Sump Pump Battery and Searching BITOG

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ls973800

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I belong to various other forums, and never have any trouble using the SEARCH function on any of them. However, on BITOG I can NEVER get good search results!

For example, I am looking for information about what battery to use for my 12v back up sump pump in the basement. It is a Basement Watch Dog pump and battery (24EP6) which was in the house 16 months ago when we purchased it. My main sump pump failed several days ago, and the back up pump worked well. The battery is showing it is weak, and I have tried charging it and filling the cells with distilled water. They were a bit low. I replaced the main sump pump, and have the back up on standby again. I want to get a better battery for it.

I want to see what other batteries can be used or that are suggested to use. When I put "sump pump battery" into the SEARCH engine on BITOG and check all forums, I get results including electrical shock, best long term fuel storage, broken drive belt, using E85 flex fuel, and a whole bunch of other off the wall results. I also get results of all the replies within the found topics. Broken drive belt might show up 12 times in the search result if there has been 12 replies!

What am I doing wrong? I have seen others post that say do a search when someone comes on the forum looking for information. I have tried other searches such as "best oil filter", etc and still can never come up with good results. Always have the multiple results showing all of the replies from a topic, and can never narrow down my results to what I am actually looking for.

TIA!
 
Originally Posted By: ls973800

For example, I am looking for information about what battery to use for my 12v back up sump pump in the basement. It is a Basement Watch Dog pump and battery (24EP6) which was in the house 16 months ago when we purchased it.
I want to get a better battery for it.
I want to see what other batteries can be used or that are suggested to use.


There is nothing special about your battery. It's s standard "Marine/trolling motor" battery.

You can stay with group 24 like you have, but group 27 are usually the same price but have more capacity (as long as it fits in your little plastic box).

If you want double the safety, buy two of them and wire them in parallel.

Check your local Interstate Battery dealer. They have "used/Refurb" batteries for about $50. They are often new batteries, just overstock. I have never had a bad one.


Last point:
Buy a decent "desulfator" or "desulphator". If it's a good one, It'll likely bring your old battery back to life.
 
I have the same unit.
Watchdog markets their own battery for the unit or any deep cycle battery that will fit in the box will work.
Last time I bought a Duracell from Sams.
It was the cheapest available, and it was East Penn.
 
Thanks for the replies and suggestions.

I tried the google search with bob is the oil guy and actually found a few results that were on point! No additional broken fan belts, E85 flex fuel, off topic results!

I read the manual for the battery which uses the charger and controller that came with the Watchdog pump. It says to use their battery because they have a probe which goes into one of the cells to alert when the battery is weak or low on water. I did read that you can just attach the probe to the positive terminal to trick the sensor into reading correctly. I guess I could also just drill a small hole into the cap of the new battery for the probe to stick into the cell of the replacement battery.

I also saw the Duracell deep cycle batteries and the group 27 one looks to be better than the Watchdog battery I will be replacing. I was considering an AGM battery but Watchdog says that would not work well with their system from a few posts I read on line.

Not sure how much of what the company says is to keep you from buying different batteries other than their own, but I would guess it is pretty much to prevent such a purchase.
 
Originally Posted By: ls973800
Thanks for the replies and suggestions.

I tried the google search with bob is the oil guy and actually found a few results that were on point! No additional broken fan belts, E85 flex fuel, off topic results!

I read the manual for the battery which uses the charger and controller that came with the Watchdog pump. It says to use their battery because they have a probe which goes into one of the cells to alert when the battery is weak or low on water. I did read that you can just attach the probe to the positive terminal to trick the sensor into reading correctly. I guess I could also just drill a small hole into the cap of the new battery for the probe to stick into the cell of the replacement battery.

I also saw the Duracell deep cycle batteries and the group 27 one looks to be better than the Watchdog battery I will be replacing. I was considering an AGM battery but Watchdog says that would not work well with their system from a few posts I read on line.

Not sure how much of what the company says is to keep you from buying different batteries other than their own, but I would guess it is pretty much to prevent such a purchase.



