BATTERY LIFESPAN survey...
Near impossible to recollect the number of discharge cycles So........ Anyone gone ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY BOONDOCKING DAYS on the same battery? Doesn't sound like much unti you figure out this m...
Forum Discussion
16 days is tops for me... 21 foot travel trailer, summer time, solar panel and generator. Charge controller set at 15.0V, 120 watt panel that makes 6.6 amps, single 150 amp Trojan T1275 that had the rough life in a golf cart for a good 20 months before I got my hands on it. 150 amp hours rated, probably has 135-140 amp hours left in it at this stage in it's life. Daily usage at 30-45 amps consumed per day. Massaged heavily when I first got it with 3 or 4 16.0V @ 6amp/hr Equalize charge sessions with some 50% discharge cycles to really scrub the sulfur gently and slowly off the lead plates and get the SG where it needs to be. Ironically, SG read even higher after doing an Equalize cycle in July after getting back from June trip before back in storage... but I attribute that to 100F day heat, higher chemical reactivity helping get all the sulfur back into battery acid solution.
That was a big summer time trip to the Madison River, days were quite long in mid June. No shortage of solar harvest. Battery always had 12.45v most mornings, if I measured before the sun popped up.
Sept was 8 or 9 days, freak snow storm on Sept 11th, pipes froze, and fishing was nowhere near as good as in June. Ran the generator some with the S35-12 Mega Watt set at 15.0V, usually for 45 minutes to an hour... then solar panels took over.
Never any power posts since June of 2013. $30 to $45 a night chaps my hide, $200 for 2 weeks and having to drive to the Madison gives a fat fuel bill too and extra miles on the rig. Better to have a small travel trailer and camp on or very near the river, if one enjoys fly fishing.
Sorry I can't help you, but the battery was beat up fairly hard before being gifted to me... so I don't ever look the gift horse in the mouth. It may have it relatively easy now, life wise... but if I ever have to pay for a set, 6v GC-2's Trojans will be my selection, unless Li ION's drop to competitive pricing.
I am sure it saw 450 to 500 charge cycles in the golf car... H-1 is the date stamped on it, I received it Jan 2014. Not long in the tooth yet, but that's for my applications, probably not normal.
Will probably get over to Quartzsite, AZ for some winter camping, went with 150W panel that harvests 8.4 amps/hr for the shorter winter days and longer nights of Dec and January, will again set at 15.0V for the charge controller. Battery will get an Equalize charge session from small manual 6 amp Sears charger shortly before I leave on the trip, so she is in tip top shape at the start.
40 amps daily out of 135 to 140 amps, is not that deep into the charge cycle, battery seems to handle it in stride, daily solar charging helps out with that a lot, to keep the discharge cycles shallow.
My battery doesn't get much of anything, between trips, to recharge it, it sits in storage, disconnected. I will give a top charge or short equalize charge before starting on a trip, to give the battery the benefit of the doubt. It gets the same treatment when I get back home from a trip, top it off, brief EQ session, to desulfate the plates. Has not let me down yet camping.
That was a big summer time trip to the Madison River, days were quite long in mid June. No shortage of solar harvest. Battery always had 12.45v most mornings, if I measured before the sun popped up.
Sept was 8 or 9 days, freak snow storm on Sept 11th, pipes froze, and fishing was nowhere near as good as in June. Ran the generator some with the S35-12 Mega Watt set at 15.0V, usually for 45 minutes to an hour... then solar panels took over.
Never any power posts since June of 2013. $30 to $45 a night chaps my hide, $200 for 2 weeks and having to drive to the Madison gives a fat fuel bill too and extra miles on the rig. Better to have a small travel trailer and camp on or very near the river, if one enjoys fly fishing.
Sorry I can't help you, but the battery was beat up fairly hard before being gifted to me... so I don't ever look the gift horse in the mouth. It may have it relatively easy now, life wise... but if I ever have to pay for a set, 6v GC-2's Trojans will be my selection, unless Li ION's drop to competitive pricing.
I am sure it saw 450 to 500 charge cycles in the golf car... H-1 is the date stamped on it, I received it Jan 2014. Not long in the tooth yet, but that's for my applications, probably not normal.
Will probably get over to Quartzsite, AZ for some winter camping, went with 150W panel that harvests 8.4 amps/hr for the shorter winter days and longer nights of Dec and January, will again set at 15.0V for the charge controller. Battery will get an Equalize charge session from small manual 6 amp Sears charger shortly before I leave on the trip, so she is in tip top shape at the start.
40 amps daily out of 135 to 140 amps, is not that deep into the charge cycle, battery seems to handle it in stride, daily solar charging helps out with that a lot, to keep the discharge cycles shallow.
My battery doesn't get much of anything, between trips, to recharge it, it sits in storage, disconnected. I will give a top charge or short equalize charge before starting on a trip, to give the battery the benefit of the doubt. It gets the same treatment when I get back home from a trip, top it off, brief EQ session, to desulfate the plates. Has not let me down yet camping.
