Where to get house batteries cheap??

[JonCBrand]

Im in need of my batteries now and would like to know where to get them cheap.

[phillip266]

iam not shure whats in your area but i have goten some at a few battry shops around just make shure to tell them you need house and not name brand hope this helps
PS dont do the truck stop think thire outragesdly high priced thire

[J.B.]

Hi There, You might want to think about trying Wally World. Quite a few of the bus conversion guys from other BB are using Wall World Batteries. I do not know the nomenclature for the best buy or brand that they carry but I am sure that you could do a little snooping around and find out. 12 V and pretty cheap with good quality. Something to think about?

J.B.

[phillip266]

? i was thinking that the battres would be 24v like in the biger trucks ect if so wal-mart will be a hard place to find them but if thire 12 v wal-mart is the way to go anyone know if the Diesel bus use 12 or 24v?

[J.B.]

In My opinion 12 V is the way to go. I you want 24 V then take two 12 V and hook them together.

J.B.

[busone]

As far as know they use two 12v batteries to make 24 volts. Most modern (1980s and newer) skoolies are 12 volt. 24 volt systems work great except the light bulbs cost more and almost everything is designed for 12 volt use.

[J.B.]

Hi There Phillip 66, What voltage is your bus . I think you need to start there. Sometimes the KISS method works alot better than the complicated method . Let me know the voltage.

J.B.

[JonCBrand]

What is o'reillies

[lapeer20m]

i'm a big fan of 6volt deep cycle batteries. The ones meant either for golf carts, or electric fork trucks. Connect pairs of them in series to make 12 volts. These batteries are not cheap, but are the best in lead acid batteries when it comes to running accessories in your skoolie when the engine is not runing.

If you use automotive batteries, or wal-mart marine/deep cycle/RV batteries, you're getting what you pay for. These types of batteries are not meant to run inverters and other loads for long periods of time or to be drawn down below 12.3 volts resting voltage (12 volt batteries are actually ~12.6 volts when fully charged. You should never let batteries drop below 12.3 volts resting voltage!) Sure you can make it work, but as far as lead acid batts go, you can beat the performance you get from deep cycles.

Trojan makes some of the best deep cycle batteries. http://www.trojan-battery.com/GolfDC.asp?Product=51

IF you plan to keep your skoolie for 5 or 10 years, it's worth it to make the investment in good batteries. In the long run, you'll spend more money replacing cheap batteries than you would have if you purchased the correct batteries in the begining.

for all kinds of info on batteres, go to http://www.phrannie.org/battery.html

Next thing to consider: How to charge them properly............

In my opinion, creating a 24 volt "house" system doesn't make good sense if you're bus is already set up for 12 volts. In theory, 24 volts is a better idea than 12. Current can be carried in smaller guage wires, motors run more efficiently ect.......however, there is a problem: we currently live in a 12 volt world. Almost all accessories commonly available today for any vehicle in north america are for 12 volts. Fuses, lights, fans, motors, inverteres, relays, phone chargers,coolers, refers, ect are almost exclusively 12 volts.

[lapeer20m]

This is more usless trivia than useful information:

another big advantage of 24 volts that i forgot to mention: You can get twice as much power from the same alternator in a 24 volt system as you get from a 12 volt system.

For instance: A 100 amp alternator can make 100 amps at nearly any voltage up to and above 100 volts if you make some simple modifications to the voltage regulator.

100 amps @ 12 volts = 1,200 watts total power
100 amps @ 24 volts = 2,400 watts

The amperage rating stays the same even as the volate increases.

For lots in interesting reading on the subject, visit this site http://members.1stconnect.com/anozira/S ... rnator.htm

[J.B.]

I agree, The kiss method. 12 V is the way for most of us to go. One great advantage for the 6 V batts that was not mentioned is the weight involved. try to manuever and lift a 120 lb 8D and then try to manuever and lift a 6 V Batt.

I have 8 Dyno 6 V batts in the Crown "Farther" in battery boxes and even they are a chore to place in the battery compartment. I would not want to try it with 8 Ds.

Bear in mind that I have 24 V starter in the Crown via a relay system that changes two 12 v batteries to 24 V for the starter only

J.B..

[Firearm]

Another great feature of the 6v golf cart batteries is that they are made to take a lot of abuse. They are very rugged and durable and have to be the way golf carts are bashed about with very little suspension. I have owned an electric golf cart and used it as a pit wagon at the track and it took a lot of abuse. The shaking of the bus going down the road would be no problem. The batteries have a great resale value as well, if you decide to change systems, so you could put them in the paper and have them sold to some golf guy in a heartbeat for just about what you paid for them.

[Vern1]

Greetings,
I bought my 6V golf cart batteries at Sams Wholesale.
They ran about 50.00 each.
I have four of them in series/parallel to make a 12v bank.
They have worked very well for about a year now.
I also use a nice multi stage charger with a charge wizard to cycle them if they are not being used for power.
Works well and still have lots of life left.
My son and his wife are living in my bus right now until their house is completed.