Batteries
I have 4 6V 260A Crown batteries. They are 5 years old and don’t like to charge op to good. After charging and disconnected only 12.69V, day after at 12.57v . Gravity of cells from 1275 to loves tat 1...
Forum Discussion
That is close to how we do things and also get about 5 years from four 6s.
They start to show signs like that (low SG in some cells, reduced capacity) but then instead of gradually declining, one day they "fall off a cliff". So if you are out somewhere and that happens so you have to return to get new batteries, and that is unacceptable, you have to get new ones before that trip for sure.
I tried 12v "deep cycle" AGMs (ie rated for "cycle" or "standby" use ) on the basis they are supposed to be better for the high draws with less voltage drop when using the big inverter, but the AGMs I had could not take the punishment it seems. They fell off a cliff after two years! :( So we are back to the trusty and much less expensive flooded 6s. (East Penn GC15s this time around)
IMO the new battery technologies Si and Li are too expensive to "try out" for that kind of work. Some folks have tried them, and are getting good results for their five years at it so far, but we haven't got results from how much longer those batteries can "keep on ticking" being driven hard like that.
So let them report how they do in their second five years at it, while we do another round of flooded 6s that will do that hard work for sure, and then see where things are at five years from now. :)
They start to show signs like that (low SG in some cells, reduced capacity) but then instead of gradually declining, one day they "fall off a cliff". So if you are out somewhere and that happens so you have to return to get new batteries, and that is unacceptable, you have to get new ones before that trip for sure.
I tried 12v "deep cycle" AGMs (ie rated for "cycle" or "standby" use ) on the basis they are supposed to be better for the high draws with less voltage drop when using the big inverter, but the AGMs I had could not take the punishment it seems. They fell off a cliff after two years! :( So we are back to the trusty and much less expensive flooded 6s. (East Penn GC15s this time around)
IMO the new battery technologies Si and Li are too expensive to "try out" for that kind of work. Some folks have tried them, and are getting good results for their five years at it so far, but we haven't got results from how much longer those batteries can "keep on ticking" being driven hard like that.
So let them report how they do in their second five years at it, while we do another round of flooded 6s that will do that hard work for sure, and then see where things are at five years from now. :)
