Battery Thoughts

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Battery Thoughts

Postby Classic Finn » Sat Jun 03, 2006 2:58 pm

I was looking at different batteries for the tear and I found Marine Batteries here that are supposed to be Excellent for the Tear as compared to Automobile Batteries....

Is there anything specific I should know when purchasing the Battery for the tear?

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Postby Miriam C. » Sat Jun 03, 2006 4:37 pm

Evening Fin,
The quick and dirty is Marine batteries come in all different sizes just like car batteries.

They also come in cranking batteries. For you boat

And, deep cycle for running lights, trolling motors and such. You want a deep cycle. Over here they tell you how many amps. I am sure they will be the same there. The more amps = more time to use.

There is also flooded (lead acid) batteries. They give off gas and need to be vented.

Gell celled. Never used one, but need no maintainance and may not give off gas, (not sure).

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Postby Sonetpro » Sat Jun 03, 2006 4:47 pm

Finn, I would definatly go with the Gel. or AGM battery. If you get a commecial one it will last alot longer. You can usually tell the quality of a battery from the weight. Cheaper ones will use less lead. A good one will usually weigh a little under a pound a amp hour. You can crack a AGM and the acid will not leak.
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Postby GeorgeTelford » Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:42 pm

Hi

Gel is a total waste of money, its a poor charging and over expensive, it had one major trick the ability to be used upside down, now they say dont do that anymore so now its only plus point is non spill in event of a split case, how many times have you seen or caused a split battery case? none?

Hence its seems a bit pointless buying an expensive battery with no advantage for you and several disadvantages

1. Needs special Charger
2. Charges slowly (as to be charged at lower rate)
3. Expensive

AGM (absorbed Glass Mat) is a far better battery than Gel, but again expensive, you gotta ask yourself are those advantages useful to me? ie have you ever cracked a normal battery and now feel the need for a mega expensive it dont matter if I crack it battery? No? read on

A standard lead acid (same as under the hood for starter) they are cheap able to withstand shocks of the road, unless you need any of the AGM's tricks you will get just as good a service from a normal lead acid battery, sure go for a proper deep cycle, more lead = longer life

Sonet, I am not sure where 1lb per Amp hour came from, is it a typo?, perhaps the most famous deep cycle battery the Trojan 105 is a 225 Ah battery according to your post it should weigh nearly 225 lbs, in reality its 62 Lbs

Link here

http://www.trojanbattery.com/Products/P ... Name=T-105
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Postby Sonetpro » Sat Jun 03, 2006 7:10 pm

Hi George, In my world (Telecommunication's) we use nothing but commecial grade agm's in our remote sites. We use GNB's, Powersafes and other high grade battery's Are they expensive? Yes. General rule is if we have a 80 amp battery it's going to weigh 78 lbs.
Lower grade batteries are going to weigh less. But the advantage is that they are true deep cycle and they last a long time. I bought one for my boat's trolling motor and have been using it for 10 years. I paid $275 for that battery. but to me it is worth every dime for what I'm getting.
But that is only my opinion. I'm running 2 100 amp hour in my tear.
I would have to agree with you on the gel don't know what I was thinking grouping gel's and AGM's together.
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Postby GeorgeTelford » Sun Jun 04, 2006 5:59 am

Hi Steve

Yes if I was speccing a remote location I would probably use AGM's too, for the most part the battery is a backup (in some cases it will never actually be depleted (ie the power never actually taken out) in its entire service life !!)

In a tear, personally I would still go for a straight lead acid deep cycle battery, with a decent 3-4 Stage charger it will still cost less than the AGM on its own. An AGM is not a bad choice though
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Postby Sonetpro » Sun Jun 04, 2006 6:43 am

Finn, George, Also consider the location of my battery. I have them in a bulkhead between the cabin and galley. So outgassing was a major concern. That's another advantage of agm. They don't outgas. (bulkhead is still vented though.) They sit right on top of the axle.
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Postby GeorgeTelford » Sun Jun 04, 2006 12:08 pm

Hi Steve

They do outgas under scertain circumstances, its the same with gel and all other VRLA type batteries.

Lead acid Batteries do gas of course, but that is why they should be vented (all types really)
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Postby GeorgeTelford » Sun Jun 04, 2006 12:20 pm

Hi Steve

Can you post a link to a 80Ah battery that weighs 78Lbs? I have looked on all the top battery makers sites and cannot find one.

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Postby Sonetpro » Sun Jun 04, 2006 12:45 pm

Here ya go George, Marathon made by GNB a division of Exide.
http://217.7.78.166/products/range_sele ... =16&lng=en
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Postby Sonetpro » Sun Jun 04, 2006 12:56 pm

Just a note these are safe enough that we install them in customers computer room's with no ventilation. 8 battery's sitting 6" below the recifier.
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Postby GeorgeTelford » Sun Jun 04, 2006 1:19 pm

Hi Steve

I cannot see it, I did look around? The closest is 86 Ah and only 68.35 Lbs that is still around 10Lbs or 19 % out.

The reason they are safe is they are not ever really charged (ie they are on continuous maintenance/trickle charge) which is not enough to cause gassing even a standard lead acid would not outgas at that voltage.

But do note that AGM's can and do occasionally gas and they all have a vent point to stop them exploding. VRLA means that its mostly recombined (as long as you stick to miniscule charging regimes)
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Postby Sonetpro » Sun Jun 04, 2006 1:23 pm

My mistake. Like I said aprox a little under a pound per amp.
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Postby Gerdo » Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:08 pm

I went to WalMart and bought a group 27 Deep Cycle 110ah for about $55. Put it in a battery box on the tongue.
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Postby Chris C » Fri Aug 04, 2006 9:33 am

Heikki,

I asked the same question before I bought mine. Lots of good but varying opinions on the site here. There are many batteries which are better, but cost more and require special attention, but they'll last until your kid's kids grow old. I took all the sage advice I'd received and finally decided that two Group 27 batteries from Walmart, (don't guess you have Walmart stores there in Finland, huh?) which are deep cycle marine, lead acid, batteries, would give me the most bang for the buck, so to speak. I also bought a 3 stage charger because the most important thing with deep cycle is to keep it properly charged.
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