Charging a marine battery

W

W. eWatson

Guest
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not
need it yet.

That reminds me, the June issue of Consumer Reports has an article about
using an inverter with perhaps such a battery to keep the refrigerator,
sump pump, lights and electronic chargers. They tested two inverters,
Sears and WallMart. The arrangement is not going to be as useful as a
generator, but it could be handy for short term power outages. One could
use a car battery to act somewhat as a generator.
 
On Tue, 22 May 2012 22:45:34 -0700, "W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com>
wrote:

About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not
need it yet.
Click to expand...
Charge it like any other lead-acid battery. It shouldn't need charging after
only three months but it's not a good idea to leave L-A batteries to
self-discharge. They prefer a float charge.

That reminds me, the June issue of Consumer Reports has an article about
using an inverter with perhaps such a battery to keep the refrigerator,
sump pump, lights and electronic chargers. They tested two inverters,
Sears and WallMart. The arrangement is not going to be as useful as a
generator, but it could be handy for short term power outages. One could
use a car battery to act somewhat as a generator.
Click to expand...
This is often done for sump pumps (a DC powered pump is a better idea), where
a few hours can mean the difference between a dry and flooded basement. I
don't think it's of much use for a refrigerator, though. With the door
closed, they should stay cold for 24hrs or so, anyway. A car-battery-sized
deep-cycle battery has a useful capacity of perhaps 50AH, so that's only
600WH. If you do this, be sure the inverter cuts out early enough to save the
battery. They don't like to be run down to zero. A sump pump is a different
deal because a flooded basement is worse than a ruined battery.
 
On Tue, 22 May 2012 22:45:34 -0700, "W. eWatson"
<wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote:

About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not
need it yet.

That reminds me, the June issue of Consumer Reports has an article about
using an inverter with perhaps such a battery to keep the refrigerator,
sump pump, lights and electronic chargers. They tested two inverters,
Sears and WallMart. The arrangement is not going to be as useful as a
generator, but it could be handy for short term power outages. One could
use a car battery to act somewhat as a generator.
Click to expand...
A typical car battery would be 80AH. That's 4 amps for 20 hours, not
80 amps for one hour. As the load increases (more amps) the Peukert
factor comes into play and there are diminishing returns. Don't
expect to get the battery's rated AH capacity with a large load.

There are also the losses associated with excessive discharge of
lead-acid batteries. For maximum life, the battery should never be
discharged below 50%. That means your 8AH battery can only deliver
40AH and have reasonable life (perhaps 3-5 years). You're now down to
4 amps for 10 hours.
At a real-world load of say 5 amps to power a 60 watt laptop using a
DC-DC converter to convert 12 volts to the 17-19 volts most laptops
require (5 amps * 12 volts = 60 watts), the 80AH rating drops to 75AH,
so the 50% level is about 37AH which would give a little over 7 hours
(37AH/5amps = 7.4 hours).
When you add an inverter to get AC, you're losing some power to the
inefficiency of the inverter (depending on design, type, and load
efficiencies can run 80-95%). For an example, I'll use 90%. Say you
have an AC device that uses 400 watts. With a 90% efficient inverter,
you would need 400/.9 = 444 watts from the battery. 444/12 = 37 amps.
At that load, the battery's AH rating drops to about 40AH, so the 50%
level is 20AH. 20AH/37amps = .54 hours or about 32 minutes. That's
not much time for whatever appliance you were thinking about powering.
Bigger loads (fridge, etc) require proportionally more current from
the battery and deplete it even faster.
There's a reason alternate energy homes have battery bans rated in the
hundreds of amp-hours.

There is some rounding in the numbers, but they are realistic. I
don't have a solar farm, just spent some time doing the calculations.
If I cut enough trees to provide a full day of sun on the roof, I'd
need to double the size of the solar farm to handle the additional
heat load. The cost of tree removal plus doubling the number of solar
panels keeps the project from being an economically sound propsition.

Want to do your own calculations? There's an Excel spreadsheet here:
http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/5410/peukert_calc.xls

There was an online calculator here:
http://green-trust.org/peukert/
but it seems to be down today.
 
