Sears Diehard Batteries Problems?

I recently replaced my battery set with 2 new (quite heavy) Sear's Diehard Platinum Group 31M batteries.

As I trial, I kept my 2 way compressor fridge and some lights running off battery for 2 days. My batteries were down to a charge of 12.2 Volts and it was time to recharge.

I hooked up the camper to 120 volt power to charge with the IOTA (with it's 4 stage smart charger) and could not get the volts above 13.0. Even after several hours - no increase in volts about 13.0. Strange.

Then I unhooked it and let the solar panels go to work. Again with 220 Watts and MPPT charge controller, I could only get 13.0 volts. It had 9.8 amps at 13.0 volts but would not increase the voltage.
Handy Bob would not be impressed.

Is this normal behavior for newer AGM batteries?
Anyone else had this problem?
I doubt my batteries would ever reach a full charge this way.

I called my battery guy who thought the batteries just were too full for a bulk charge.
Not sure how that could be with the 110 litter Waeco fridge running at 4 amps at probably 80% of the day.
It was 95 degrees outside too.
I can't imagine that I had not used at least 50 amp hours and probably much more.

The Sears guy who sold me the batteries has told me that I have to purchase the special Sears Diehard charger to successfully charge them. I can't imagine that is necessary. If so, they are definitely going back.


Do I have a problem with my batteries or is this just normal for new AGM?

As a test of the IOTA charger you might discharge the batteries to 12.3 volts then use an external battery charger?

If they still don't charge over 13.o volts, batteries might be bad.

A few months ago I was researching batteries and discovered one company makes just about all the batteries sold in the US. Sears Diehard brand was one of them. This company has manuf locations in the U.S. and Mexico with the majority being manufactured in Mexico. Mexico plant was using recycled parts which were causing problems. i posted the info on WTW (just looked can't find it).
Google the batteries. Article says there are only 2-3 battery companies being made in the U.S....Exide and ?? don't remember the other brands. FWC supplies Exide new campers.

RC Pilot Jim said:

Article says there are only 2-3 battery companies being made in the U.S....Exide and ?? don't remember the other brands. FWC supplies Exide new campers.

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Deka batteries are USA made: http://www.dekabatteries.com
Have had great luck with them.

I am still doing research on the whole power consumption/recharging thing. I do have a Waeco 110L fridge, and have two Lifeline 6V batteries providing 300 AH capacity, so maybe some of what I have learned will be of use to you. I also have the 4 stage Iota charger and 100 W solar mounted and 100W solar portable.

There is a lot of different info out there on the Waeco power consumption, depending on the website. Sales sites seem to quote a lower power consumption than do the various Dometic/Waeco sites. The New Zealand Waeco site, and others, say this:

2.2 AH @ 25 degree C ambient (about 77 F)
2.5 AH @ 32 degree C ambient (about 90 F)

I asked the factory this question before the purchase and they told me they had no better info than what I quoted above.

I stored my batteries for three weeks before my camper was ready for pickup. First installed with no load they read at 12.9V, now when 'fully charged' they read 13V. Lifeline batteries seem to be a little different than other AGM batteries, at least as far as the various charge voltage scenarios that the factory literature recommends.

I could not get the Iota charger to charge them to a resting voltage above 12.8, until I killed the 12V via the kill switch, then they charged to 13V. Just discovered this and I don't yet know why. I plugged in after my last trip and experimented with this, as the fan kicked on when I hit the kill switch, and turned off when I pulled it out, seemingly indicating a higher charge rate with the 12V power off. Counter-intuitive and not in line with the Iota and FWC literature, but that's my experience.

I have the Zamp solar controller that shows battery voltage, and will report the total AH of charging since the last reset. It is supposed to turn off when it is dark but mine does not, at least the back light stays on until I manually reset it (ie pull the fuse).

The Zamp controller has never indicated it has gotten to the float stage via the lights. As a test I used the portable panel and tracked the AH charged, after the Iota has stopped charging and turned off. It put in 45AH before I stopped the test because I needed to go camping again. That would imply, perhaps, that the Iota decided my batteries were charged when they were really at about 85% or so, and the solar charger was still in absorbtion phase. The voltage readings I took would support this, I think.

I also did an unplanned test of battery life over the July 4th weekend, camping in enough shade that I only obtained 5AH daily charging in pretty hot weather, with both panels in use. On the third morning the battery voltage finally dropped to 12.1V.

The only other data I have is that my average charging from one panel is about 25AH with pretty good sun, and when parked on a bare hill top on almost the longest day of the year, with zero clouds, with the portable panel on the windshield facing south, the combined 200 watts produced 80AH.

Now that I seem to have tricked the Iota into charging to 13V resting state, I want to try the solar panel test again. But it is now cloudy and it has actually rained a wee bit the last two mornings in San Jose. so that little experiment may have to wait until some other time.

I doubt you need a special charger from Sears. If I had your batteries I would determine the manufacturer and find from their info what the charge scenarious are supposed to be. Then leave them on the Iota for a day or two, then unplug it with the 12V killed, and check them after 4 hours time has passed, to let them stabilize (resting). If they aren't at the factory-specified voltage then perhaps the batteries are faulty, or at least you would have a lot of info to pass to the Sears guy to convince him that he should stop argueing and just refund/replace them.

