Six Plus Six Equals One Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety-eight and Fifty Two One Hundredths

Our rig has two banks of batteries.  One bank of two 12 Volt batteries is for the chassis and are used to start the nine liter diesel engine.  We replaced them a short time ago.  The other bank called the house batteries didn't necessarily need to be replaced but as they were coming up on their fifth birthday I thought it prudent to replace them now when I could purchase them at an attractive price instead of paying full retail for them.

Dust-covered battery bank

The house batteries in most class A RVs are a bank of six volt golf cart batteries (size GC2) wired in a series-parallel bank to provide twelve volts in enough ampere-hours to power the refrigerator for around one day without needing to be recharged.

The Heavy Duty Wiring And Fuses

When our rig was built, Newmar installed a bank of eight GC2 batteries but in an improved Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) chemistry. AGM batteries feature a fiberglass mesh to contain the electrolyte between the cathode and anode plates which allows them to be placed closer and tighter then traditional flooded lead acid batteries. This format makes them more structurally sound (shock and vibration damage resistant) and more energy dense.

Another advantage is lower maintenance as they are of a valve regulated AKA sealed design so I don't have to check electrolyte level on forty eight cells on a monthly basis.  WIN!!!! Down side is they cost more than a traditional lead acid battery.

Flooded and AGM GC2 Batteries On The Shelf At Sams's Club. An Inexpensive Upgrade.

I was looking for a national retailer to purchase my eight batteries. The MSRP on a Duracell GC2AGM battery is $368.99 each ($2951.92 for the set) however some Sam's Clubs have them for $217.72 each ($1741.76 for the set) a savings of  $1210.16!!!!!!!

New Batteries Installed With The Help Of My Friend Glen

Some fellow RVers recommend that I purchase Lithium Ion batteries instead. Those batteries would cost around $700 each. However, they'd have a much longer lifespan.  I will just buy sets of AGM chemistry batteries and save some money.

Where Are We Going Next?

Congaree National Park

 February 6, 2026

When we were at Myrtle Beach we would get asked about our next stop. We'd say that we were going inland toward Columbia, that we wanted to go to Congaree National Park. It may have been just me, but I got the impression that most folks didn't realize that there was a national park just a couple of hours away. We stayed at the Ft. Jackson MWR Weston Lake facility. Congaree was about 30 minutes from there. 

The park doesn't charge an entrance fee so we figured that it must not get terribly crowded except for the firefly event. Well, the park was busier than we expected, and we were quite glad to see an empty parking spot. 

One of the park's highlights is the boardwalk through the swamp. It wasn't too crowded, and thankfully the mosquito meter was pegged at zero. We enjoyed our stroll through the swamp, gazing at the tall loblolly pines and cypress trees, including some state champion size trees. Perhaps the highlight was watching a woodpecker for a good 10 minutes. He didn't seem bothered by us at all.

If you canoe or kayak, the park looks like a wonderful place to explore. Since most of the park is in a flood plain. Our attempts to canoe or kayak in the past have made us conclude that we're far better suited for other activities!

Back to the firefly event. The park is home to a species of synchronized fireflies. In mid-May the fireflies, in search of a mate, shine their lights simultaneously. The park holds a lottery in April for evening admittance. Thousands upon thousands of people enter the lottery with only 960 vehicles admitted (120 per night). I was hoping for a video in the visitor center, but no such luck.  Oh well. At least we didn't have to put up with mosquitos!

Where Are We Going Next?