Battery recommendation

I'm happy to report success with my battery quest. First, I was delighted to find that my setup was indeed balanced, and very nicely done (by myself, so long ago I don't remember doing it lol)

Second, I found at AutoZone a "true" 12 volt deep-cycle. Duralast also makes a "combination" battery and that is what I was replacing. It was not an easy item to find as only one out of 6 "local" AutoZones stocked it. It is not a Trojan but for the price it may be worth it.

I got 5 years from my old "combination" batteries and did a lot of dry camping during this time. I is hard to imagine doing better than this but I guess we will see.

WIRE DON'T GET IT

Correct wiring helps but is nowhere near good enough. I long ago lost count but marginally charged flooded batteries almost never test the same. Two batteries, same batch paralleled.

Sheesh. Use the noodle :)

Cells in SERIES become unbalanced. Cells in parallel are special?

This is why very few twin or more batteries seldom die together. One battery fails the other shows good numbers.

Top charging minimizes this nonsense and this nonsense is almost universal and top charging RADICALLY improves the equality of lifespan. This was found through testing and verification not, E=MC2

For my own system on Quicksilver, I let the 400-amp Niehoff alternator take the (4) L-16's as high as possible. Then that night is CONSERVATION NIGHT. A bare minimum of battery use. The next day the 4 Kyocera panels bring the batteries up to 15.0 volts.

I am the whipped rower on this slave galley. It's the batteries that demand to be satisfied. With more solar I could get 316 x 2 / 5% true optimum Top Charge rate with the Kyoceras. This would minimize conservation night. When I camp alone my engine is started at 0400 for three hours with the voltage regulator set to 15.0 volts.

Is it worth it? Fourteen years on the L-16's and 22 years on the 2-volt cells seem to suggest I am not in error. Neither is having a MEXICAN car battery last seven years. Thirty thousand dollars is worth paying attention to.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

I talked years ago about periodic TOP CHARGING will negates aggregate deterioration caused by imbalanced ingress...

Well I guess every last bit of the effects of my attempt to help have sifted through the cracks on the floor and have disappeared.

The posts may gone the way of phlogiston but I topped charged a newly installed G86 start battery to 15v via an ole 6A manual charger yesterday. It was marked 7/17 and measured 12.5v. I let solar top charge my tiny AGM monthly, 700+ 15% discharge cycles.

Changing to balanced wires on a dual 7ah batt gate opener lets the batteries last longer!

David,

As you know, CHEMICAL balancing is between battery cells and the good old hydrometer does this perfectly for wet cell batteries.

The OTHER balancing being talked about above is between individual batteries and, as you know, is necessary (if one is picky enough) so as to keep number of cycles between paralleled batteries identical by keeping amount of charge for each battery and amount of discharge for each battery identical over the life of the paralleled battery bank.

Yes .... it's being picky and not doing it is "probably good enough" .... but why not wire them up in parallel in a balanced manner just because it's not Rocket Science to do it, and it's "the best way"?

Paralleling and balance


The only way to ensure CHEMICAL balancing is within limits with flooded batteries is with a hydrometer.

Remember?

I talked years ago about periodic TOP CHARGING will negates aggregate deterioration caused by imbalanced ingress...

Well I guess every last bit of the effects of my attempt to help have sifted through the cracks on the floor and have disappeared.

Pity

pianotuna wrote:
And you would be dead wrong about that.

solismaris wrote:

Theoretically it may make a tiny difference but I believe with #00 cables and good connections the effect is utterly negligible.

I'll revisit this; maybe I can balance the setup. I guess that's another motivation for 2 6 volts in series: no balancing needed.

If a person is talented or knows someone with a plumber's or oxy acetylene torch they can grind the place where a ground cable bolts to a trailer frame, shiny, cause it's solder time.

These are the lugs I use on serious vehicle systems...

https://www.delcity.net/store/Heavy!Duty-Die-Cast-Copper-Crimp-Lugs/p_1013.h_91785

I use paste flux yeah plumber's paste flux from Home Depot in heavier wires for soldering heavier wire and lugs and all that have been done have not suffered since the days of "Hell No We Won't Go".

Bolt the lug tight against the frame. It takes some heating to get the 60/40 solder to flow. Don't char the cable insulation. Some triple wall heat shrink tubing, then double coat everything including the bolt head and nut with undercoating and you have a "forever connection". It takes a Kelvin Bridge 4 terminal milliohm meter to read resistance through the cable into the frame, all the way up to the other end of the rig and to the END of another cable that has been similarly attached. Yeah, even after 10 years at the sea shore the resistance reads the same. Oh lazy me, do it once, do it right and go on to other things.

And you would be dead wrong about that.

solismaris wrote:

Theoretically it may make a tiny difference but I believe with #00 cables and good connections the effect is utterly negligible.

THERE it is! Thank you PN! :)

Now if I could only get someone to bet me a coupla grand in a head's up contest with a paralleled set of competitive 31's. Lifeline versus the "other". Did fullriver ever get an answer from Guangdong about plate thickness?

I did a capacity test on the 31X after five years - 108 ah.

Yes RR owners, too, are snobs. Even Bentley's are regarded as Hind Huskies. I'm glad I am fortunate that I can gloat about Lifeline and Rolls batteries while eating Wonder Bread and pressed ham and seven year old clothes :)