Deep Cycle Battery brands, types, systems & installations

Nightjar said:

RR, Am interested to know why your dual battery system only lasted 15 months. You mention short trips but surely that wouldn't have killed them.
Recall doing something very "not smart!"
Arrived at airport at first light to catch a plane to Bali, arrived back in darkness 10 days later and couldn't work out why my remote wouldn't open doors. Like Jaros opened doors with key but when I tried ignition it was completely dead. It then dawned on me, had left lights on when leaving. :argh:
When leaning under bonnet to activate isolation switch/solonoid for auxiliary battery two security guards asked very gruffly what I was doing?
All good jumped back in, turned the key and we were on our way.
40 minute drive home, where I checked the main battery and found it was still flat.
Took it out to the shed and tried the "jumpstart" method (mentioned in another post) eureka!!! Up and charging and still surviving in my ute.

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Like all series' Two Mitsubshi's they come with the factory Duel Battery System, When I got it One battery had died seeing as it was almost fresh off the boat so I replaced them both So I would have a correct fitting Date and then I started using a company vehicle during the day for a couple of months so instead of just leaving the truck on my Drive letting the batteries go flat I hooked up a 15w Solar panel and within 3 to 4 weeks the batteries were flat even though I had done a couple of short trips in it to the local shops during that time etc, Then when I went to start it they were dead, I charged them up and they lasted for 2 or 3 weeks and it happened again In the end they would not last for 8 or 9 days, So I replaced them again, and it started to struggle to start and I Could work out what was killing the batteries,

so I tested it to see if the was a parasitic drain and that's when I discovered that those fancy Clifford Car Alarms can chew up to a couple of hundred mah per hour sucking the life out of your batteries, And then my brother started having the same Issues where his 50A battery was not starting his car after 10 or 11 days after being parked at home even though he would do one day of short trips and the following day he would do a 250 mile round trip, When before hand his car was fine, Turns out He got a Clifford Alarm fitted, So I tested his system for him and he had a 130/150mah drain So I told him to get a bigger battery, Now he started to panic so I measured his battery Tray and told him to buy a 75 to 85A battery that would fit and he did that and no more problems,

Parasitic Drain is a little problem that no one ever thinks of, Thinking because the Vehicle is all turned off and locked that all is right with the world but it is not,

For anyone not Sure about Parasitic Drain it is an easy Test and takes 30 seconds to do, IF you have one battery get your self a digital multi meter Set it to the highest AMPs setting and put the leads of the meter in the right sockets and then take off you Negative lead off your Battery and turn on the multi meter and put one of its leads on the Negative /earth lead of the Vehicle and the other lead on to the battery post the lead came off then it will show you how much power is being drained,

IF you have DUEL batteries remove ONE Earth lead from the AUX Battery and then set the meter up as before and then remove the NEG/EARTH Lead of the Main Battery and hook up the meter with One of the Meters Leads On the Earth Lead and the other Meter Lead on that Battery post and then you will see the Parasitic Load being used/Lost,

Like I said This Parasitic Load cost me 2 sets of batteries, remembering that a Battery looses 3% of it's charge per day SO On a 100A Battery In 24hrs that's down to 97Ams per day and they do that Naturally then Add that 150mah or 0.150mah Per Hour that's 0.150 X 24hrs =3.6 Amps Stolen hence the term Parasitic drain, So you loose 3 A per day naturally plus 3.6 Amps that 6.6Amps per Day of lost power.

So In real time A 100AMP Battery looses divided 6.6amps per day 100a/6.6a = 15.15 days Battery Life before its flat,

One notable thing is Fridge Talk how we all seem to get different run times, But there are too many variables as in Battery brand and size, Is your feed to the fridge live 24/7, and what Parasitic drain does your particular Cruiser have compared to the bloke on the next camp over, The more gizmos you have suck up the power while your sleeping which is why 2 blokes running the same fridges in the same truck and one bloke get 3 days before he has to start his truck and the other bloke can go as long as 4 or 5 days,

Part of the sales BS in the shop is QUOTE yeah it just sits in the background doing it's thing and it only use 150mah which is less that a 6th of an Amp, End Quote,, But TIMES that 150mah by 24hrs and with natural Drain of 3% added and in 4 days you've lost 26.4 Amps and That Alone is One and a Bit days of Fridge RunTime.

