Need the solar/power pros to weigh in

[Oilbrnr]

OP, where are you located? Seems like with a little research you could locate a source for a quality battery and pick up from a distributor. Just takes a bit of work once you zero in on what battery would best suit your needs. For example I'm in AZ and have purchased Crown, Trojan and Fullriver from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun in Flagstaff but picked up the physical batteries directly from the distributors here in Phoenix.

 

[DaveInDenver]

OP, where are you located?

His profile says Elgin, IL

Some info on that page indicates the sams club duracells may be deka/east penn relabeled.

I don't think there's much dispute about that.

East Penn Releases New Duracell Automotive Batteries - East Penn Manufacturing

East Penn Manufacturing has signed an exclusive agreement with Duracell (part of the Procter & Gamble Company [NYSE:PG]) to release batteries branded under the Duracell name. East Penn’s over 60-year tradition of producing the world’s highest quality lead-acid batteries is...Continue reading

www.eastpennmanufacturing.com

 

[TantoTrailers]

I"ll chime in on the Vmax. Mine are three years old now and performing flawlessly. Just ran the snot out of my heater and still never got below 12.8v or 94% S.O.C. overnight. I certainly had my concerns when I purchased them that it was a lot of marketing bs, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them now. Solar charging only and only used in the camper.

Thanks for the wrench craig!!

GC Batteries dont seem to be available near me at Sams. Dave is right, I am in Elgin IL just west of Chicago but Im not finding much in terms of distributors near me, maybe I'm not searching correctly.

If no better plan arises I will be taking a trip to Sams later tonight!

 

[DaveInDenver]

Not that there's anything IMO wrong with the Sam's option, there's got to be plenty of marine suppliers although they may be nearer to the lake.

 

[TantoTrailers]

Since I'm going cheap im going with the Sams club battery since it will be easy to bring back should I have issues. New battery day is tomorrow, is there anything special I should do before 1st use besides giving it a good charge on the IP67?

 

[dreadlocks]

note its resting voltage before hooking it up to the charger, leave it on the charger overnight.. when you get back, charge it up and let it sit for 24h w/no load to see its resting voltage.. then perhaps do a capacity test on it, drain it down to empty monitoring how much AH you get out, then immediately recharge it.

If you get a bunk one off the shelf, you wanna figure it out sooner than later..

 

[shade]

note its resting voltage before hooking it up to the charger, leave it on the charger overnight.. when you get back, charge it up and let it sit for 24h w/no load to see its resting voltage.. then perhaps do a capacity test on it, drain it down to empty (<10V) monitoring how much AH you get out, then immediately recharge it.

If you get a bunk one off the shelf, you wanna figure it out sooner than later..

All good, especially so the BMV-712 can be calibrated to the new battery.

 

[DaveInDenver]

note its resting voltage before hooking it up to the charger, leave it on the charger overnight.. when you get back, charge it up and let it sit for 24h w/no load to see its resting voltage.. then perhaps do a capacity test on it, drain it down to empty (<10V) monitoring how much AH you get out, then immediately recharge it.

If you get a bunk one off the shelf, you wanna figure it out sooner than later..

Other than perhaps not taking it to 10 V that's what I'd do. I don't have a meter that needs to be calibrated though and I don't feel it's really giving much value below about 11 V or so to bother stressing a battery doing that. If you successfully test to 85% I think it's safe to assume it's an OK battery without really trying to find you have a 5% weaker cell by getting it to reverse at 100% discharged.

 

[dreadlocks]

I dont think a full capacity test every once and a few hundred cycles is all that detrimental as long its recharged promptly, if you wanna be a lil conservative mebe 95% and stop,

if you find the capacity is down 20% or so right off the shelf you can usually exchange it, no hassle, no questions within the first few weeks.. Its good to know that your 100AH battery has 100AH of capacity and not less, or else you could be discharging it deeper than you think you are.

 

[luthj]

With any appreciable load 10.5V is the lowest I would go, and 11V is usually close enough to empty. The biggest issue is recharging immediately, as a once to twice in a lifetime discharge down to 5% won't cause significant harm.

 

[TantoTrailers]

Im going to have about 18 hours on the charger before I head out for the weekend but my site does have electrical this weekend. Things may run on battery for about an hour before I get to camp.

 

[luthj]

Your current battery should make do for a short trip like that.

 

[TantoTrailers]

Your current battery should make do for a short trip like that.

Is this because you dont think I will have time to charge and test the new battery before departure or just saying that I can milk it if I want?

 

[dreadlocks]

think hes talking about the drive, not the camp.. how long you camping for?

Charging the new battery to full before you leave and as soon as you get back is about all you can do at this point.

 

[luthj]

I am saying you can milk your old battery if you want. You can also just drop the new one in, make sure its charged, and enjoy. You can fiddle with the BMV later.