They want you to purchase their battery.
I have never had one of their batteries for the Watchdog unit, or the Sears unit that I had prior. The key is you want a deep cycle, not just a marine starting or a car battery. Never had an issue.
I have purchased batteries from three places: WalMart, Advance Auto online w/a discount code or Sams, whichever was cheapest.
This time I went with Sams because it was the low bid.
 
There are extremely few true deep cycle 12v batteries.

99.5% are marine/dual purpose/trolling. Some of the lesser versions of these have the same plate thickness/numbers as a regular starting battery, but do have automotive posts AND threaded studs for attaching ring terminals.

A marine/dual purpose battery have about half the plate thickness of a tru deep cycle battery and in the same usage/depletion levels, recharge regimen, will last half the total cycles. Yes it will also proudly display 'deep cycle' on its casing. However it is not a true deep cycle battery.

But how often will this 12v pump be required as backup? more than 400 cycles in 7 years?

If so then true deep cycle would be a better Idea
If not then any marine dual purpose battery will work.

Group 31 is an inch wider than group 27, will have 10 to 30more AH capacity.

Best flooded group 31 available is the trojan scs 225, or if you can get it, and afford it, Rolls surrette.

A Trojan T-1275 is a 'floor scrubber' battery, and is one of the only true deep cycle 12v batteries, but is taller at 11.x inches tall compared to the group 24 9.25 inches tall.

Interstate also relabells a USbattery in this GC-12 size group. Almost as good as Trojan at 150 amp hours.

The best bang for the buck in deep cycle batteries, is a pair of 6v-golf cart wired in series for 12v.

These can be bought at sams and costco for under 100$ a piece and you will have 2x the battery capacity as a group 24. These are also taller.

A good read on the difference between Marine/deep cycle, and true deep cycle flooded batteries can be read here:
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/deep_cycle_battery

Whether you will benefit from a true deep cycle battery is a huge factor. they do cost more and their 'standby' life is not really any better, meaning if they are not required and just sit there on a maintenance charger for years on end.

Also if the Pump is drawing 15+ amps a single dual purpose/marine battery might be able to run it faster for longer than an equal capacity true deep cycle, but would not last as many overall cycles doing so.

It sounds like a job for a cheap walmart group 29/31, but if you want better then the trojan scs 225, and if you want a real deep cycle battery that will be cycled often, deeply, then the trojan t-1275 can last 2x as many total cycles in the same time frame, all factors being equal.
 
We have never used a deep cycle battery on our 12V backup sump pump. The control box has a Battery Life Indicator. Ours is made by Wayne Pumps.

We have needed to replace the battery every 4 - 6 years. Ironically, it has only needed to operate twice in 20 years!

Since Hurricane Sandy, we have purchased a backup generator, so I guess we don't need the backup system any more. But, it helps the wife stay calm...
cool.gif
grin.gif
 
Originally Posted By: ls973800
I was considering an AGM battery but Watchdog says that would not work well with their system from a few posts I read on line.


Correct, absolutely do not use an AGM.

An SLA (sealed lead acid) might be a consideration, but I still would never use one as long as a good FLA (flooded lead acid) deep cycle marine/RV battery was available (usualy a better battery than SLA for less $$)
 
I know about Basement Watchdog sump pump backup systems because I used to work for them as a manufacture's rep. The batteries are sold at Lowes. The good thing about their batteries is they are sold dry and you add acid before use. That way they are always fresh when you buy them. They may be a little more expensive, but they are very good quality.
 
These batteries should last a long time with a good maintainer and low usage. I would question the charging capabilities of the built in pump/maintainer.

You might be better served using an automotive maintainer and a regular pump.
 
Again, thanks for all of the suggestions and information on the "deep cycle" batteries and what would be best for my back up 12v sump pump. I will be checking the various links and batteries that many of you have suggested, and make a decision soon.

Also thanks once again for how to find specific topics using the SEARCH via Google, etc.
 
sla,agm same thing.
however a gel(rare) requires a different charging profile.
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: ls973800
I was considering an AGM battery but Watchdog says that would not work well with their system from a few posts I read on line.


Correct, absolutely do not use an AGM.

An SLA (sealed lead acid) might be a consideration, but I still would never use one as long as a good FLA (flooded lead acid) deep cycle marine/RV battery was available (usualy a better battery than SLA for less $$)
 
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