On May 23, 10:59 am, "k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz"
<k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote:
On Tue, 22 May 2012 22:45:34 -0700, "W. eWatson" <wolftra...@invalid.com
wrote:

About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not
need it yet.

Charge it like any other lead-acid battery.  It shouldn't need charging after
only three months but it's not a good idea to leave L-A batteries to
self-discharge.  They prefer a float charge.

That reminds me, the June issue of Consumer Reports has an article about
using an inverter with perhaps such a battery to keep the refrigerator,
sump pump, lights and electronic chargers. They tested two inverters,
Sears and WallMart.  The arrangement is not going to be as useful as a
generator, but it could be handy for short term power outages. One could
use a car battery to act somewhat as a generator.

This is often done for sump pumps (a DC powered pump is a better idea), where
a few hours can mean the difference between a dry and flooded basement.  I
don't think it's of much use for a refrigerator, though.  With the door
closed, they should stay cold for 24hrs or so, anyway.
Click to expand...
It's hard to get the beer out of there with the door closed
though. :^)

A car-battery-sized
deep-cycle battery has a useful capacity of perhaps 50AH, so that's only
Click to expand...
Say, where did you get the 50AH figure? I've always wanted some
'ball park' number for the capacity of my car battery. But I could
never find any information.

George H.


600WH.  If you do this, be sure the inverter cuts out early enough to save the
battery.  They don't like to be run down to zero.  A sump pump is a different
deal because a flooded basement is worse than a ruined battery.
Click to expand...
 
On 2012-05-23, W. eWatson <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote:
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not
need it yet.
Click to expand...
don't leave it sitting on a concrete floor, the temperature difference
between floor and ambient can lead to stratification in the
electrolyte which can accelerate self-discharge.

eg: raise it off the floor on some blocks of wood.


--
⚂⚃ 100% natural

--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to news@netfront.net ---
 
On Wed, 23 May 2012 09:11:16 -0700 (PDT), George Herold
<gherold@teachspin.com> wrote:

On May 23, 10:59 am, "k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz"
k...@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote:
On Tue, 22 May 2012 22:45:34 -0700, "W. eWatson" <wolftra...@invalid.com
wrote:

About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not
need it yet.

Charge it like any other lead-acid battery.  It shouldn't need charging after
only three months but it's not a good idea to leave L-A batteries to
self-discharge.  They prefer a float charge.

That reminds me, the June issue of Consumer Reports has an article about
using an inverter with perhaps such a battery to keep the refrigerator,
sump pump, lights and electronic chargers. They tested two inverters,
Sears and WallMart.  The arrangement is not going to be as useful as a
generator, but it could be handy for short term power outages. One could
use a car battery to act somewhat as a generator.

This is often done for sump pumps (a DC powered pump is a better idea), where
a few hours can mean the difference between a dry and flooded basement.  I
don't think it's of much use for a refrigerator, though.  With the door
closed, they should stay cold for 24hrs or so, anyway.

It's hard to get the beer out of there with the door closed
though. :^)
Click to expand...
When the power's out, you're better off going down to the pub. It's much more
fun and you have to drink up the tap beer before it spoils.

A car-battery-sized
deep-cycle battery has a useful capacity of perhaps 50AH, so that's only

Say, where did you get the 50AH figure? I've always wanted some
'ball park' number for the capacity of my car battery. But I could
never find any information.
Click to expand...
Experience. The information is available.
 
On 5/24/2012 2:23 AM, Jasen Betts wrote:
On 2012-05-23, W. eWatson<wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote:
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not
need it yet.

don't leave it sitting on a concrete floor, the temperature difference
between floor and ambient can lead to stratification in the
electrolyte which can accelerate self-discharge.

eg: raise it off the floor on some blocks of wood.


It's been sitting on a table.
Click to expand...
 
On 5/23/2012 9:47 AM, news@jecarter.us wrote:
On Tue, 22 May 2012 22:45:34 -0700, "W. eWatson"
wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote:

About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not
need it yet.

