Thread: Deep cycle batteries

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Can i get some opinions of these please -

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....7979&rd=1&rd=1

I saw these batteries advertised for sale at Coda in a boating magazine for $99 - so for godsake don't pay more than that for them!

......and yeah, they're an OK battery at a good price [for $99!!!!] but you can get higher caoacity Deep Cycle ones ......proportionately more power for more price......these aren't that big a caoacity, hence why they're trying to flog them off......most people want bigger ones.

Yeah but more capacity, higher price ! i just want a 2nd battery that can do both deep cycle and handle the occasional winching which these should do.

Im only guessing here but they look like the civvy version (from the description he gave) of the SLAG (Sealed Lead Acid Gell) batteries that the army trialed for the FFR varients as radio batteries...

Didnt have a really good life span and which was put down to vibration and over charging/discharging and at the cost of the battery they were unecenomical compared to a normal wet cell battery.

from what I remember they dont like being drained past 50% nominal and do not like fast charging. although they did have excelent discharge characteristics

But at that Price, as a fridge/radio/lighting battery thats not bad spend a few bucks and put a current limiting charger in the charge side of business and they might just be the go.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Yeah but more capacity, higher price ! i just want a 2nd battery that can do both deep cycle and handle the occasional winching which these should do.

.....Oh, yes....but of course......such is the way of the world......If you want a really good all round deep cycle and high power battery in a compct size look at the Orbital types.....Pricy!!!- but good!

These small deep cycle ones wouldn't be much good for a high current draw use such as a winch.....you'd wreck it pretty quickly.....thet're designed for sustained [much] lower amperage draw usage!

They sound a bit suspicious to me. They are either Gel or dry-cell and Gel batteries usually like to be mounted in one plane - not on their side.

The 6 capped holes in the top would suggest they are not a dry-cell battery.

I'd expect a 100Ah from a 900CCA battery as a rule of thumb, though not necessarily the case.

Gel batteries are usually used in deep cycle, stable environments e.g. UPS, power backup etc and usually only have a defined finite life (e.g. they may quote 5 years or even 6 months). Personally I wouldn't look at a Gel battery for in car use.

Hi
I found this on the web about them.
http://www.enersys-japan.com/documents/ups.pdf
And I believe they are a good company.

They are designed for UPS work which means long periods of float charge and then short high current discharge followed by high current charging and back to float. batteries are a real science these days and you may need to fork out $200 - $300 for a 3 stage charger to charge them properly. They usually have a float voltage of 14.7 volts and most cars can not go that high so less capacity.

These are at least a year old and who knows how many cycles they have done. Probably good value for money...But

I have killed a new $360 AGM/Gel battery by using a cheap charger.
I bought 2 UPS batteries like these sold as "new" but I doubt they were and only one of them charges properly.

Next time i think i will consider going back to New wet lead deep cycle batteries.batteries.

Just my 2 bob from an electronics engineer of more than 20 years experience.
PS I have lost countless hours trying to get the perfect battery charger for in car use ie no 240v. Some come close but still not really ideal.

James

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Yeah but more capacity, higher price ! i just want a 2nd battery that can do both deep cycle and handle the occasional winching which these should do.

Why do you want the Aux. for winching?

I have worked with batteries for over 20 years and I agree with zwitter 100%