Hi outwestbound,
Another thing that happens with the starved acid AGM design is that the cells literally can not get to 100% discharge--they can't because they run out of acid before the plates run out of active material. If there were a way to add more acid they could be discharged more.
My own personal view is that the lack of acid works to protect the plates and may slow down the shaling that always occurs on the positive plates.
That is, I think, also why a 100 lb flooded jar will have slightly more amp-hour capacity than an AGM of exactly the same weight.
The surplus acid format that I use does not offer that protection--so I need to be careful to not take the jars down below 50% state of charge.
