We've noticed that the battery on our 19 doesn't have the capacity it used to have. When the sun is hidden the voltage drops more quickly than it used to. Under load the voltage drops further than it used to.
So we'll probably replace the battery next spring.
I've read through a bunch of forum posts. I think I will go with an AGM battery given that we are frequently off shore power and some times push our battery maybe further than we should. But which one?
The existing battery is a non-AGM Interstate SRM-27. The Interstate web page (
https://www.interstatebatteries.com/products/srm-27) says it has a reserve capacity of 160 minutes at 25A. I found another web site that claimed 96Ah for the SRM-27. It sells for $120US -- I can't find a local price, but it's a good bet it's going to be close to $200CDN locally.
For comparison, Canadian Tire sells a group 27 AGM battery (
MotoMaster Nautilus Ultra Group 27 AGM Deep Cycle Battery | Canadian Tire). That page claims 175 minute reserve capacity and a 92Ah capacity. Canadian Tire sells it for $300.
Then there's Rolls. I read a few recommendations for them, and there's a local dealer, so I had a look at their website. For their group 27 AGM battery (
27 M 105 | Rolls Battery) they claim 105Ah and a 185 minute reserve. I have no idea what they sell for locally (not listed on the web), but I understand they're not cheap.
Have you bought an AGM battery in Canada? Are the Canadian Tire MotoMaster batteries ok? Is there a better alternative that I've missed?
Thanks for the info...
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A note on battery nomenclature... Since I had to read up on this to understand what I was seeing, I thought others might find the information useful...
AGM means "absorbent glass mat". It's still a lead-acid battery like your existing battery, but it's packaged differently. AGM batteries have a number of advantages over "regular" batteries -- high reliability, low maintenance, faster charging, ability to draw lower without damage. The main disadvantage is cost (they're expensive).
Battery capacity is rated a couple of different ways. The first "reserve capacity" is the number of minutes that the battery will last when drawing 25A, before dropping below 10.5V. The second "Ah capacity" (the Ah there means Amp-hour) is the total power available, measured in Amp-hours, if a slow steady draw is taken over 20 hours.
The "group" number of a battery is just a classification of its size. The battery provided with an Escape 19 is a group 27DC battery (according the Interstate website). I'm not sure of the significance of the "DC" -- the different group 27 specifications are all very similar. For our use, the battery size is not really important excepting that if it's too big to fit in the battery box in the front storage bin, it'll cost be another $50 or whatever to replace the box.