Rolls Batteries--Worth It?

[CAELESTIS]

If you were replacing your house bank, would Rolls be a consideration? For some reason, I still have a preference for lead acid over AGM or Gel.

Feedback please from Rolls owners?

[johnar]

From what I understand the top 3 Battery are Rolls, trojan and interstate.

Myself I went with Interstate U2200 6 volt 232 AH for $134 each and they fit great in my battery box to make up 1,160 ah.

Dutch

[sailvayu]

I had set of Rolls 8ds that lasted 8 years, I did not replace them with Rolls because I am stuck in the slip for a couple of years and no point in spending the money on batteries that will be on a charger 99% of the time. But when I cut lose again i would go back to them.

Fair winds

[Roy M]

I had Surrette batteries for most of the time I've owned my boat (over thirty years). As I understand things, Rolls are the equivalent of Surrette. The first set lasted three years before I screwed them up. The second set lasted fourteen years. The third set lasted eleven years before I screwed them up. The second and third set were connected to Pulse-Tech desulfators. After screwing up the third set I couldn't afford the Surrettes so I went with L16s from West Marine. It's been only about eight months now on the new batteries, still with Pulse-Techs, and now with a new MagnaSine charger inverter. Today's charge shows 12.8 volts at full charge. I don't know how much better the Rolls/Surrette batteries are than the L16s, but I'll let you know in a few years.

[Jon D]

If you are a live-aboard and full time cruiser where you will be exercising the batteries - absolutely. On my second bank and I get more capacity in less space than any other solution. Got 8 years out of the first bank and if I treated them a little better in the beginning I probably would have gotten more.

If you are weekend cruising with an occasional vacation thrown in you probably don't need to spend the premium.

[CAELESTIS]

Originally Posted by johnar

From what I understand the top 3 Battery are Rolls, trojan and interstate.

Myself I went with Interstate U2200 6 volt 232 AH for $134 each and they fit great in my battery box to make up 1,160 ah.

Dutch

Yes, I have the U2500 now. I think they are overrated and the Rolls are more conservatively rated.

[Windsun]

Originally Posted by CAELESTIS

If you were replacing your house bank, would Rolls be a consideration? For some reason, I still have a preference for lead acid over AGM or Gel.

Feedback please from Rolls owners?

Just for the record, those are all Lead-Acid batteries, just constructed differently.

[johnar]

yes Lead-Acid batteries

Dutch

[fishwife]

Rolls-Surrette batteries are very expensive. When I considered them I worked out that even if I got ten years life from them, I'd still be out of pocket compared to two sets of Life-line AGM's. That didn't take into consideration the maintenance required for wet cell batteries and the amount of out-gassing when equalising. Nor did it consider what would happen in the (unlikely) event of a wet cell spilling acid. I've got a trawler but if I had a sail boat I'd want to consider that possibility a lot more, especially what would happen in the event of a 'knock-down'.

P.

[Gnitfar]

In my experience, I would stay away from Life-Line agm's! More than any other battery, I've seen many 1 and 2 year old life-Line bats drop dead! Surrette and Rolls are one in the same, Rolls is the US name, and Surrette is the Canadian name. They are made in Nova Scotia.