Thread: Anyone used Gel batteries?

Originally Posted by drivesafe

I’m not as specific as Blknight, I just don’t think they are anywhere near as robust as the standard flooded wet cell and while I agree with Blknight regarding spiral AGMs being the bees knees, the price is also way over the top for them.

And conventional AGMs, being as you can’t put them under the bonnet, are just to limited in their use, for the prices being asked.

This is what always brings me back to flooded wet cells, the price.

You can buy CAT wet cell batteries for $140 and they are the toughest batteries you can buy,that is a fact.The spiral AGM batteries are $500 each,thats stupid money for a battery. Pat

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi bee utey, all you need is a battery box and obviously the chances of getting spillage with wet cells is the main reason for putting them in a box, but in all fairness, you should also be putting sealed batteries in a battery box, is they are over charged, they too will leak and you have more chance of over charging sealed batteries than you do with a flooded wet cell.

Drivesafe,how do batteries ''over charge'',doesn't the regulator do that?. Pat

Where can you buy these CAT (I'm assuming that's as in "Caterpillar") batteries online in WA? I've never seen one and don't expect to up here. The last battery I bought was like all the others I've seen around here, from the Phillipines. (It's alright, but, you know, it was for a mere car, not my Landie.)

Originally Posted by PAT303

Drivesafe,how do batteries ''over charge'',doesn't the regulator do that?. Pat

theres 2 types of over charge. Over volts and over amps.

the regulator on an alternator only provides voltage regualtion.

In theory if you pull the regulator off of an alternator it could make unlimited voltage depending on how fast you spun it. In reality once you start putting a load on it the voltage drops off as the amps increase.

Over volts charging causes stuff to break down sort of like putting a 12v globe into a 24v circuit.

Over amps charging causes heat problems and generally that causes the acid to heat up. No problem in a wet cell (to a point) as the acid just circulates in the battery from convection and dumps the heat outside the casing. Big problem in a gel cel as the gel doesnt move very much it gets localised boiling and that then deforms things or leaves "burns" on the plates that then stops that area of the plate from working. When you get a burn point the rest of that plate works harder to carry its share of current so they get hotter and you get a cascading failure of the plate.

Vehicle charge voltage is not controllable but it’s not so much the vehicle’s charging voltage but what a battery is designed to tolerate that is the problem.

If you don’t know what battery can take your vehicle’s operating voltage, you may be causing your own early battery demise.

USA type gel batteries are mostly designed to tolerate no more than 14.1v max. These are not that common in RV use here but they are around and in my opinion, should be avoided for RV use.

Most Maintenance Free, automotive type Gel and and most AGMs are designed to take no more than 14.4v.

Good old fashion automotive Flooded Wet Cell cranking and deep cycle batteries and dual purpose Marine batteries will take 14.7v as a standard maximum continuos charge ( operating ) voltage but can tolerate up to 16v for short periods of time.

As mentioned, there are also the Spiral type AUTOMOTIVE AGMs, these can be used as a direct replacement for Flooded Wet Cell automotive batteries.

While Maintenance Free and automotive type Gel batteries can tolerate high charge currents, as Blknight pointed out, probably not that good for them if done regularly.

Most AGMs are CURRENT LIMITED both while charging and when under load and the major problem here is that most users of these batteries are unaware of their limitations.

Flooded Wet Cell, dual purpose Marine and Spiral type AUTOMOTIVE AGMs will take full inrush current while charging.

Flooded Wet Cell and dual purpose Marine are literally self-regulating and set their own limits to the amount of current they will absorb while charging, no matter how big the alternator is.

Again, Spiral type AUTOMOTIVE AGMs will also take full inrush current while charging but the big difference with these batteries is that the bigger the alternator, the more these batteries will take.

Just to make selecting the correct battery just that much harder.

There are differents way to label batteries.

You can have a conventional flooded wet cell battery that has Antimony/Lead alloy neg and pos plates or you can get a battery with Antimony/Lead alloy neg plates and Calcium/Lead alloy pos plates and this type of battery is your usual maintenance free battery but is some time called a Calcium or Calcium Hybrid battery.

These types of batteries are still conventional type batteries.

Now things get confusing.

The newer batteries are Calcium/Calcium ( or sometimes called Calcium/Lead/Calcium ) batteries, and are also commonly known as Calcium batteries but they are a totally different kettle of fish.

Calcium/Calcium batteries have been around for about 20 years but it’s only been in the last 8 to 10 years that they have become fairly commonplace.

These batteries come in both flooded and fully sealed types and will eventually replace the the older “conventional” type batteries and while these new batteries have some technical advantages, but it’s actually the fact that these batteries are much cheaper to produce is the reason for their popularity with battery manufacturers.

So have fun trying to sort out which battery is what!

Originally Posted by Davo

Where can you buy these CAT (I'm assuming that's as in "Caterpillar") batteries online in WA? I've never seen one and don't expect to up here. The last battery I bought was like all the others I've seen around here, from the Phillipines. (It's alright, but, you know, it was for a mere car, not my Landie.)

Westrac,and with private sales you get a free hat!!!. Pat

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Just to make selecting the correct battery just that much harder.

There are differents way to label batteries.

You can have a conventional flooded wet cell battery that has Antimony/Lead alloy neg and pos plates or you can get a battery with Antimony/Lead alloy neg plates and Calcium/Lead alloy pos plates and this type of battery is your usual maintenance free battery but is some time called a Calcium or Calcium Hybrid battery.

These types of batteries are still conventional type batteries.

Now things get confusing.

The newer batteries are Calcium/Calcium ( or sometimes called Calcium/Lead/Calcium ) batteries, and are also commonly known as Calcium batteries but they are a totally different kettle of fish.

Calcium/Calcium batteries have been around for about 20 years but it’s only been in the last 8 to 10 years that they have become fairly commonplace.

These batteries come in both flooded and fully sealed types and will eventually replace the the older “conventional” type batteries and while these new batteries have some technical advantages, but it’s actually the fact that these batteries are much cheaper to produce is the reason for their popularity with battery manufacturers.

So have fun trying to sort out which battery is what!

I run my winch,spot lights and fridge off the second battery,what battery is the best choice for me?,I want another odyssey but no one carries them here,whats my second best choice,I'm leaning towards the CAT. Pat