Did I damage my house batteries?
I replaced my house batteries back in August of 2020. I got 3 1/2 years out of the first set of house batteries (bought motorhome new). We are going on a trip tomorrow so I checked the water level i...
Forum Discussion
I'm not a fan of AGM.. I've tried 'em and found 'em to be "not better than flooded wet" though I do admit there are applications where they shine.
LiFePO4 needs a bit of a change in the feeding dept.. and some care regarding outside temps (Like the battery does not like to be charged if it's freezing.. so they make heaters for them) but .... Darn fine product near as I can tell..
Fact: I have a 2-way radio (Kenwood TS-2000) Running off a lead acid battery with about 10' of #10 Zip line (20 feet total) hooked to my Jeep's battery direct.. It won't go to full output power it will show low voltage and shut off/reset. (Plus the factory supplied power cord I might add.) (Works fine with engine running and alternator charging)
Switch to a small 12 AH LiFePo4 Well I needed to test it so I plugged it into the LiFePO4.. hooked it via a directional watt meter to a heavy dummy load (Can take full output of the radio... Forever or 10 times for a couple minutes) Radio dumped the full 100 watts into the oil bathed resistor.
That means it's sucking around 20 amps give or take about half an amp and the battery is not bothered. (It's a 12 amp hour battery)
Then I flipped over to the HamStick on the roof (I'm in downtown Flint. MI) and chatted with a fellow ham in... Pheonix, AZ... Oh testing two thigns on the radio. Repair (The dang thign was refusing to go over 30 watts even with good solid power.. Turns out to be a safety circuit being overly agressive) and a receiver upgrade (low noise) that ham in pheonix.. Sounded like he was parked next to me.> Very clear. NO noise (That's the upgrade)
LiFePO4 needs a bit of a change in the feeding dept.. and some care regarding outside temps (Like the battery does not like to be charged if it's freezing.. so they make heaters for them) but .... Darn fine product near as I can tell..
Fact: I have a 2-way radio (Kenwood TS-2000) Running off a lead acid battery with about 10' of #10 Zip line (20 feet total) hooked to my Jeep's battery direct.. It won't go to full output power it will show low voltage and shut off/reset. (Plus the factory supplied power cord I might add.) (Works fine with engine running and alternator charging)
Switch to a small 12 AH LiFePo4 Well I needed to test it so I plugged it into the LiFePO4.. hooked it via a directional watt meter to a heavy dummy load (Can take full output of the radio... Forever or 10 times for a couple minutes) Radio dumped the full 100 watts into the oil bathed resistor.
That means it's sucking around 20 amps give or take about half an amp and the battery is not bothered. (It's a 12 amp hour battery)
Then I flipped over to the HamStick on the roof (I'm in downtown Flint. MI) and chatted with a fellow ham in... Pheonix, AZ... Oh testing two thigns on the radio. Repair (The dang thign was refusing to go over 30 watts even with good solid power.. Turns out to be a safety circuit being overly agressive) and a receiver upgrade (low noise) that ham in pheonix.. Sounded like he was parked next to me.> Very clear. NO noise (That's the upgrade)
