New coach/house batteries

Pens87

New member
I think its time to replace the 2 6v Interstate lead acid batteries that came with my 2013 LTV Free Spirit SS. I have found it extremely inconvient to check and refill the water levels, so I am considering replacing them with 2 Lifeline GPL-4CT AGM batteries at about $300 each. Anyone have good luck fitting those batteries under the hood where the old batteries are located?
 

XLent

Member
I think its time to replace the 2 6v Interstate lead acid batteries that came with my 2013 LTV Free Spirit SS. I have found it extremely inconvient to check and refill the water levels, so I am considering replacing them with 2 Lifeline GPL-4CT AGM batteries at about $300 each. Anyone have good luck fitting those batteries under the hood where the old batteries are located?
I can't answer your question; except to say that the dimensions for the GPL-4CT are listed on the lifeline site. I recall reading a post on this forum about an after market battery rack mounting two batteries in place of the single factory mount, but the post mentioned relocation of the headlight module. Wish I could be more helpful.
 

Rock Doc

Active member
Having placed tow GC-1 AGM batteries under my hood in a new battery tray I fabricated myself, I can say that I did fabricate the battery tray to sit lower than the stock auxiliary battery tray by 2-3”—necessary to allow adequate clearance for the batteries. I also bent the harness for the ECM to an upward and forward position (stock position is beneath the battery tray), mounting it on the front side of the new battery tray; this was to create the space to lower the battery tray position. 6v GC-1 batteries are taller than the stock Group 49 batteries, so even one 6v battery won’t fit in an unmodified stock battery tray.

I would suspect that if you already have two 6v batteries mounted under the hood, you already have an aftermarket battery tray, so you should be down to a point of just taking measurements for what you already have, and then compare that to the published dimensions of what you’re contemplating. (Do remember to leave adequate clearance between the tops of the batteries and the hood so as to avoid unwanted sparks and fireworks!)

Also, for consideration, look at the battery weight. These GC-1 batteries weigh about 65 lbs each, and "manhandling" them is a burly person's job. I used a cherry-picker shop crane to gently mount my two batteries in the tray.

:2cents:

Rock Doc
 

Knit

Active member
My 2013 Roadtrek RS has two 6v house batteries under the hood as well that needed replacing as they were no longer holding a charge. After studying the situation, I ended up replacing with the same type of battery in our case agm CG-2 batteries after determining that I didn’t want to mess with changing the battery tray or any of the wiring. If you do change to a different type of battery, be sure to check the settings on your battery converter (charger) and make sure you don’t need to change them to match the new batteries.
 

Pens87

New member
Good news: the Lifeline GPL-4CT batteries fit. I am now upgrading my old converter to a Progressive Dynamics 4-stage converter.
 

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