I’ve been using ChromeBattery.com for over a year now and find that they make a quality AGM battery at a great price.

Chrome Batteries deals in rechargeable AGM batteries.  I’ll explain what that means below, but if you already know what you are buying, here is the discount code* to use at Chrome Battery, for FREE 3-Day shipping and an additional 10% off their already low prices :   SAVE10

Lead Acid vs SLA vs AGM vs Lithium?

If you find all the different types of batteries confusing, maybe I can help to clear things up.  A lead-acid battery is any chemical battery that uses lead plates for electrodes and acid (generally sulfuric) as an electrolyte.  This is the kind of battery you have in your car or van, to start the engine and the technology is over 150 years old.  They are also referred to as “flooded lead-acid” batteries and they sometimes have removable caps so you can add water periodically.  If you buy a golf cart battery this is what you are getting.  Golf cart batteries almost always have removable caps.

SLA Batteries

SLA, or “sealed lead-acid” batteries are a sub-set of flooded lead-acid batteries that do not have removable caps.  They are in effect, “sealed” from the outside world, the theory being that you never have to add water.  In modern vehicles, your starting battery is usually a sealed lead-acid battery.

AGM Batteries

AGM, or “absorbed glass mat” batteries are a sub-set of SLA batteries in that they are sealed.  However, instead of being flooded with electrolyte (battery acid) it is absorbed into a fiberglass mat.  AGM batteries have the advantage of being spillproof, so they can be mounted in any directions.  They are also more tolerant of deep discharging and can be charged and recharged over 2000 times (vs 500 for flooded lead-acid batteries).  In the lead-acid battery world, AGMs are the way to go for battery bank applications.  This video will tell you even more:

 

I think AGM gives the best compromise between price and performance, but I’d be negligent to not mention one other kind of battery.

Lithium Batteries

There are different types of lithium batteries and I won’t elaborate on them here.  For RV applications, you are generally talking about Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries.  I would not consider battery banks made of other lithium batteries, because of the fire hazard.  So how are lithium iron phosphate batteries better?

1. 1/3 the weight of lead-acid batteries
2. You can deep-discharge them without significantly shortening the battery life
3. You can get MANY more charge and discharge cycles from them.

However, there is a downside and that is the initial purchase price.  A 110Ah AGM battery from Chrome Battery is $198.  A 100Ah Lithium battery from Battle Born (a good priced brand) is an eye-watering $949!  The cost per AGM Ah (amp-hour) is $1. 80.  The cost per lithium Ah is… $9.49.

That is a HUGE price difference!  Now the advocates of lithium technology will tell you that lithium is cheaper in the long run because you will save the cost of replacing your lead-acid batteries every few years.  They are not wrong, but this assumes I will be traveling long enough to justify the additional cost.  For me, if I’ll be using them for less than 5 years, AGM makes a lot more sense.  You’ll have to make that decision based on your own needs, but since this blog is about minimalist travel in a minivan, I’ll stick with AGM batteries as the best compromise of price and technology.

Confusion

When you go shopping batteries, you might find AGM batteries that are called “SLA” without a mention of AGM.  AGM batteries are a type of SLA, so technically they are correct, but it’s confusing to figure out what you are buying.  Chrome Battery properly identifies their batteries as AGM and that’s one of the reasons I like to buy from them.

Common Battery Types

Since I’m always carrying on about how great the DieHard 1150 jump pack is for van travelers, a replacement battery can be found by using the Chrome Battery search bar to find this part number: S00239-00000  Due to the high quality of these AGM batteries, the replacement is 22Ah, which is four more than the 18Ah the battery pack comes with.

If you are looking for the biggest, monster AGM use the search bar on Chrome Battery to find a 110Ah beast:  S00252-00000

Please be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you know when I post more discount codes.  Thanks for reading!

 

–Darren at Odyssey Camper

*I’ve set up a discount code with Chrome Battery for my readers and I am also an affiliate.  That means that you won’t pay more for using my links, but I will get a portion of the sale to keep the site running.  I do not recommend anything that I don’t use personally.  In this case I’ve been using Chrome Battery for over a year in my DieHard jump pack and the new battery bank in the Nissan NV200 Camper.  If you ever have a problem with this company or their product, I want to hear about it!  Ping me on Facebook or one of my other social media pages ( I don’t want to put my email here because of spammers).