Battery surprise.
Yesterday I removed 2 group 31 gel cell batterys from my boat. They have been in it since 2003. The boat has not been used since 2006 but the batterys have had a charge from time to time up until 2012...
Forum Discussion
noe-place wrote:
I have a number of friends in a Corvette club that use that type of battery. Some of them love them and some of them hate them. I guess it's good when a product works and bad when it doesn't.
Why would they want to use gels in an automotive application? They are not good starting batterys. I needed to have a minimum of 2 to roll my 5.9 Cummins.
Of the 3 main types the gel cell is the least desirable mainly because of voltage needs in charging. They are great 'house' batterys, provided your charger is set properly. AGMs are usually more popular as they exibit the good qualities of the wet cell as well as the gel cell.
The gel cell will take abuse too other than neglect. I had my alternator regulator go bad in the boat & it was putting over 18V into the batterys for a few weekends use before I got it repaired.
These two will be added to my 'hurricane preparedness' plans. I have a genny but I also have a small 1000W inverter for powering small household needs plus I have some 12V needs like my ham VHF radio, weather station & some 12V light fixtures salvaged from here & there. You can't be running a genny outside at the height of a storm.
