April 2011 Battery Topics
There have been several threads lately about replacing batteries, battery problems, charging, which batteries to buy, etc. I would just like to say that I think Foretravel got it right for most of the owners when they started putting in the Gel Batteries and a high quality inverter/charger. Many of the owners are not going to take the time, or know what it takes to properly care for wet cell batteries. If the owner does know enough to not overly discharge the gel batteries they will last a long time and give good service. I went back and looked at some of the specifications for older Foretravels on Barry's website and the first listing that I found for gel batteries was 1993. I didn't check all the models by any means, so maybe gels were used before then in the higher lines. The 1993 specs had gels for chassis and house. I think this is as it should be, as with different types for house and chassis (wet in one place and GEL/AGM in another), how can the inverter/charger or alternator be set correctly? It will always be incorrect for one set of batteries.
There is also a lot of discussion about Optima batteries, Red top vs. Blue top and maybe even yellow. All 3 are AGM batteries, but the red top is considered a starting battery and the other 2 while they will start a vehicle are considered more of a deep cycle battery. Optima also states that if the case is black, it is a starting battery. The Red top has a black case, and the other 2 have gray cases. AGM and GEL are practically the same regards charging, but very different from wet cells. Neither AGM or GEL should be equalized or have the charging voltage above 14.1. I picked the Red top for the chassis as it is mainly for starting. (Not really, there was a problem with the still under warranty Napa batteries that came with the coach and I was offered a free exchange; Napa had switched to Optima for their top of the line battery.) It's always good to be lucky. I have 2 MK's for the house, but not sure whether they are GEL or AGM as I didn't know enough at the time of purchase to specify GEL. There are no identifying marks on the MK batteries that I can see with them installed to determine which they are, but they have given good service for 3 years with no problems. FWIW.
Topic: April 2011 Battery Topics