[A/S] Question about deep cycle battery brands

["William Henshall" <willy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello to all and may I say how much I enjoy reading this list.

I too have a general question about batteries.

Our 1990 345LE motorhome had 2 extra Deka Marine Master dual start/deep
cycle  DP27 batteries fitted about 8 months ago. I asked for the best deep
cycle batteries available and that is what the guys at Almaden RV in San
Jose said was the best one. Although I requested the original Costco
supplied (Everpures?) deep cycle batteries to be exchanged for new Dekas
too, making a bank of 4, the dealer said they would be ok, as they were only
2 yrs old.

We are now finding that the battery bank is not holding its charge properly.
We have a Prosine 2.0 inverter/charger and have some recently installed
power hungry stuff such as a 2 way MotoSat Internet satellite system, which
by the way is fantastic. All the same the length of time we can go dry
camping has sigificantly shortened in the past 2 weeks.

Question - should I replace all 4 batteries now with better spec deep cycle
batteries such as the Deka DC 27s which I understand are deep cycle only
spec and not the dual use spec like I currently have? I have been told that
you need to replace all batteries at the same or the performance will drop
to the level of the worst condition one in the bank.

Another question..does anyone "equalize" their batteries on a regular basis?
There are detailed instructions with my Prosine that involve disconnecting
the load and then doing the "equalize" every 6 weeks. I have not ever spoken
to anyone who does this however :)

Thanks very much for any response.

Will Henshall
WBCCI & VAC 8048
1990 345LE Motorhome
1958 18ft Traveller trailer