As a final Note, a quick way to be sure if you have a parasitic drain is when you disconnect the earth lead and see if it sparks when you try you hook it back, If there is a small drain it will make Tiny Sparks.

RR, if you leave your vehicle (in a garage/secure area) for a few days/week or more, its a good idea to either a: remove one battery lead, or b: put a maintenance/float smart charger on it.
parasitic drain is a pain in the arse if a vehicle isn't being used regularly. When im not using my spare car for a month or so I pull the battery out & put it under cover with the smart charger on it. The immobiliser is enough on its own to flatten a battery after a week or 2, depending on the size & condition of the battery.
ps, DUAL battery system

Locking vehicle when parked up will usually shut down more systems thus reducing batt drain

Dog Ranger said:

Locking vehicle when parked up will usually shut down more systems thus reducing batt drain

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the scourge of too many electronic systems in modern vehicles :awful:

Ded Driver said:

Dog Ranger said:

Locking vehicle when parked up will usually shut down more systems thus reducing batt drain

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the scourge of too many electronic systems in modern vehicles :awful:

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Yep :Y: Everything that needs a memory sucks at the battery :awful:

Ded Driver said:

RR, if you leave your vehicle (in a garage/secure area) for a few days/week or more, its a good idea to either a: remove one battery lead, or b: put a maintenance/float smart charger on it.
parasitic drain is a pain in the arse if a vehicle isn't being used regularly. When im not using my spare car for a month or so I pull the battery out & put it under cover with the smart charger on it. The immobiliser is enough on its own to flatten a battery after a week or 2, depending on the size & condition of the battery.
ps, DUAL battery system

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Yeah DD, the only charger I had was "Big Red" which is a 35a/310a boost work shop charger and it kills batteries so last week I ordered the 15a smart charger and then I realized that I also needed on for small batteries both 6v and 12v so I ordered the NOCO G3500, The bigger 15a and the 26a are very cool at charging batteries from 40/50A right up to 500A along with maintaining larger Banks of batteries hence why I splashed out, But Big Red is only good if you don't let it go lower than 2 or 3 amps because the voltage shoots up and the battery looses it's CCA,

IE, I checked the truck battery and it said something like 547cca so I knew it needed a top up so I put it on Big Red and when it was done the CCA had dropped to 416cca, So I did a couple of Load Tests to drop the charge out of it and hooked it up to the NOCO 15A charger and let it charge and when it was done I put it in the repair mode and when it had done it's thing in under 4 hours the CCA was back up to 724cca, I like Big Red because it is a beast but if you leave it on charge and it goes below 2 amps it becomes a mass murderer.

So seeing what the NOCO 15A had done is why I bought the 26A, Straight up these chargers are Good, Ay. :Y: erfect:

sounds very good RR
I have a Projecta Intelli-charge 10A 7 stage Smart Charger
not the fastest around, but is very good
If I ever need a new or just bigger charger I reckon I will look closely at those NOCO ones.

Ded Driver said:

sounds very good RR
I have a Projecta Intelli-charge 10A 7 stage Smart Charger
not the fastest around, but is very good
If I ever need a new or just bigger charger I reckon I will look loosely at those NOCO ones.

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Yeah at first I thought these smart chargers were junk because apart from LED's I was not sure what it was doing so I thought I had wasted me dough coz Big Red has a meter so you can see where it's at, Me being from the caveman era and not sure about change was a battle for me, But the Truth is I was wrong, Because the 15a NOCO out performed my 35 amp charger and in half the time,

this is the 15a one.

https://no.co/g15000

**Head hurting and spinning after reading previous posts**
Sure happy living in the simple world, without parasites. a shed full of chargers and flat batteries.

