I would rather see plates undergo a light equalization than wait until specific gravity varies a lot then have to really hammer the plates to get the sulfation off. Once sulfation has hardened a little bit of the battery plate is lost forever.
This is why I am so persnickety about TOP CHARGING, bringing the batteries up to 15.0 volts at 5% of amp hour capacity amperage, at least once per month. This lessens the need to hammer in that extra volt which really erodes the plates a lot faster.
Don, you need to do a capacity test on your GC's or car jars. I do not like hauling around dead weight and less than 80% capacity left, to me is dead weight. Really thick plate batteries can shed lots of material and really active equalization can boil it up into solution. Then you will see gray. How much is "enough life left for me"? Only the individual can answer that for sure. But lost ampere hour capacity combined with smoky acid, and a battery that equalizes OK but then falls back into its old evil unequal densities at the drop of a hat is not a good sign.
"Lesser" meaning lower quality batteries will need equalization a lot more often and starting sooner than top of the line batteries. I am not going to get into a brand name discussion here, but too many el cheapos will go downhill fast.
The difference between someone who is a genuine off-grid heavy user is a completely different animal than a weekend casual user or a plug-in most of the timer. I have seen folks who were totally satisfied with a battery that had 20% of its capacity left, and actually bragged to friends about the "lifespan" of their choice of battery. A single cycle of that battery by a heavy user would see it on the recycle pallet the very next day.
This is why a lot of comments and bragging have to be taken with two grains of salt. Mix an electrochemical reaction with emotion and ego and you have quite a story for fantasy land.
