Saturday, Jan 14, 2006 at 14:35
Phil,
I'm beginning to go along with you. From previous experience, I've had good runs out of "hybrid" batteries like Exide's ED5 and similar, and a bad run out of an expensive deep-cycle Trojan. With the exception of the Trojan, my premature failures have been due to external causes (read: idiot intervention by a third party).
Given that a lot of the time, the aux battery will be charged from the vehicle's alternator, one does not have much control over the charge rate unless one has a fairly sophisticated battery combiner, so keeping charge to about 5 amps or so can be difficult if the battery has been significantly discharged. This is where the "hybrid" battery doesn't mind a heavy charge current.
My research indicates that while most lead acid batteries do not like heat, the AGM and other sealed/recombinant batteries enjoy heat even less, making them a lesser choice if the battery must be installed in the engine bay. (I have a box surrounding
mine, with a thermostatically- controlled fan shifting cool air thru)
At the end of the day, one only needs one killer discharge (for what ever reason) to ruin a cheap hybrid battery or an expensive deep cycle.
just my 2 bob's worth
Gerry
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