Date:         Thu, 7 Jun 2001 11:54:51 -0600
Reply-To:     John Brush <jbrush@AROS.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Brush <jbrush@AROS.NET>
Subject:      Re: Trojan batteries
Comments: To: Blake Thornton <thornton@MATH.UTAH.EDU>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

>
> I just got off the phone with the local battery guy.  He recommended the
> Trojan battery above the Optima.  His claim was that the trojan has much
> more reserve then the optima and if you don't need the cold cranking amps
> then trojan was the way to go.
>
> Also, he said that mounting two 6 volt batteries would be a much better
> way to go then one 12 volt battery.  Has anyone done this.
>

I don't know of any trojans that are sealed, so that makes it an unfair
comparison to the optima in price and capacity.

What I do know is that Trojans are the battery of choice for those of
use running all or part of our homes via solar and inverters. They are
great batteries, but would take up too much real estate in a van since
you do need two for 12V. On the plus side is the gobs of power you can
store in them, whereas the optima is rated at much less capacity
(amp-hours) than you would get from a pair of trojans.

From reading the archives and adding what little I know, the optima is
about the only choice for vanagon owners who want to store it under the
driver's seat.

I cannot imagine why someone would say that using two 6 volts would be
better than one 12 volt, all other things being equal.

Regards from Utah,

John
81 Air Cooled