That reminds me, the June issue of Consumer Reports has an article about
using an inverter with perhaps such a battery to keep the refrigerator,
sump pump, lights and electronic chargers. They tested two inverters,
Sears and WallMart. The arrangement is not going to be as useful as a
generator, but it could be handy for short term power outages. One could
use a car battery to act somewhat as a generator.

A typical car battery would be 80AH. That's 4 amps for 20 hours, not
80 amps for one hour. As the load increases (more amps) the Peukert
factor comes into play and there are diminishing returns. Don't
expect to get the battery's rated AH capacity with a large load.

There are also the losses associated with excessive discharge of
lead-acid batteries. For maximum life, the battery should never be
discharged below 50%. That means your 8AH battery can only deliver
40AH and have reasonable life (perhaps 3-5 years). You're now down to
4 amps for 10 hours.
At a real-world load of say 5 amps to power a 60 watt laptop using a
DC-DC converter to convert 12 volts to the 17-19 volts most laptops
require (5 amps * 12 volts = 60 watts), the 80AH rating drops to 75AH,
so the 50% level is about 37AH which would give a little over 7 hours
(37AH/5amps = 7.4 hours).
When you add an inverter to get AC, you're losing some power to the
inefficiency of the inverter (depending on design, type, and load
efficiencies can run 80-95%). For an example, I'll use 90%. Say you
have an AC device that uses 400 watts. With a 90% efficient inverter,
you would need 400/.9 = 444 watts from the battery. 444/12 = 37 amps.
At that load, the battery's AH rating drops to about 40AH, so the 50%
level is 20AH. 20AH/37amps = .54 hours or about 32 minutes. That's
not much time for whatever appliance you were thinking about powering.
Bigger loads (fridge, etc) require proportionally more current from
the battery and deplete it even faster.
There's a reason alternate energy homes have battery bans rated in the
hundreds of amp-hours.

There is some rounding in the numbers, but they are realistic. I
don't have a solar farm, just spent some time doing the calculations.
If I cut enough trees to provide a full day of sun on the roof, I'd
need to double the size of the solar farm to handle the additional
heat load. The cost of tree removal plus doubling the number of solar
panels keeps the project from being an economically sound propsition.

Want to do your own calculations? There's an Excel spreadsheet here:
http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/5410/peukert_calc.xls

There was an online calculator here:
http://green-trust.org/peukert/
but it seems to be down today.

Just measured the voltage. 12.6.
Click to expand...

What sort of charger should I consider to keep this one happy when it's
not in high use?
 
"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jphti3$1s4$1@dont-email.me...
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it is
slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any suggestions
for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not need it yet.
Click to expand...

I've had a motorcycle battery hooked up to an Optimate maintenance charger
for about 3 years - it gets to deliver cranking current every blue moon when
the one in the motorcycle is found to need charging.

There are various competing brands - do a web search.
 
"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jplrpa$aum$1@dont-email.me...
On 5/24/2012 2:23 AM, Jasen Betts wrote:
On 2012-05-23, W. eWatson<wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote:
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not
need it yet.

don't leave it sitting on a concrete floor, the temperature difference
between floor and ambient can lead to stratification in the
electrolyte which can accelerate self-discharge.

eg: raise it off the floor on some blocks of wood.


It's been sitting on a table.
Click to expand...
If you leave it to eventually self discharge it will sulphate and be a write
off.

If you leave it on float charge "forever" it'll either gas itself dry or
become "lazy".

If you don't do anything else - charge it once per month, better still make
it do a bit of work before each recharge.
 
On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:16:49 +0100, "Ian Field"
<gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:

"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jphti3$1s4$1@dont-email.me...
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it is
slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any suggestions
for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not need it yet.


I've had a motorcycle battery hooked up to an Optimate maintenance charger
for about 3 years - it gets to deliver cranking current every blue moon when
the one in the motorcycle is found to need charging.

There are various competing brands - do a web search.
Click to expand...
---
Deep cycle marine battery =/= motorcycle battery.

--
JF
 
"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:bf8tr7lmo7p9io37urmkvs3hti6ak4vgug@4ax.com...
On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:16:49 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jphti3$1s4$1@dont-email.me...
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is
slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions
for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not need it
yet.


