Quote:
Originally Posted by jahmes143
Do you have any specifics regarding the battery you're talking about? The term "deep cycle" is often thrown around a lot incorrectly ( not saying you are at all). From my understanding, true deep cycle batteries do not make for good automotive batteries as they have much lower cranking amp abilities (but excellent draining/recharging abilities)
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The Northstar batteries in the group buy, and also Odyssey batteries are an exception to this general rule. Both of these are closer to military grade batteries.
They use a high-quality, purer lead, and many thin cells with the "AGM" (absorbent glass mat -- I believe) materials between the plates.
Then they take this multi-layered "sandwich" of sorts, and compress it to fit in a much smaller the space.
The results are really good....
The batteries are very dense. The Odyssey batteries that I own weigh almost twice as much as similarly sized lead-acid batteries!
The have a large surface area for the plates (which means they can deliver very high current loads), and because of the materials and their structure, they handle deep discharge and recycling very well with minimal distortion to the cell structure and minimal sulfication or other problems with deposits.
The batteries also tend to have a longer service life if properly maintained.
They also have a very low self-discharge rate. For example, a new Odyssey battery at 100% charge can be left sitting unconnected for 2 years, and will still
have about 80% of its charge.
I'm sure that the stats are similar for the Northstar batteries. You should consider Northstar batteries essentially the same as Odyssey... (although the ARE different companies).
So with these batteries, imho, all you get are benefits. There are no negatives.
They serve equally well as starting and deep cycle batteries (despite the fact that many "lesser" batteries need to be designed for one use or the other, but can't and don't do well at both), they offer a substantially lower self-discharge rate, and they offer the promise of a longer service life.
So, what are the negatives? Only two that I'm aware of... and they both depend on perspective:
1) They are expensive. You can pay much less for a battery.
2) They are heavy. If weight is a concern. These batteries are heavy.
on the flip side, if weight is a concern, you may be able to buy a
smaller than recommended battery, save on space and weight, and
still get acceptable performance.
I hope this answers your question
@
jahmes143
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The batteries in this group buy (and a few similarly made batteries) truly are exceptional, and the standard rules and logic about most batteries don't apply to these. With that said. They still are batteries... meaning, if you buy one of these batteries that is rated at 135 amp-hr reserve capacity... that is about the reserve capacity that you will get, and it will die and need to be recharged after you have used up that capacity.
You won't magically find that you somehow get twice that reserve capacity.
How do I know... let's just say that once I ran too many accessories on my boat for too long, thinking that I had "super batteries" on board, so I was invincible!
When the batteries were dead, and I had to scramble to get the boat started, I realized that they are still batteries. Very, very good batteries, but none the less, they don't bestow magical powers that mean they can't be run down.
On the other hand, at the end of the season, I make sure they are charged, turn of the battery switches, and in the spring I'm fine. All batteries have a good charge, and I am good to go. No need for a trickle charge or to periodically recharge them during storage.
I *might* be better to take them indoors over the winter, but I don't bother. They're too heavy to deal with!
Good luck to anyone who signs up.
I don't need batteries, but I thought I would share my knowledge and experience with these types of batteries.
I have these (or similar technology... but different brands) in all of my toys.
My 4Runner, my wife's Benz, my convertible, and THREE of them in my boat (2 for house batteries, and 1 for a starting battery).
After more than 8+ years of experience with these, I am 100% completely sold that this is the best way to go. You may (or may not) save money over the long haul when compared to buying cheaper and regular lead-acid batteries.
But, you WILL get better performance out of these, and you WON'T have as many problems of them dying, needing to be recharged or be replaced as frequently.
As for Optima batteries. I had one Red Top, and it was good, but it didn't last as long as these other types of batteries lasted. I have heard rumors that not all optima batteries are the same. That some sold at some discount chains are actually made with cheaper materials and weigh much less. I don't know if the rumors are true. My Optima experience was good... but these "super batteries" as I'll call them here, are better.
-Phil
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