Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 11:26:56 -0800
Reply-To: Troy <colorworks@GCI.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Troy <colorworks@GCI.NET>
Subject: Re: Battery Woes/Choice
Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1; reply-type=original
Hi Dennis:
Well, I am certainly not bent on spending more money or increasing
complexity, just exploring options. I have already spent a good eight hours
putting a fuse panel, solenoid, switch, etc. in that box behind the driver
seat. Putting a regular flooded battery in there, does not seem to offer any
improvement over the Odyssey and would necessitate a lot additional labor
for little or no improvement if I read the figures correctly about the
reserve capacity of a type 42 or 41 battery.
I think the biggest problem with an AGM battery, is they require a sustained
charge rate to get them to their maximum capacity. This means one needs to
frequently put it on a smart charger or install a solar collector. (Talk
about increasing complexity!) Had I know more about AGM's when I started
this project, I probably would have done something differently from the
get-go. I'm doing my best to not add insult to injury. The reality may very
well be that a standard flooded battery may/could provide for more reserved
power simply because it's easier to charge them to full capacity with a
stock alternator. Don't know.
I thought that adding a small battery to my existing setup might just be the
ticket, but after I posted that I did a little more reading on Gel
batteries, and you're right, they do tend be kind of finicky.
What I really need is a 75 to 100 AH reserve, and that means a battery under
the rear seat. Short of that, putting some expensive solar collector on the
roof would do the trick, but that seems a very expensive option/solution.
The other option at this point is to link the Odyssey battery to the main
via a switch already installed thus creating close to 80AH's, but this is
tricky as it can leave you stranded if it's not monitored closely. At first
glance, it does seem to work okay, and this my simplest solution so for.
So, things are not as simple as they sometimes 1st seem;)
Troy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Haynes" <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
To: "'Troy'" <colorworks@gci.net>; <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2008 10:12 AM
Subject: RE: Battery Woes/Choice
> Why are you bent on spending more money and having more complexity and
> still end up with the same performance as a stock battery under the
> drivers seat? Gels can be even more finicky than AGM.
>
> Dennis
>