I've had a motorcycle battery hooked up to an Optimate maintenance charger
for about 3 years - it gets to deliver cranking current every blue moon
when
the one in the motorcycle is found to need charging.

There are various competing brands - do a web search.

---
Deep cycle marine battery =/= motorcycle battery.
Click to expand...

Quite so - you can deep cycle them without ruining them.

Most people got that from; "deep cycle marine battery".
 
On Thu, 24 May 2012 22:13:46 +0100, "Ian Field"
<gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:

"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:bf8tr7lmo7p9io37urmkvs3hti6ak4vgug@4ax.com...
On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:16:49 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jphti3$1s4$1@dont-email.me...
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is
slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions
for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not need it
yet.


I've had a motorcycle battery hooked up to an Optimate maintenance charger
for about 3 years - it gets to deliver cranking current every blue moon
when
the one in the motorcycle is found to need charging.

There are various competing brands - do a web search.

---
Deep cycle marine battery =/= motorcycle battery.


Quite so - you can deep cycle them without ruining them.

Most people got that from; "deep cycle marine battery".
Click to expand...
---
Your reference to run-of-the-mill motorcycle batteries, then, was
inane?

--
JF
 
On Thu, 24 May 2012 10:54:05 -0700, "W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com>
wrote:

On 5/23/2012 9:47 AM, news@jecarter.us wrote:
On Tue, 22 May 2012 22:45:34 -0700, "W. eWatson"
wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote:

About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not
need it yet.

That reminds me, the June issue of Consumer Reports has an article about
using an inverter with perhaps such a battery to keep the refrigerator,
sump pump, lights and electronic chargers. They tested two inverters,
Sears and WallMart. The arrangement is not going to be as useful as a
generator, but it could be handy for short term power outages. One could
use a car battery to act somewhat as a generator.

A typical car battery would be 80AH. That's 4 amps for 20 hours, not
80 amps for one hour. As the load increases (more amps) the Peukert
factor comes into play and there are diminishing returns. Don't
expect to get the battery's rated AH capacity with a large load.

There are also the losses associated with excessive discharge of
lead-acid batteries. For maximum life, the battery should never be
discharged below 50%. That means your 8AH battery can only deliver
40AH and have reasonable life (perhaps 3-5 years). You're now down to
4 amps for 10 hours.
At a real-world load of say 5 amps to power a 60 watt laptop using a
DC-DC converter to convert 12 volts to the 17-19 volts most laptops
require (5 amps * 12 volts = 60 watts), the 80AH rating drops to 75AH,
so the 50% level is about 37AH which would give a little over 7 hours
(37AH/5amps = 7.4 hours).
When you add an inverter to get AC, you're losing some power to the
inefficiency of the inverter (depending on design, type, and load
efficiencies can run 80-95%). For an example, I'll use 90%. Say you
have an AC device that uses 400 watts. With a 90% efficient inverter,
you would need 400/.9 = 444 watts from the battery. 444/12 = 37 amps.
At that load, the battery's AH rating drops to about 40AH, so the 50%
level is 20AH. 20AH/37amps = .54 hours or about 32 minutes. That's
not much time for whatever appliance you were thinking about powering.
Bigger loads (fridge, etc) require proportionally more current from
the battery and deplete it even faster.
There's a reason alternate energy homes have battery bans rated in the
hundreds of amp-hours.

There is some rounding in the numbers, but they are realistic. I
don't have a solar farm, just spent some time doing the calculations.
If I cut enough trees to provide a full day of sun on the roof, I'd
need to double the size of the solar farm to handle the additional
heat load. The cost of tree removal plus doubling the number of solar
panels keeps the project from being an economically sound propsition.

Want to do your own calculations? There's an Excel spreadsheet here:
http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/5410/peukert_calc.xls

There was an online calculator here:
http://green-trust.org/peukert/
but it seems to be down today.

Just measured the voltage. 12.6.
Click to expand...
That's good for an open battery, though it can be hard to tell.

