Loren, Several folks already said this, and I agree: you don't want to discharge a battery* more than 20 to 50 percent. "Deep cycle" batteries are exactly that: they are designed for discharge to a deep point. Using a starting battery ("shallow cycle") for house power applications results in a very very short life. Many *good* state-of-charge (amp-hour) meters will take into account the above fact. Look for meters that are meant for alternative energy installations. Most of them have enough brains for this. *There are all sorts of new technologies in batteries that will supposedly allow a "more complete" discharge than what we currently have. Hopefully they will make it to the market soon. Jon On Tue, 20 Jun 2006, Loren Busch wrote: > The answer to another question here on the list raised this question. Given > that we have the amp hour rating for a battery and also given that we don't > want to draw it down below about 10.5 volts, about 80%. Does that amp hour > rating assume draw down to the 80% level, or draw down to 'dead', zero? > I've always assumed that if I have a 50 amp hour battery that I can draw 1 > amp for 50 hours before reaching the point that will require charging, or > will I only get 20% of that, 1 amp for 10 hours, before reaching the point > where I need to recharge? > |
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