MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
I may be missing your idea about a lower float voltage value affecting the desirability of the battery. Could you elaborate your point?
When my RV's original OEM Group 24 wet batteries failed I paid a small upgrade charge to have them replaced with AGM batteries, but I did not think it wise financially to also replace a perfectly good stock 13.8 volt converter just to have to properly float the new AGM batteries if the right AGM batteries could be found.
So I chose AGM batteries that would not be damaged by the stock converter being hooked up to them day after day, week after week, year after year.
As it turns out, Lifeline seems to be the odd man out with their recommended 13.2 float voltage value ... as I notice that "most" AGM batteries seem to have recommended float voltages in the 13.5 to 13.8 range. It's as if the design of most AGM batteries was targeted to the very common fixed voltage converters that wind up in so many recreational vehicles with their ~13.8 volt output. I even notice that my Ford's RV alternator seems to "settle in" after warmup to this same 13.5-13.8 volt range.
That makes me wonder what came first ... the common converters' and alternators' ~13.5-13.8 volt output chicken ... or the common AGM batteries' ~13.5-13.8 volt float egg.
I don't know where Lifeline got their 13.2 volt float design idea from. Maybe because their (targeted?) military market already had multi-stage charges installed everywhere so Lifeline figured they'd better crack that market from the get-go with a 13.2 volt float voltage product.
I guess if you're already the owner of a multi-stage charger that settles down around 13.2 volts for it's float value and you want to go AGM, you better go with Lifeline if you don't want to risk the gradual distruction you get with long term under-voltage floating of your new AGM battery(ies). ;)