What sort of charger should I consider to keep this one happy when it's
not in high use?
Click to expand...
A couple amp charger should do it. Don't leave it on all the time, though. A
few hours a week should be fine. If you want to do a good job of keeping it
topped off, put it on a cheap timer and charge it an hour a day. It'll
probably last ten years float charging like that.
 
On Thu, 24 May 2012 17:04:33 -0500, John Fields
<jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 22:13:46 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:bf8tr7lmo7p9io37urmkvs3hti6ak4vgug@4ax.com...
On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:16:49 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jphti3$1s4$1@dont-email.me...
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is
slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions
for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not need it
yet.


I've had a motorcycle battery hooked up to an Optimate maintenance charger
for about 3 years - it gets to deliver cranking current every blue moon
when
the one in the motorcycle is found to need charging.

There are various competing brands - do a web search.

---
Deep cycle marine battery =/= motorcycle battery.


Quite so - you can deep cycle them without ruining them.

Most people got that from; "deep cycle marine battery".

---
Your reference to run-of-the-mill motorcycle batteries, then, was
inane?
Click to expand...
The chemistry is the same. The difference is only in the geometry of the
plates. Deep cycle batteries have heavier plates so they don't warp (and
short) during a deep discharge. "Starter" batteries have thinner plates, thus
more surface area, given the same amount of lead, to deliver more current to
the starter. Deep discharging them will warp the plates and they're toast.
Neither likes to be completely discharged or self-discharged.
 
<krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote in message
news:g5otr75tiejnkrhnujsak7nlv52df1vchp@4ax.com...
On Thu, 24 May 2012 17:04:33 -0500, John Fields
jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 22:13:46 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:bf8tr7lmo7p9io37urmkvs3hti6ak4vgug@4ax.com...
On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:16:49 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jphti3$1s4$1@dont-email.me...
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v)
from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for
it
is
slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions
for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not need it
yet.


I've had a motorcycle battery hooked up to an Optimate maintenance
charger
for about 3 years - it gets to deliver cranking current every blue moon
when
the one in the motorcycle is found to need charging.

There are various competing brands - do a web search.

---
Deep cycle marine battery =/= motorcycle battery.


Quite so - you can deep cycle them without ruining them.

Most people got that from; "deep cycle marine battery".

---
Your reference to run-of-the-mill motorcycle batteries, then, was
inane?

The chemistry is the same. The difference is only in the geometry of the
plates. Deep cycle batteries have heavier plates so they don't warp (and
short) during a deep discharge. "Starter" batteries have thinner plates,
thus
more surface area, given the same amount of lead, to deliver more current
to
the starter. Deep discharging them will warp the plates and they're
toast.
Neither likes to be completely discharged or self-discharged.
Click to expand...
Why do you waste time explaining things to that muppet?!
 
On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:33:35 -0400, "krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz"
<krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 17:04:33 -0500, John Fields
jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 22:13:46 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:bf8tr7lmo7p9io37urmkvs3hti6ak4vgug@4ax.com...
On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:16:49 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jphti3$1s4$1@dont-email.me...
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is
slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions
for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not need it
yet.


I've had a motorcycle battery hooked up to an Optimate maintenance charger
for about 3 years - it gets to deliver cranking current every blue moon
when
the one in the motorcycle is found to need charging.

There are various competing brands - do a web search.

---
Deep cycle marine battery =/= motorcycle battery.


Quite so - you can deep cycle them without ruining them.

Most people got that from; "deep cycle marine battery".

---
Your reference to run-of-the-mill motorcycle batteries, then, was
inane?

The chemistry is the same. The difference is only in the geometry of the
plates.
Click to expand...
---
Ergo, since the differences between a 60 pound deep cycle and, say, a
5 pound motorcycle battery are substantial, equating
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/equate) the two is, at best, ludicrous.


--
JF
 
On Fri, 25 May 2012 13:12:04 +0100, "Ian Field"
<gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:

krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote in message
news:g5otr75tiejnkrhnujsak7nlv52df1vchp@4ax.com...
On Thu, 24 May 2012 17:04:33 -0500, John Fields
jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 22:13:46 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:bf8tr7lmo7p9io37urmkvs3hti6ak4vgug@4ax.com...
On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:16:49 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jphti3$1s4$1@dont-email.me...
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v)
from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for
it
is
slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions
for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not need it
yet.


