Field battery for charging

[eddiecj]

I have always used a deep cycle marine battery for charging in the field, they're amazing, charge 3200Mah 3S batts at least ten times on a full battery, I have seen recently a deep cycle marine at Costco for $89, can't go wrong, all you need is a trickle charger that charges deep cycle marine batts at can tire and you're set. The one at Costco is not the one pictured here, I have had this battery for years and it is still charging my field batts like a champ. Deep cycle marine batteries are designed to discharge far deeper than car batteries while still retaining their ability to recycle charges and discharges. Unlike a car battery, where if you discharge it flat, you are killing it like a Lipo and significantly reducing its ability to recharge. Downside to these? you're guaranteed a herniated testie carrying it in and out of the car to the pit, But well worth the fun!

[sihinch]

What do all the ratings mean?


http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/search-results.html?searchByTerm=true&q=marine+battery

[eddiecj]

You got me on that one, I'd have to ask my pappy who's a mechanics teacher, or google, I do know that deep cycle marine's are designed to sit in boats for whole winters and hold their charges for crazy periods, boats don't usually have alternators and don't recharge the battery while running, like a car does. There are a couple of other guys at seaton who sport marine batts and swear by em, one guy says he gets about 22 charges on a 2600mah 3S batts, I myself stopped counting at 12 charges on my batts before recharging the marine batt, and mine is almost 8 years old now, I'll repost once I freshen up on the types and ratings.

[eddiecj]

Ok, here's what pappy told me, and pappy knows batteries and stuff like its his living cause it is, DEEP CYCLE MARINE batts are categorized into groups which determine what type of boats they will be fitted in, so group 27 for ex are for specific boat types, that doesn't apply to us though, aside from that, deep cycle marine's are designed to be discharged far lower than any car battery can without going caput! Also when it comes time to charging the deep cycle battery itself, it should be charged at a lower amperage than a car battery because the plates in the battery are a lot thicker and take longer to re saturate with electrons. I personally charge my deep cycle for about 36hrs at 2 amps, motomaster chargers, most have variable charging rates, from 2-12 amps, lowest possible is best for a thorough charge. As for choosing a battery, the bigger the better like any battery so what you can afford to buy is your choice, they are, far far better than a car battery though, any way you slice it.

[Bobmic]

Is there a problem charging them with a regular charger that supports PB batteries and set it up to 12V 2Amp or lower?
Why would you need need to go with a separate charger to charge these batteries?

[bfeist]

Hi guys,
I recommend against deep cycle marine batteries with traditional chemistry. These are wet batteries and are a huge pain to maintain over the years. Eddie's right that they're better than regular car batteries, primarily because regular car batteries will explode after repeated deep cycling (trust me). Car batteries are meant to remain topped up on charge and only deliver high current in spurts.

The battery pictured in Eddie's first post is actually an AGM battery. Canadian Tire sells these (and maybe costo too). They are closed cell (not wet) so if they tip over you don't have to buy a new car from the acid burns on everything. They use a different chemistry and have different stages of charge (so you can't use a regular Pb charger for them). Be sure to get a charging unit at Canadian Tire that does AGM batteries.

I've had my 50Ah Canadian Tire AGM battery for over 7 years now. It's probably nearing the end of its age, but before that I was replacing regular deepcycle marine batteries every 2 or 3 seasons.

[eddiecj]

Yes, deep cycle AGM batteries if I'm not wrong use a gel instead of a liquid acid, if you get one best get a gel battery, that I forgot to mention. This particular one bellow at Can Tire would be a kick butt battery, yes it's costly but you'll get years out of it and it's maintenance free. And forget about what I said about Costco and the $89 dollar deep cycle batt, now that I think about it I doubt that for that price it was a Gel chemistry, it must be a liquid acid type, as Ben mentioned, you want AGM deep cycle, not regular liquid acid type. thanks for the refresher about the AGM Ben!