Affordable battery for ArkPak

[Montana Cruiser]

I was super excited to receive my ArkPak today (thanks Raul) and am now trying to find an affordable AGM with some positive reviews. In the past I have had great service from Sears Diehard Platinums, and recently replaced the old main battery with a Diehard. I am would really like to find a reliable and reasonably priced battery for the ArkPak, something in the $100-$125 range. Costco? Interstate? What have you had good experience with?

 

[Montana Cruiser]

Edited to correct Ah rating ....

For those searching in the future, I ended up with a Diehard Advanced Gold 34 ... 770cc, 55Ah and 120 Reserve Capacity. The Diehards are on sale right now, normally $164.99 and I picked mine up for $131.99.

Here is a very well researched post over on iH8mud on the various batteries available, well worth the read. http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/battery-information.610857/

Cheers!

 

[Montana Cruiser]

Addition question with regard to charging the ArkPak on the go in the GX. The GX470 has a 110v outlet in the back, would there be advantage or disadvantage to charging the ArkPak via this 110 outlet and the normal home charge that it came with VS charging with the DC car charger that I got from ArkPak?

 

[Overland_Brandon]

I bought a Exide XRF-31D ROADFORCE AGM-200 Sealed Maintenance-Free (AGM) Heavy-Duty/Commercial Battery.

I paid $215 shipped.

Looks like they are $249 now...

Maybe they are like Sears, and their Battery Stock Market?

 

[MTaco]

For those searching in the future, I ended up with a Diehard Advanced Gold 34 ... 770cc and 120Ah. The Diehards are on sale right now, normally $164.99 and I picked mine up for $131.99.

Here is a very well researched post over on iH8mud on the various batteries available, well worth the read. http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/battery-information.610857/

Cheers!

Montana Cruiser, couple questions and comments. First of all, thanks for the link over to Mud, very good info.

Is your Diehard an AGM? If so, was it just price that you decided on that one over a true deep cycle?

Are you running a fridge with it and have you done a good test yet?

I'm really looking hard at the ArkPak to run my fridge and charge other devices while camping.

Thanks!

 

[Montana Cruiser]

MTaco - As far as my research goes, my Diehard is indeed an AGM. There are 3 levels of Diehards at Sears, the Platinum an AGM built by Odyssey, the Diehard ADVANCED Gold and AGM built by East-Penn (according to the link I shared) and the Diehard Gold a non-AGM. I choose the Diehard Advanced Gold based on my research, it seems like a "good buy". The Platinum or other batteries in the $220+ category may be better, but after the ArkPak purchase, I needed to find something at about $125 max, so I landed on the battery I bought.

I have had it out for one adventure and am pretty impressed with it performance so far. I started by topping off the newly purchased battery at home (who knows how long it sat on Sears shelf) and then put it to work. I started with an empty fridge in the back of my GX @ 11am on the first day and started cooling. By the time I had it loaded and was on the road, it was 2pm, beer, fresh veggies and some semi-frozen meat. We were in and out of the cooler for the next two days and it was at 35% (I forgot to note the volts) when we fired up to go home. So, just shy of 48 hours to run the 120ah battery to 35%. Ambient temps during the day were mid 80's. I'm very happy with the performance, but to be honest, I'm not sure how much longer I could have run it down to 0%, another 5 hours? 10 hours? This is all some pretty casual observations so far. I have a few trips coming up and plan on being more diligent about my monitoring and documentation.

I hope this helps with your decision.

 

[MTaco]

Thank you for sharing your insight. At the moment I have only been on two weekend camping trips with my new ARB 50 fridge. I have #10 wired to an outlet in my box that I plug the fridge into. I also have a 1 year old Interstate battery (27F-165 min reserve capacity) that I supplement with a 30 watt Goal Zero solar panel and guardian charger. I've ran it 30 hours straight the first trip without solar and it started right up but I don't like to put that kind of strain on my starting battery.

This is just a temporary set up but from my research the ARKPAK looks like the best deal vs true dual batterys, National Luna power pack or a Goal Zero Yeti 400.

Does anyone know if there is an American source to buy an ARKPAK or are they still coming from Australia?

 

[Dusty Grin]

That seems like a great deal for a 120ah agm battery. I paid $236 for my Diehard Platinum group 31 (100ah?) last week. It runs the 60l arb fridge for 2 days before it's at 35%. I did not pre cool the fridge or food though.
I'm happy with my arkpak and the service from Brett and crew. They distribute them out the US somewhere. Fast shipping for sure.

 

[MTaco]

Dusty Grin, who did you get yours from?

 

[Dusty Grin]

I'm pretty sure I ordered it from the Arkpak USA site. You'll be able to tell because the measurements are in inches not centimeters. I paid $399 I believe with the 12v car charger. I've found it to be essential. That way you charge right up until you park. The mounts came with mine but I'm debating making something stronger. They seem fairly lightweight for such a heavy unit on rough roads.

 

[CoastieLFS]

Hey, if you haven't seen it, there's a much longer thread on the ArkPak that among other things contains some real world results and battery info. The early pages tend to focus on when the ArkPak will be available. The mid to later pages may be helpful to some of you.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...ble-battery-boxes-and-where-to-buy-them/page1

 

[superg]

For those searching in the future, I ended up with a Diehard Advanced Gold 34 ... 770cc and 120Ah. The Diehards are on sale right now, normally $164.99 and I picked mine up for $131.99.

Here is a very well researched post over on iH8mud on the various batteries available, well worth the read. http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/battery-information.610857/

Cheers!

Any clues as to where I may be able to find the AH information on the Diehard Advance Gold battery.. 120AH seems too good to be true for the price.

 

[Herbie]

Any clues as to where I may be able to find the AH information on the Diehard Advance Gold battery.. 120AH seems too good to be true for the price.

According to that thread (and many other places), the Diehard Advanced Gold is made by Eastern Penn (Deka). Their spec sheets say the Group34 AGMs are 55AH:
http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/base/1737.pdf

EDIT: 120 is the reserve capacity, in minutes. Which has pretty much not to do with the 20-hour AH rating.

 

[Montana Cruiser]

According to that thread (and many other places), the Diehard Advanced Gold is made by Eastern Penn (Deka). Their spec sheets say the Group34 AGMs are 55AH:
http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/base/1737.pdf

EDIT: 120 is the reserve capacity, in minutes. Which has pretty much not to do with the 20-hour AH rating.

Herbie, thank you for pointing this out, I misstated this in my original post. My Group 34 has 120 Reserve Capacity and 55AH, I'll edit my post.

Cheers - Nate

 

[superg]

According to that thread (and many other places), the Diehard Advanced Gold is made by Eastern Penn (Deka). Their spec sheets say the Group34 AGMs are 55AH:
http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/base/1737.pdf

EDIT: 120 is the reserve capacity, in minutes. Which has pretty much not to do with the 20-hour AH rating.

Yups that's what I figured from some more digging around. Ended up purchasing AutoCraft Platinum AGM H7 80AH couple weeks back. Sears Platinum G31 at 100AH seems to be highly recommended but at almost double the price of the Autocraft for 20 extra AH.