I've had a motorcycle battery hooked up to an Optimate maintenance
charger
for about 3 years - it gets to deliver cranking current every blue moon
when
the one in the motorcycle is found to need charging.

There are various competing brands - do a web search.

---
Deep cycle marine battery =/= motorcycle battery.


Quite so - you can deep cycle them without ruining them.

Most people got that from; "deep cycle marine battery".

---
Your reference to run-of-the-mill motorcycle batteries, then, was
inane?

The chemistry is the same. The difference is only in the geometry of the
plates. Deep cycle batteries have heavier plates so they don't warp (and
short) during a deep discharge. "Starter" batteries have thinner plates,
thus
more surface area, given the same amount of lead, to deliver more current
to
the starter. Deep discharging them will warp the plates and they're
toast.
Neither likes to be completely discharged or self-discharged.


Why do you waste time explaining things to that muppet?!
Click to expand...
---
Why do you waste oxygen?

--
JF
 
On Fri, 25 May 2012 07:25:22 -0500, John Fields
<jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:33:35 -0400, "krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz"
krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 17:04:33 -0500, John Fields
jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 22:13:46 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:bf8tr7lmo7p9io37urmkvs3hti6ak4vgug@4ax.com...
On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:16:49 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jphti3$1s4$1@dont-email.me...
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v) from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended for it
is
slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions
for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not need it
yet.


I've had a motorcycle battery hooked up to an Optimate maintenance charger
for about 3 years - it gets to deliver cranking current every blue moon
when
the one in the motorcycle is found to need charging.

There are various competing brands - do a web search.

---
Deep cycle marine battery =/= motorcycle battery.


Quite so - you can deep cycle them without ruining them.

Most people got that from; "deep cycle marine battery".

---
Your reference to run-of-the-mill motorcycle batteries, then, was
inane?

The chemistry is the same. The difference is only in the geometry of the
plates.

---
Ergo, since the differences between a 60 pound deep cycle and, say, a
5 pound motorcycle battery are substantial, equating
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/equate) the two is, at best, ludicrous.
Click to expand...
Nonsense. The chemistry is identical, as are the charging needs and care. The
only differences are mechanical.
 
<krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote in message
news:8fm0s75qqp823td97rh5silu33ahnr2ioc@4ax.com...
On Fri, 25 May 2012 07:25:22 -0500, John Fields
jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:33:35 -0400, "krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz"
krw@att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 17:04:33 -0500, John Fields
jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote:

On Thu, 24 May 2012 22:13:46 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"John Fields" <jfields@austininstruments.com> wrote in message
news:bf8tr7lmo7p9io37urmkvs3hti6ak4vgug@4ax.com...
On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:16:49 +0100, "Ian Field"
gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:


"W. eWatson" <wolftracks@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:jphti3$1s4$1@dont-email.me...
About 3 months ago, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery (12v)
from
Costco. It probably weighs 60 pounds. The application I intended
for it
is
slowly proceeding, and I haven't used the battery at all. Any
suggestions
for charging it? I'll check the voltage tomorrow. It may not need
it
yet.


I've had a motorcycle battery hooked up to an Optimate maintenance
charger
for about 3 years - it gets to deliver cranking current every blue
moon
when
the one in the motorcycle is found to need charging.

There are various competing brands - do a web search.

---
Deep cycle marine battery =/= motorcycle battery.


Quite so - you can deep cycle them without ruining them.

Most people got that from; "deep cycle marine battery".

---
Your reference to run-of-the-mill motorcycle batteries, then, was
inane?

The chemistry is the same. The difference is only in the geometry of the
plates.

---
Ergo, since the differences between a 60 pound deep cycle and, say, a
5 pound motorcycle battery are substantial, equating
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/equate) the two is, at best, ludicrous.

Nonsense. The chemistry is identical, as are the charging needs and care.
The
only differences are mechanical.
Click to expand...
JF's never one to let the facts get in the way of having a snipe at me.
 
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