Best AGM Battery?

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Scubawise

Thx for the update..vmax baby!
If needed easy to add another vmax and still not worry about water etc

Yes sir after you have had time to stabilize your new batteries for your actual usage, you will earn how long you can go before hitting 12.4vdc 125 ah is lot to use up overnight. Define you a preferred START quiet time, Between Genny & Solar you always start the Quiet time 100% fully charged.

Most Campsites quiet time starts at 10:00 pm may be 9:00 PM. Mine quiet time starts at 7:00 PM, thinking of moving it to 6:00 PM during daylight saving time.

But when / if I ever need more capacity, a third vMax tank will take me up to 187 ah available. But it has been 8 months for us with 125ah we have PLENTY and I don't even have solar to help maintain.

@20AH it will take about 3 hrs for you to fully charge your batteries if they have discharged to 12.4vdc (this is using you converter / charger).

[Scubawise]

Originally Posted by dkoldman

Yes sir after you have had time to stabilize your new batteries for your actual usage, you will earn how long you can go before hitting 12.4vdc 125 ah is lot to use up overnight. Define you a preferred START quiet time, Between Genny & Solar you always start the Quiet time 100% fully charged.

Most Campsites quiet time starts at 10:00 pm may be 9:00 PM. Mine quiet time starts at 7:00 PM, thinking of moving it to 6:00 PM during daylight saving time.

But when / if I ever need more capacity, a third vMax tank will take me up to 187 ah available. But it has been 8 months for us with 125ah we have PLENTY and I don't even have solar to help maintain.

@20AH it will take about 3 hrs for you to fully charge your batteries if they have discharged to 12.4vdc (this is using you converter / charger).

Thx my wife wants to use the inverter at 6am to make coffee without seeing the battery at 11.7 11.8 in am..this includes being charged going to bed.
If heater runs 3 to 5 times batteries at 11.7

[DavidEM]

Originally Posted by Scubawise

Thx my wife wants to use the inverter at 6am to make coffee without seeing the battery at 11.7 11.8 in am..this includes being charged going to bed.
If heater runs 3 to 5 times batteries at 11.7

Reading the battery voltage with a load like the furnace fan or heaven forbid, the inverter powering a coffee maker, gives a very distorted picture of real battery state of charge. Not that even resting for an hour or so gives an accurate indication but drawing 6-10 amps for the furnace will drop the battery voltage by a couple of tenths. It will jump back up after the load is removed.

David

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by Richie Rich

Sooooo... I'm confused!? I always want the BEST of everything, but I have a couple of questions:
1. Why Switch from regular Lead Acid Batteries to AGM?
2. Do you have to do something "special" when making the change from your old Lead Acid to AGM or is it just a plain ol' battery swap - in with the new out with the old?
In advance, thanks for your thoughts...

In the Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) field there are three different manufacturing types. All use the lead-acid chemistry. The oldest is known maintenance free (MF), the next oldest is gel (GEL) and the newest one on the block is adsorbed glass mat (AGM). All three of these types need no watering and each has a specific sets of applications for which they were designed. MF were designed for starting batteries for auto and trucks, Gel batteries were designed for maximum amp-h storage capacity when used with an off-grid low current application. AGM were designed to replace NI-Cads and NI-MH in uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).

MF are the cheapest and use liquid sulfuric acid, AGM batteries resist vibration and can handle higher charge/discharge rates and gel batteries can withstand high temps and work best with slow, deep discharge.

For my use it hard to beat the 58 lb EverStart group 29DC battery.

• 12-volt marine deep cycle battery
• 122 amp hour
• Dual post
• Superior cycling and recharge capabilities
• Battery is maintenance free under normal operating conditions
• Free battery testing and installation at your local Walmart Auto Care Center
• If you need to get rid of your old battery, there is free lead acid battery recycling at your local Walmart.

Mine are going on 3 years old and have never need water - thus no out-gassing. Yes, they have caps and yes, I have my old watering system attached, as I thought the above was too good to be true.

[Scubawise]

Originally Posted by DavidEM

Reading the battery voltage with a load like the furnace fan or heaven forbid, the inverter powering a coffee maker, gives a very distorted picture of real battery state of charge. Not that even resting for an hour or so gives an accurate indication but drawing 6-10 amps for the furnace will drop the battery voltage by a couple of tenths. It will jump back up after the load is removed.

David

No furnace or anything running in the am except absorption fridge & usb chargers and 11.7

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Scubawise

No furnace or anything running in the am except absorption fridge & usb chargers and 11.7

Does your Absorption Fridge run on propane?

I have two refrigerators, one residential (outside) and one absorption (Norcold inside). If I try to run the absorption off Inverter I may get 5 hours. But I never do that unless I am in between stops.

When I am driving the RV with alternator running, I will have my Absorption fridge running off the Inverter. When I stop to get gas or to get setup at a campsite I have no worries running off the inverter, but when I am all set for the night and boondocking, I switch it to propane. Our outdoor fridge can run the entire time off Inverter, but we don't need it when boondocking.

[Scubawise]

Sorry correct fridge runs off propane at night..so just heater, water pump for toilet & usb charger & winegard on roof all I can think of

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Scubawise

Sorry correct fridge runs off propane at night..so just heater, water pump for toilet & usb charger & winegard on roof all I can think of

Great.. in that case tell your DW she may brew 3 or 4 cups of coffee at 6:00 AM and will not see low voltage

Remember in your immediate future 12.4 vdc is considered low voltage for an AGM battery. The next day or when you do hit 12.4vdc if you do not have shore power let the genny run for 3 hrs during the day to get it back up to 13.0vdc, let you solar maintain it until Quiet time. Repeat and soon you will wonder why in the world did they ever but the low ah capacity FLA batteries in to begin with? Well we know why... cost; but you get the point.

[Scubawise]

Excellent captain appreciated