Thanks for the excellent feedback.
I was able to separate my batteries and charge them with a stand alone battery charger on AGM setting. After nearly 2-3 hours of charging, the voltage did increase to 14.6 volts.
Then I hooked that battery to the Iota charge and it began charging bulk at 14.4 volts before eventually tapering off to float charge around 13.0volts.

I'm going to try this in the second battery as well and see what happens with it and when I put them together.

The stand alone charger really worked hard to get the volts up. Lots of fan noise and the wires to the clamps were quite warm too.

I'm not sure if this solved it or not. But clearly if you can't get the volts to 14.4, it's going to be hard to get a full charge.

Desert Dave - 300 amp hour battery and 200 watts of solar? You are my hero - nice work.

AGM batteries should be charged with a charger that has a setting for AGM type batteries. Check out the Schumacher Model# SSC-1500-CA Charger. Will charge both Wet Cell and AGM batteries, awesome little charger, can be used as a maintainer as well. It is important to properly recharge a AGM type battery to bring to full charge and not overheat the battery.

One of the 2 batteries in my FWC is the Sears AMG group 27, have been using the Sears for the past 4 months, no problems. When parked in the garage, charge with this...http://www.amazon.com/Save-Battery-4055-Charger-Maintainer/dp/B00GWFPY0S/ref=sr_1_33?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1405484332&sr=1-33

If we use the battery without solar backup, we can get 3 days of use, lights (LED) , Heat, & we have a 24" TV/DVD watch 3-5 movies, when we get back to the garage were at about 12.2 on the voltage. Just went out to the garage and the meter on the maintainer showing 13.9 went out this past weekend in search of the Greenback Cutthroats, just saying what works for Us!

This is finally what happened after my last night of camping.
Once the sun was up of course.
I'm sure it was even higher voltage after this.

I'm not sure why it would not accept a charge from either the IOTA or solar charge controller for the first week.

But nothing worked until I had put both batteries on the my 30 amp wall charger for a few hours.
I came back to check on it and found the volts up above 16!

I disconnected it after I saw that and now they somehow work.

Guess it needed a little jump start!

Either way, I'm in business now with my solar, battery and compressor fridge.

I'm quite surprised that many of you use a battery charger instead of the IOTA 4 stage system to charge when you are at home.

I've always assumed the IOTA charger to be adequate.
Does anyone else use their IOTA to recharge batteries?

I'll add my information on Sears Diehard Platinum. I installed a new diehard in our new camper in November 2013. Getting ready for our Memorial Day trip, I noticed my battery voltage was down to 11.9 Volts. I parked the camper in the sun for a day and topped off the battery. Memorial Day trip went fine. The next weekend we were parked for two nights. Second morning the fridge was not working as the low battery switch was tripped. All my charging systems appeared to be fine as I checked them out. I took the battery to Sears (easy, I didn't need to dig out the receipt, they have records). It failed the initial load test. Their protocol is to then fully charge the battery and retest. Charging took half a day. It failed the load retest and they replaced with a new battery.

I was pleased but also concerned if something in my system contributed to the failure. I rechecked everything and have confidence in my system. Thus far on numerous trips I always have a fully charged battery at days end, no matter how many days the truck is parked.

Conclusion - it was a bad battery from Sears.

DrJ said:

image.jpg

This is finally what happened after my last night of camping.
Once the sun was up of course.
I'm sure it was even higher voltage after this.

I'm not sure why it would not accept a charge from either the IOTA or solar charge controller for the first week.

But nothing worked until I had put both batteries on the my 30 amp wall charger for a few hours.
I came back to check on it and found the volts up above 16!

I disconnected it after I saw that and now they somehow work.

Guess it needed a little jump start!

Either way, I'm in business now with my solar, battery and compressor fridge.

I'm quite surprised that many of you use a battery charger instead of the IOTA 4 stage system to charge when you are at home.

I've always assumed the IOTA charger to be adequate.
Does anyone else use their IOTA to recharge batteries?

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I have mine on the IOTA charger when the camper is off the truck and in the garage. Works fine and keeps the battery at 13.6v where it should be for AGM battery.

The bright side is they are on sale right now..................................................

Diehard Marine Platinum

photohc said:

I have mine on the IOTA charger when the camper is off the truck and in the garage. Works fine and keeps the battery at 13.6v where it should be for AGM battery.

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How concerned should I be that my 5 year old AGM battery charges to 12.7 volts?

ski3pin said:

The bright side is they are on sale right now..................................................

Diehard Marine Platinum

Click to expand...

I noticed that also while doing a search of AGM batteries earlier this morning.

$217 not a bad price.
I think that is about the lowest I have seen.

I am not in need of one yet so I hope when the time comes I can take advantage of a sale.

Frank

rotti said:

Deka batteries are USA made: http://www.dekabatteries.com
Have had great luck with them.

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Me Too...