Confusion on batteries

[RASCAL]

How are we all

Guys just got a few things I need to ask relating to duel batteries and what I can run efficiently and cost affective ,

Currently I was running a yellow top optima d75/25 in my nav ( I am limited on space ) and it has crapped it's self due to my lack of well let's say beer is my best friend and I left the fridge running way too many times . Since then I have installed the projecta low voltage cut off lvd30 to help with this but having limited funds at the moment I have a couple of potions that I need to clear up

1. I have been looking at the d23rt deep cycle batt http://www.centurybatteries.com.au/search/index.php/batteries/ID-213 my question is here is my alternater going to ba able to charge this battery and I will I need to run it on a good battery charger like a pc1600 ( projecta ) to really keep it charged , but keep in mind I only run my 40L engel and 2 very small led lights of the canopy door not much load at all .

2 . A mate then told me that in stead of running a deep cycle battery run a cranking battery with amp hr s as well like the excide 54d http://www.exide.com.au/battery-range/passenger-4wd/endurance-plus/54d. Major question is this going to runt my fridge the same as a deep cycle , like I mean as for long , I'm guessing that I'm not going to have too charge as often on a 240v charger and the battery won't as long as a deep cycle that has been well looked after ?


Really I just want to put something in there that works and is cost affective but still giving me some kind of performance , any ideas out there , battery size is limited that's why i looked at these batterys

 

[Old.Tony]

The Exide (second battery you provided a link for) has less Ah than the Century Deep Cycle. Starter (cranker) batteries should never be discharged below 50% capacity, whereas most deep cycles can tolerate 50% without any drama at all, and even 20% isn't usually terminal but unless it's a good gel or an AGM, I'd stick to the 50% rule.

That means the Century battery will give you at least 50% of 65Ah or 32.5Ah if fully charged. The other battery will give you 50% of 55Ah or 27.5Ah. The Century will outlast the Exide if both are discharged to 50% constantly. If you're only charging on alternator, you'll get about 75% of the charge into it so you're really left with 25% of 65 = about 16Ah.

If you still have it, the Optima battery should have a 'recovery' charge performed on it. AGMs are extraordinarily resilient. If you know of someone with a C-Tek charger, get them to run this charge on the battery. It might come back to life!

Your alternator won't be a worry - the battery will take whatever amps it can get. If you want to use an inverter and run a mains charger you'll get full charge into the battery - that's a good idea, given the low amount of Ah you'll have available if you don't.

But even with only 16Ah of available power, you should at least get a day's worth out of the 65Ah charged by the alternator. I have a Projecta 1600 and it's pissweak at charging rates - 1.6A per hour - so to recover that 16A you'd need to charge for 10 hours! You'd be better off buying a semi-smart 8A charger at Supercheap.

I hope that helps. My personal choice would be the 65Ah Century because it's a dedicated deep cycle, and an inverter + 8A smart charger to keep it topped up. The LVR you've chosen to stop excessive draw is a great idea!

 

[04SilverSTR]

The higher the amp hour the longer the fridge should run, (somewhere around the 100ah is best) deep cycle is better for running the fridge as the are designed to handle being discharged and charged all the time.

My auto sparky has always told me to charge my fridge battery before i go away as your car will never deep charge a battery like a charger does, unless you drive for 11ty thousand hours!

my plan in the future is to get a redarc or the like dc-dc charger to charge my second batt proply will running the fridge.

my 2c
cheers
bryan

 

[terryc]

This has been answered in detail in another thread. Short fast answer.
1. Car alternator connects to
2. Cranking battery, then via
3. Auto isolation switch which connects(sends power through) when cranker is recharged, to
4. multi-stage DC-DC battery charger, connected to
5 Deep cycle battery(I prefer wet, others agm, or gel old option).
6. Power everything through a low voltage cut off to protect the deep cycle from going too low.

 

[NFURY8]

Runnin a masive 100+ amp hour batter is is not always the way to go, i work for a 4 wd store n get cusomers cummin in and askin for the biggest battery we have cause they think therw the best which isnt always true. One on the problems with big batterys like that is they take a very long time to fullu charge.