Nightjar said:

**Head hurting and spinning after reading previous posts**
Sure happy living in the simple world, without parasites. a shed full of chargers and flat batteries.

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ahhhhh yes Nightjar .. simplicity.
I like to try not get too buried in modern tech, but a bit here & there has its advantages,
I don't go thru many batteries tho. I keep them charged, & I think that is the biggest secret to battery life. Every time you flatten a battery you shorten its life. (my last starter battery developed a broken plate in 1 cell due to rough roads last September in Kal)
Will be interesting to see how long my new Lead Crystal deep cycle battery lasts. Supposedly in excess of 12years
My brother bought a new regular AGM a month before, & his usage is similar to mine, so we can compare life. (his & mine both 100Ahr)
In comparison, my niece has killed twin AGM's in the horse truck/van twice, about 2 years apart. She keeps running them flat.

Nightjar said:

**Head hurting and spinning after reading previous posts**
Sure happy living in the simple world, without parasites. a shed full of chargers and flat batteries.

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yeah you and me Both,

This was not how I wanted to spend my time and it all started because of one battery not having the CCA / Amps as were on the Label, and after being sent the wrong batteries and gear nothing matched and then being baffled by BS from people on the phone I'd had enough, so I wanted answer's,

Then I bought another Gizmo that told me what was going on, And The Truth Will out, problem solved, :lol: :lol: :lol: :Y:

Ded Driver said:

sounds very good RR
I have a Projecta Intelli-charge 10A 7 stage Smart Charger
not the fastest around, but is very good
If I ever need a new or just bigger charger I reckon I will look closely at those NOCO ones.

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I have a SCA 10A 7stage charger as well and has lasted ok for 3-4 yrs. If it works I'm happy. I don't know how I lasted in the PMG, Telstra, Telecom for 36 yrs so many staff didn't pull their weight. I would have made a shit of a boss. ickshovel:

here are 3 of my sockets in use 9 amps of charging power ower:

ctxkid, stop throwing your poor phone at the wall when things dont go right :lol: :lol: :lol:
nicely setup USB :Y:

:lol: :lol:

twas when i put my Dad into hospital last year with suspected cancer, wasn't thinking to straight an dropped it 8.( :awful: :8

oh shite. sorry bout that
hows he doing?

Ded Driver said:

oh shite. sorry bout that
hows he doing?

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no worries mate he got through, cleared of cancer but then got Pneumonia whilst in the ward :awful: he doesn't remember that , but it scared the crap out of him and myself , from that point on he decided living was better
he now is doing ok

After messing with all these batteries and testing them out with a meter I bought some things did not make sense, Anyways I did some research and found out that some battery companies tried to claim these meters are inaccurate rah rah rah etc, But after much digging it turns out the meters are correct and the fact is that some battery compannies don't do a cca test on a lot batteries due to the cost of testing so they put the blame on the meters "As In" being in accurate when the fact is because of they cut corners a lot of their batteries are sold with higher than quoted ratings and just as many are sold that are well below the rating on the stickers, These batteries will come good to within the quote specs but they have to be primed much like Cell phones and the old NiCd's had to be, and it can take up to 50 to 100 cycles before they come good,

My argument was If such a meter was out on one battery then it would be out on them all and One battery company tried to say that these meters are only wrong on new batteries which is impossible it's either right or wrong on all batteries, Putting this theory to the test I found out that these meters are Correct to within 0.01 of a volt etc and the only reason they got a wrong reading on new batteries is because the lack of QC that the battery companies let slip where their batteries are not cycled to a certain standard in order to match the spec printed on the labels from the factory,

With a bit more digging I found my self at the Battery University and all this was confirmed regarding battery companies lack of testing due to trying to save money along with the info about having to cycle new lead Acid Batteries this problem effects Deep cycle batteries the most and unless a battery has been cycled properly then there is a 50% +/- chance that you get a crook one unless you cycle it your self.

hope that helps.

J.

I really have to stop reading these threads.
I'm setting up a duel battery and solar system but these threads often just end up confusing me more.