Mixing AGM and Flooded in a Bank ?
I have had no issues with my mixed bank of flooded 6v and 12s. I have a pair of Interstate GC2-XHDs, a pair of Exide 135s, and two Trojan T-1275s all banked. They are wired as two big 12s (4-6s + 2...
Forum Discussion
I am interested in seeing how BFL13's UB121000 AGM performs under his scrutiny whenever he starts cycling it deeply.
AGMS vary very widely as to price. One can get 100Ah for as low as 160$ and as high as 400$ in the lower 48.
Expecting the same performance from both, or lumping them into the same category of battery performance/ attributes, even if both are vrla agm's, is unwise in the extreme.
Even 2 very similar AGM batteries, Northstar and ODyssey, well their performance claims as to cycle life are nearly identical, their weight, their CCA, their AH capacity at the 20 hour rate are identical or nearly so.
But Odyssey says their fully charged voltage is abotut 12.86, and Northstar says 13, and My nborthstar Did indeed rest at 13.06 volts. now at 465 cycles I don't know OCV, as it never rests.
And While years is the common method of measuring longevity, there is a huge differnce when there are 300+ cycles a year, vs 35.
I have ~ 465 deep cycles on a 38 month old Northstar AGM battery whose cost was ~340$. If I were to use 'morning' voltage alone as an indicator of its health and remaining capacity, then I would say it is just fine and good as new and still going strong while breaking my arm to pat myself on the back.
What tells me other wise is the reduction in amps( with high amp charging source applied in a depleted state) and time required to reach absorption voltage, and the extended time for amps to taper to 0.5% of capacity at absorption voltage.
If I deplete 45 of the new 90AH at a rate at nearly 2x that of peukert's allotment of 4.5 , my voltage still remains above 12.2 and rebounds higher while still under a ~0.4 amp load.
The voltage metric, at least on my Northstar battery, reveals nothing. The ammeter does.
In BFL's usage, I see no issue combining batteries in parallel for temporary use for extra capacity, but I think we can all agree that hooking them all up in parallel and leaving them in parallel until failure, would just cause them to fail earlier than if the same capacity was all the same age/type.
What would be Ideal, and making the most of what one already has, can be very different things. However, Newbs reading this thread might get an idea that new and old and flooded and AGM can be combined in parallel permanently, without worry, and that is not true.
But neither will it cause a rift in the space time continum as one might be led to believe.
AGMS vary very widely as to price. One can get 100Ah for as low as 160$ and as high as 400$ in the lower 48.
Expecting the same performance from both, or lumping them into the same category of battery performance/ attributes, even if both are vrla agm's, is unwise in the extreme.
Even 2 very similar AGM batteries, Northstar and ODyssey, well their performance claims as to cycle life are nearly identical, their weight, their CCA, their AH capacity at the 20 hour rate are identical or nearly so.
But Odyssey says their fully charged voltage is abotut 12.86, and Northstar says 13, and My nborthstar Did indeed rest at 13.06 volts. now at 465 cycles I don't know OCV, as it never rests.
And While years is the common method of measuring longevity, there is a huge differnce when there are 300+ cycles a year, vs 35.
I have ~ 465 deep cycles on a 38 month old Northstar AGM battery whose cost was ~340$. If I were to use 'morning' voltage alone as an indicator of its health and remaining capacity, then I would say it is just fine and good as new and still going strong while breaking my arm to pat myself on the back.
What tells me other wise is the reduction in amps( with high amp charging source applied in a depleted state) and time required to reach absorption voltage, and the extended time for amps to taper to 0.5% of capacity at absorption voltage.
If I deplete 45 of the new 90AH at a rate at nearly 2x that of peukert's allotment of 4.5 , my voltage still remains above 12.2 and rebounds higher while still under a ~0.4 amp load.
The voltage metric, at least on my Northstar battery, reveals nothing. The ammeter does.
In BFL's usage, I see no issue combining batteries in parallel for temporary use for extra capacity, but I think we can all agree that hooking them all up in parallel and leaving them in parallel until failure, would just cause them to fail earlier than if the same capacity was all the same age/type.
What would be Ideal, and making the most of what one already has, can be very different things. However, Newbs reading this thread might get an idea that new and old and flooded and AGM can be combined in parallel permanently, without worry, and that is not true.
But neither will it cause a rift in the space time continum as one might be led to believe.
