Printable View
I have had the calcium version sine August 2017 (2.5 years) and it's still going strong. We do quite a bit of start-stop inside 10 mins too. It was recommended to me by Roversmith. I decided on the calcium rather than AGM due to price. From my experience :BigThumb:Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterOZ
Just to be different I used/use a Supercharge MF88h. Was about $230 on sale. The first one lasted, so I kept going with the same one.
In my D4 I am on second Supercharge MF88h. First one lasted three years at about $230 delivered , then went for a $500+ VARTA Silver which dropped a cell at 2years. Now on another Supercharge MF88h. $264 this time.Quote:
Originally Posted by BradC
Gerry
I’m on 38 months on my Varta G14 AGM. BMS says it’s able to charge to a maximum 86% calculated SOC. I charge it at least once a month for 12-24 hours to give it a top up and try and keep it healthy.
I bought the same battery less than 12 months ago in Parkes (NSW) for $350 included the reset.Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterOZ
Who in Parkes has the LR capable tool?Quote:
Originally Posted by kero
You know I just don't get some of these fancy expensive batteries!
Example..i just bought a Century 1000cca tractor battery 500mmx220mmx220mm for $380..made in Brissy too.
Last one lasted 10 years and you can imagine the torrid treatment a tractor battery gets.
So what's so wrong with a simiar basic battery design for a car?
Place I bought it from only deals in relatively basic reliable batteries and laughed when I asked about spiral wound and some other costly brands/designs. Yuasa/Century gell mat was the most sophisticated design they had of which he said they sell heaps with no probs at all.
Keep it simple perhaps😎
Your tractor likely has a requirement of:
Start tractor
Recharge
Sit still for ages
Repeat
The current draw and loads a modern vehicle demands are much higher and sporadic. Unfortunately a simple lead plate design can’t cut it.
My $250 Supercharge allrounder battery runs my RRS no issues, so no need for high price batteries - some people do0seem to get carried away on this subject.
Garry
As Tombie said, it's a little more complex.Quote:
Originally Posted by INter674
The Supercharge MF88h is somewhere around 100Ah and 900CCA (two completely different things).
My last one was replaced as while we were away camping, my young lad kept getting into and out of the car. Each time he opened the door it woke the vehicle up and a freshly woken D3 draws 10's of amps. A couple of these cycles and it would no longer start the car. When it was charged up there was no issues.
I did a capacity and load test and while it was still > 700CCA it was down to some ~21Ah capacity. So below a quarter of it's new capacity. Still had no issues in the car provided there wasn't a lot of use between stop and start.
Older tractors don't tend to have the higher electrical load, and I'm sure if I didn't have the 3 year old wanting to "drive" the car so often I'd probably have managed nearly another 2 years from the battery.
Modern batteries need both low internal resistance at low temperatures (high CCA) *and* high "RC" (Reserve Capacity or another way of expressing the Ah capacity but different). Traditional batteries with high cranking amps have lots of thin plates, and batteries with high capacity have fewer thick plates. Modern batteries are a complex trade-off between the two and things like glass mat or spiral wound are an attempt to allow thick plates that don't eject their coating when massive loads are put on them while still being fit for purpose and not shaken to pieces with rough physical treatment. In there is also the chemistry which affects voltage and the ability to accept charge (charging rate). Older "simple" batteries just can't be recharged as fast as the modern chemistry. You can force more current through them, but the lead only converts at a limited rate, the rest is dissipated as heat and dissociating the electrolyte.
A tractor is a pretty benign environment by comparison unless you are talking about the relatively new "all singing and dancing, electric automated marvels".
It's complicated.