Suggested Battery for Westy

[smd333]

I just spent the last 1/2 hour of my life fighting to get a 41 out of the battery compartment.

I ordered a T5 Everstart Maxx from Walmart, I'll pick it up today at noon. $134.00
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Dona and Mike
1986 Wolfsburg Weekender

[Sodo]

When you put a new battery in is always seems like it will be 'forever' until you need to take it out.
But forever seems to come before too long.

Always put a lifting strap around the battery before you drop it into the hole.
A flat strap is best but even a cord, or a rope.

Yesterday I bought a Group41 interstate Battery at Smallcar in Tacoma, WA.
I have not dropped it into the hole yet.
If....it has any unnecessary plastic extremities....I will cut them off: Modify NAPA group 41 battery for better fit
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[Flo_150210]

[Ahwahnee]

[Wildthings]

A Group 41 (or T65) is 11 9/16" long while a T6 is 11" long, don't see much need to go shorter.

FWIW, I have had decent luck with top of the line Walmart batteries, not my first choice but plenty good enough.

[steve244]

[cmayna]

[IdahoDoug]

Same - T5 for the win and more power! Funny, this exact battery is being recommended in another thread at the moment as well. Great choice.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[Flo_150210]

That will be my go-to choice then. Thanks!

[Flo_150210]

Sorry for asking one more time, but are you guys sure this

https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Maxx-Lead-Aci...CA/5128244

fits? It's stating it won't fit in a 2003 MV Eurovan, but I am guessing they are mistaking aux and main battery.. right?

Thanks.

[kamzcab86]

[Wildthings]

[Flo_150210]

My bad, I hadn't noticed! Sorry for the trouble, I will switch to the other pages.
Thanks and happy Sunday!

[micparsons]

Has anyone used T5 Everstart Maxx for their aux battery too? Any issues running with two, ie., as house and aux!?

Mike
-1990 Westy, stock

[slownsteady]

I recently had to replace my house battery, which of course started my search for the battery that might best suit my needs.

A little background wrt my setup:

I have an Engel MR040 fridge which runs off my Dometic PLB40 LifePO4 battery - works great and I can get a few days of operation without the need to recharge the battery. If I am settled in at the campsite, I have the option of solar panels to top the battery up if needed as the solar panels can feed direct into the PLB40. On average, with good sun I can keep the PLB40 topped up each day.

For the House battery, I was using a MT41 Interstate battery. This is the "normal / stock" battery for a Vanagon. My house battery powers the interior lights, radio, phone charging, and my Propex furnace (appox 1.6 AH draw). The MT41 is not rated in AH, only RC (110 mins). Approximately 45.8 AH. The consensus seems to be with a standard flooded battery, only 50% of its AH rating is usable, otherwise battery damage can occur, and its reserve capacity will lesson significantly. With that said, this leaves only about 22.9 AH for the Propex and its needs or 14 hours of operation. Not bad, however I wanted some more margin than this.

A few technical notes regarding the math and research:

Divide the RC by 60, and then multiply this number by 25 to obtain the amp hours.

RC: Reserve Capacity is a very important battery rating. This is the number of minutes a fully charged battery at 80°F will discharge under a 25 amp load until the battery drops below 10.5 volts. AH: An Amp/Hour is a rating usually found on deep cycle batteries and is a capacity rating

I have been following this thread with great interest as the T5 battery looked to be a very good option given its fitment into the battery compartment. However, most T5's I looked at are geared more towards being a starting battery and did not have much, if any, improvement in AH capacity over the MT41 stock battery. I did find a few T5's with approx 56AH rating.

As I continued my research I stumbled upon this tidbit :

All the sizes of “T” Batteries are the exact same footprint as the “H” Sizes, but they are about 3/4-inch (17mm) lower in height.

I expanded my research to include the T6, and T7 batteries as both of these sizes will fit our battery compartment - length, width and height.

So, a long story short, I settled on a T7 Diehard Gold Battery. It is rated at 80AH of capacity and fits perfectly. It is effectively the same size as the MT41 - so no improvement on space within the battery compartment, however significant improvement on AH capacity. Same technology as the starting battery (standard flooded battery) which means there is no need for a special charging profile (AGM, Deep Cycle, LiFePO4, etc.).

Thought I would share my find should anyone else have a similar need for a house battery.

[Wildthings]

[slownsteady]

I put the two batteries (T7 and MT41) side by side and visually they were very close to identical (I included the tabs at the base and top of the battery sides).

T7 dimensions are:

Height 6.937 in
Length: 12.437 in
Width 6.937 in

MT41 dimensions are:

Height 6.625 inches
Length: 11.5 inches
Width 6.875 inches

[PDXWesty]

[Schuylersister]

Considering this post as mainly for which STARTER battery is best for a Westy I have a question about dates of batteries and warranties. I found a T5 Ever Start Maxx battery at a local Walmart. It had a date on it for 7/21 making it one year old already, so I didn't buy it. I also found a T5 Ever Start that wasn't a Maxx with a pretty current date of 8/22 so I bought it. Price difference was $50 and the replacement warranty is two years instead of three. Now I'm having second thoughts and wondering what others think?

In terms of using a T5 for an auxiliary battery...if you're going to use a LA battery make sure it's deep cycle.

[kamzcab86]