accidentally purchased rv/marine "starter" battery , ok if careful?

[ewi...@hotmail.com]

I mainly picked it up because it was the only "maintenance free" model,
it was a good brand and fairly cheap.

Trojan 24SM-1000MF. Its a very solid 50lb group 24 battery - 70Ah. It
also lists 165 minutes at 25Amp. Would it be a horrible idea to have 6
of those for solar and/or other alternate energy? If I use it the way
I plan they should be topped off nearly all the time.

Eric

[Richard P.]

Hi Eric,

As long as you don't discharge them down severely (I don't think starting
batteries want to be discharged down to 70% full or else suffer some type of
capacity "damage") you shouldn't have any problems. You couldn't return
them for proper deep-cycle types, eh?

Link of interest for you: http://uuhome.de/william.darden/

<ewi...@hotmail.com> wrote

[Walt Bilofsky]

The marine starter batteries have thinner plates than deep cycle
batteries. They're made to deliver unusually high current for a short
time.

I have a starting battery on my boat. All it does is crank a heavy
engine to start it; it isn't connected to anything else. I left it
off my battery charger so it wouldn't get overcharged. It's lasted
six years so far and never needs water added.

But these batteries will not tolerate a lot of deep discharges. Think
of a typical car battery, which lasts some years but then you use it
to crank an engine that won't start for a few minutes, and the next
week it stops holding a charge.

If you're really going to keep them topped off, why do you need 6 of
them? If you really need 6 of them, it might be worth trying to
exchange them.

- Walt Bilofsky

[ewi...@hotmail.com]

Someone gave me a diagram showing how to connect them in a way that
they charge themselves. He apparently ran 2 RVs with AC/Fridge/etc for
two days off of it. If that does not work out I'm looking into solar
making my own panels from strips ordered from Hong Kong.

[ewi...@hotmail.com]

I've seen those links. I was hoping someone had information on this
specific battery. It sure is a lot heavier than a normal car battery
:) In all actuallity if it lasts a few years I want to switch over to
2v industrial batteries rated 15-20 years.

[Walt Bilofsky]

Yes, the marine starting batteries will be heavier duty than car
batteries. It needs to stand up to more bouncing and vibration than a
car battery. And any marine battery will have some deep-cycle
characteristics.

Trojan is one of the best brands of marine batteries. You definitely
have a good battery there, just not one made primarily for deep cycle
use.

Why don't you email their technical support and see what you can
expect? There's an email link at
http://www.trojan-battery.com/Tech-Support/BatteryMaintenance.aspx .

[ewi...@hotmail.com]

Walt Bilofsky wrote:
> Yes, the marine starting batteries will be heavier duty than car
> batteries. It needs to stand up to more bouncing and vibration than a
> car battery. And any marine battery will have some deep-cycle
> characteristics.
>
> Trojan is one of the best brands of marine batteries. You definitely
> have a good battery there, just not one made primarily for deep cycle
> use.
>
> Why don't you email their technical support and see what you can
> expect? There's an email link at
> http://www.trojan-battery.com/Tech-Support/BatteryMaintenance.aspx .

I was looking at some of the information on the previous list. It says
you want to keep a typical car battery above 90% but marine/rv is
somewhere between 50-80%. I'd hope a good brand would be closer to
50%. For now I'm watching it during my testing and not letting it drop
below about 12.5v. Its about 13.1v immediately after charging.

Eric

[Steve Spence]

ewi...@hotmail.com wrote:

> I was looking at some of the information on the previous list. It says
> you want to keep a typical car battery above 90% but marine/rv is
> somewhere between 50-80%. I'd hope a good brand would be closer to
> 50%. For now I'm watching it during my testing and not letting it drop
> below about 12.5v. Its about 13.1v immediately after charging.
>
> Eric
>

Trojan T-105 or L-16's are good choices.

--
Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org
Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

[sno]

I put a used marine battery in an volvo I had....eight years later
when I got rid of the volvo the battery was still going strong...was
one of the best batteries I ever had....since then have thought about
replacing my auto battery when it comes do with a marine battery....

thank you for listening to my thoughts.....sno

--
Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it

This tag line is generated by:

SLTG (Silly Little Tag Generator)

[ewi...@hotmail.com]

sno wrote:
> I put a used marine battery in an volvo I had....eight years later
> when I got rid of the volvo the battery was still going strong...was
> one of the best batteries I ever had....since then have thought about
> replacing my auto battery when it comes do with a marine battery....
>
> thank you for listening to my thoughts.....sno

I was thinking about that too. This battery is about the same size as
an auto battery and lists 825CCA. I'm sure it would work just great in
my car. At $60 its not that much different in price either. This is a
new car but my last one had the battery replaced about once every year
or too. What I'm told is they kept topping them off too much when my
oil was changed and acid kept boiling out. You know what I think I'll
do that. Buy normal deep cell for what I need and put this in the car.

Eric

[ewi...@hotmail.com]

I'm looking at something cheeper and prefer AGM. Going off their
website something closer to the MK24AGM.