I run a Optima D34 55ah battery with gets me around 3-4 days running a 60L fridge and 4 Led lights and a 12 volt fan of a night. The D34 takes around half an hour to full recharge, i also run a Redarc BcDc 1225 charger

What size is ur battery bryan? If its a big 100ah battery that maybe why it takes so long to charge

 

[RASCAL]

Thanks for the input guys helps a lot , I think what I have really learned is that you can't keep flattening the battery day after day , for now I'm going to go with the centry and ill get hold of a good battery charger that I can give a charge too at least once a month if not fortnightly to make sure the battery is well looked after , since putting the cut out switch I think I should have it all under control . One other question , if it happened that I left me lights on at work and my starter goes flat having the deep cycle there I won't be able to over ride the system to connect the 2 batterys together to start the car wil. I cause the deep cycle doesn't have any cc is that right ?

 

[RASCAL]

The Exide (second battery you provided a link for) has less Ah than the Century Deep Cycle. Starter (cranker) batteries should never be discharged below 50% capacity, whereas most deep cycles can tolerate 50% without any drama at all, and even 20% isn't usually terminal but unless it's a good gel or an AGM, I'd stick to the 50% rule.

That means the Century battery will give you at least 50% of 65Ah or 32.5Ah if fully charged. The other battery will give you 50% of 55Ah or 27.5Ah. The Century will outlast the Exide if both are discharged to 50% constantly. If you're only charging on alternator, you'll get about 75% of the charge into it so you're really left with 25% of 65 = about 16Ah.

If you still have it, the Optima battery should have a 'recovery' charge performed on it. AGMs are extraordinarily resilient. If you know of someone with a C-Tek charger, get them to run this charge on the battery. It might come back to life!





Your alternator won't be a worry - the battery will take whatever amps it can get. If you want to use an inverter and run a mains charger you'll get full charge into the battery - that's a good idea, given the low amount of Ah you'll have available if you don't.

But even with only 16Ah of available power, you should at least get a day's worth out of the 65Ah charged by the alternator. I have a Projecta 1600 and it's pissweak at charging rates - 1.6A per hour - so to recover that 16A you'd need to charge for 10 hours! You'd be better off buying a semi-smart 8A charger at Supercheap.

I hope that helps. My personal choice would be the 65Ah Century because it's a dedicated deep cycle, and an inverter + 8A smart charger to keep it topped up. The LVR you've chosen to stop excessive draw is a great idea!

Tony I had the battery at the shop and I borrowed a ic1000 projecta charger and tried to save the big girl but was unsuccessful , I was very dissipointed

 

[Old.Tony]

Thanks for the input guys helps a lot , I think what I have really learned is that you can't keep flattening the battery day after day , for now I'm going to go with the centry and ill get hold of a good battery charger that I can give a charge too at least once a month if not fortnightly to make sure the battery is well looked after , since putting the cut out switch I think I should have it all under control . One other question , if it happened that I left me lights on at work and my starter goes flat having the deep cycle there I won't be able to over ride the system to connect the 2 batterys together to start the car wil. I cause the deep cycle doesn't have any cc is that right ?

Deep cycle batteries like the ones you provided links for are pure deep cycle batteries - they will be damaged if you try to start off them and yes, that's why they don't have CCA figures.

The AGM battery that you had would have made a great cranker. My D31A Optima can deliver 900CCA - my YD25 motor only needs about 550A to turn it over.

 

[Old.Tony]

Tony I had the battery at the shop and I borrowed a ic1000 projecta charger and tried to save the big girl but was unsuccessful , I was very dissipointed

It might still be worth hooking it up to a C-Tek. The C-Tek chargers aren't the best in the world just because someone said so. The reputation is earned.

If you're anywhere near Newcastle I can hook up mine to it and see what it does.

 

[RASCAL]

The more I think about it the more I just want to bite the bullet and put the optima in , it suited my needs to a tee