Interstate Batteries

[russ_drinkwater]

Does anyone have any experience with inter state batteries in the trojan L16 size and style?
Just interested as they are nearly $200 a battery cheaper than the trojans.
Over here a set of interstate L16's for 850 amp hours @ 24 volts costs $4,000.00
And the trojan L16's for the same amps and volts runs out at $5,440.00

[tecnodave]

Russ,


I think very highly of Interstate batteries, I have been using Interstate L-16's in my systems for years.
They are an exceptional deal if you are looking at cost vs life. I get 10-12 years with a set, have very good service from Interstate.  These are used in floor sweepers that you see in the big box stores so they are more common the "solar" L-16's that other companies sell. Volume production reduces the cost of production.

As you can see in my sig I have a complete dual system, one side running Interstate L-16's floor sweeper batts. and the other running the very much more expensive Rolls-Surette S-530 Solar L-16's.
There is no difference in the capacity of the two systems, the Rolls sells for twice the price of Interstates here, so bang for the buck, I will buy the Interstates.

Shipping is a big deal and Interstate delivers!  I'm not sure just where you are but all Interstate battery dealers can sell you L-16's, most auto shops are Interstate dealers as Interstate has a great dealer program, they put 20 batteries on the shelf for no money up front,  shops pay them when they sell them, so overhead is not a big deal, deals can be had.......I pay $206.00 USD for interstate and best quote for Rolls-Surette was $356USD plus $125/ea shipping..  Was quoted $275 for Trojan


In disclosure, I do own half of an automotive repair shop and shop is a Interstate Dealer, and also have worked at Alaska Husky Battery of Fairbanks , Alaska , and Trojan Battery, Redwood City, Calif.

I do not consider this a bias as I am looking to provide excellent product and service, Interstate has proven their value to me.

I hope that you will find this info helpful,

David

[russ_drinkwater]

Thanks Dave,
I am going to get 4 more trojans for now to give me 8 of the same brand config.
But I will get some interstates for my son's setup and also for myself.
I will run the 8 trojans off one 150 and 10 panels and the interstates off the other 10 panels and the 2nd classic.
Give them both a run and see how they go.
I was certain I had read somewhere in threads about interstates being used overseas of the states as well.
Mate I do not think they will deliver to me for free
The shipping across the Pacific and road transport might make them shy away from the deal!
So bloody hot here again at the moment, but battery temps remain at under 29 deg C in their box and our lounge room is 30 deg C.
Suppose you fellas are still fighting off the snow over there?

[tecnodave]

Russ,
Just curious as to what you pay for U.S. Made batteries in Australia, I would have thought that shipping would be awful.  The prices I see for LFP cells there are way less than here as you are closer to China.  Trojan's home base is here in California so delivery is good.

In my opinion Trojan is a better battery than Interstate for the reason that Trojan designs, builds and sells only industrial type batteries, they don't do car batteries. They own themselves and are not part of some mega-corporation

Interstate is more of a paper company where they buy batteries made by others with their own labels, they don't do design/ research anyway near the level that Trojan and Rolls-Surette does.

Interstate car batteries and most of the large format batteries are built by Johnson Controls who own some 80 % of the American car battery market. Interstate also markets many other types of batteries.

I deal only with my local wholesaler, not with the corporation. In this manner I get excellent service from a local..(Salinas,CA) ...wholesaler

In quality not regarding cost, in my opinion Trojan is best,  Rolls-Surette second best,   Interstate is in third,  better than most of the rest.

Dealer support ..........interstate is #1.......far better than Trojan, Rolls-Surette is an east coast company and does not have dealers here so shipping is a killer .
I deal with both companies, I recommend Trojan's for my higher end customers but use far more Interstate than any other brand.  (in my industrial work, my auto shop uses only Interstate batteries)

In nearly 30 years I have had many customer issues with battery failure in the auto business but Interstate has backed every battery they warranted even when I would have refused warranty due to extreme abuse. I just can't beat that kind of backing for my shop.

I would not have intentionally made up a system with so mismatched batteries but I paid $20.00 for all four Rolls-Surette's on their way to be scrapped. I just could not resist that deal as L-16 cores here are $70.00 each!    So I bought them and salvaged them. Took thirty days to fully recover, but then I am a tinkerer.

td

[russ_drinkwater]

Hello Dave,
The trojans L16's costs me $680 each australian dollars and that is trade price.
The interstate L16's I was quoted $500 australian each yesterday.
So it makes me sick lol, when I see you fellas talking about $300 or less a battery delivered over there.
Even when our dollar was at parity and above we get ripped off in this country with freight.
It is insane that we do not have a battery manufacturer over here in such a huge country and being so isolated!
I would imagine the exides may be imported as well.
But if they are made here the price of $10,000 for a 24 volt 1330 amp bank is steep.
And they are a better battery than the raylittes as they use a plante positive grid plate and are tough.
The finished trojan bank of 12 x L16's will cost me $8,160 plus fuel and time to collect them!
1275 amp hours will have to do the job and it is only a backup for us as we have @*#& grid tie here.
A bird crud's on a wire and we are offline for ages.
I have the standalone as a prep as we are 25kms out of town and get flood bound once or so a year plus outages.
Also the more I produce and use standalone the more the grid tie systems make me money.
On average we make 50 kws a day feedin and at 44 cents a kw it adds up. Most years the power companies pay us $2,500
at christmas, but I am hoping to lift that to $3,000 or better with the assistance of the standalone system.