it you may not have to change all or even some of the leads.

[George94]

Beware of some companies offering 5 year marine use guarantees. My experience is that years ago when first established the guarantee was honoured however, I had a situation with one set of batts that failed after about two years - which could have been a case of poor maintenance but the company wouldn't even look at them and no amount of telephone calls (which were never replied to), nor were any of my numerous written requests ever acknowledged. This was again repeated in another instance.

 

All I ever got was "all our operators are busy, leave your number and we will get back to you" even that promise was a big fib.

 

Send them a letter by recorded delivery.

 

If they don't respond, take them to the Small Claims Court.

[Jonesy]

I went through 2sets of batteries very quickly. Had a local engineer G W. They didn't hold charge. Me being a woman fell into the trap. Ended up reading about probs. Sorted it out myself. (eventually). He had forgotten to conect earth from batteies to engine .I now have four Trojan 6v set in series to give me more than enough power. Got them from Alpha chorley. Did a deal. Always make an offer. I sabed £90.

[Naughty Cal]

 

Send them a letter by recorded delivery.

 

If they don't respond, take them to the Small Claims Court.

Read the small print when you buy your batteries first

[dmr]

Batteries are consumable items guaranteed against faulty parts and workmanship, not against wearing out or sulphation.

Its a bit like complaining to Tesco that a pint of milk has gone bad because you left it in the sunshine for a week!

 

The problem is that its very hard to prove why a battery has failed and so the guarantee is very much down to the discretion of the shop, if you nag they may well give you new ones to avoid an unhappy customer and bad press.

 

A couple of years ago I purchased a set of batteries that were badly sulphated, probably due to sitting on a shelf in a warehouse for ages. After much complaining the shop returned the batteries to the supplier who tested them and confirmed that they were sulphated but declared that this was my fault and so they would not be replaced.The shop saw differently and gave a full refund.

 

........Dave

[ditchcrawler]

Beware of some companies offering 5 year marine use guarantees. My experience is that years ago when first established the guarantee was honoured however, I had a situation with one set of batts that failed after about two years - which could have been a case of poor maintenance but the company wouldn't even look at them and no amount of telephone calls (which were never replied to), nor were any of my numerous written requests ever acknowledged. This was again repeated in another instance.

 

All I ever got was "all our operators are busy, leave your number and we will get back to you" even that promise was a big fib.

A friend of mine in a similar position finally got satisfaction by visiting their stand at the IWA National and talking in a very loud voice for a very long time, I think it was the Henley one.