Battery farm

[Bob Belter]

Ahoy, Bus conversion folks,

Battery Farm:     About two years ago, I removed my four failed AGM batteries.  I've concluded that AGM does not stand for Absorption Glass Mat, it means "Always Gonna Malinger".  In short, I was not impressed. 

I decided to go with wet batteries, and accept the 'flail' of watering them and keeping everything cleaned up.  I'd heard good things about the Pro Fill battery watering system from my full time nephew.  I got the stuff from Tom at  RVPowerSupply@aol.com.  The system incorporates a fill valve which replaces each battery cap, and all are plumbed together with soft tubing.  A squeeze bulb is plugged in to fill the batteries with distilled water.

My battery farm ended up being comprised of ten each Deka GC 25 which are 235 AH six volt deep cycle batteries.  They are floor scrubber batteries, like golf cart items, except a bit taller.  Lottssa soup!!! Copper bus bars tie them all together, and they are kept charged 24/7 by my Prosine 2000 watt full sine wave inverter – which incorporates a three stage 100 amp charger.

They are held within an ABS lined box with a cover, drains and vents.  A pair of continuous – 24/7/365 tiny little squirrel cage blowers keep ventilation going.  (Costs less than $5.00 per year).

Been installed for ~~ two years now, and include a variety of trips with some boondocking.  Water is checked from time to time, and total consumption has been less than two gallons.  Absolutely NO flail in any way, and I just again pulled the cover for an inspection.  There is NO corrosion, there is no wetness or acid signs, and the copper bus bars are still bright and shiny.

All in all  ---  VERY successful, and I can highly recommend the 'wet ones'.

Enjoy   /s/   Bob   

[jackhartjr]

Bob, a photo would be nice...please, please, please!

[steve wardwell]

you sound like the proud father of a pair of double AAs

[twocnusa]

we also have wet ones, just two for bus & house. they are rolls 6 volt 1156 amps.  ron

[boogiethecat]

Wow, and I fought with wet cells (T-105's) for 5 years and finally changed to AGM and ALL my problems went away in a heatbeat!
Different strokes for different folks i guess!

[TomCat]

^^^^ I'm with Gary.

My four 245ah AGM's have been in place for 5 years solid...without a hiccup.

Jay
87 SaftLiner

[Lin]

A battery man I spoke to told me of a charging problem that might be more likely to effect AGM's than wet cells.  The problem comes about when people like us us the battery bank directly instead of a converter for our 12v systems even when we are plugged in.  He said if you turn on something that has a large draw, the many chargers will go into bulk mode.  If the charger is not the right one, it can stay in bulk mode for a while.  He claimed that some chargers will stay that way for an hour before dropping back to trickle.  This repeated overcharging can kill AGM's.

He advised me to test my charger to see how fast it returns to float.  I have been meaning to do that, forgot, and this thread has reminded me.

[PP]

My problem was just that also. Everytime the basement freezer kicked on it would send the charger into bulk mode. Before the 60 minute cycle would complete, the freezer kicked on again and reset the charger for another 60 minutes. It took me a while to figure out what was happening, but after destroying my bank of 'wet' batteries, we figured it out. We pulled the freezer and I installed an upright toolbox on the joey bed instead. No more battery problems since, (18mos). It's all good, Will

[luvrbus]

After 3 sets of AGM I have to go with Bob those things do not like the AZ heat when charging and it will be  a mess when one decides to vent been there done that, plus the LifeLines I had seem to a long time to come up to power


Good luck

[TomC]

I have two 8D's for my house batteries.  I started with wet batteries and using Thermoil to lessen the out gassing that wet batteries do-and it worked well.  Problem was the batteries were in a tight place requiring a mirror and water pump to service them. I installed the Lifeline AGM 8D's nearly 5 years ago and they are still going strong-with NO maintenance. 
If you have a battery charger or inverter that charges blindly for 60 minutes, you need to get a "smart" charger that senses what the batteries need and not over charge.  I have a Trace 2512 modified wave inverter with 130 amp charger.  I have the charger set at maximum with charging voltage at 14.1 and float at 13.2.  Works well for me-I will never have wet batteries again.  Good Luck, TomC

[TomCat]

Tom is thinking the same way I am about this subject.   

The proper charger, set up correctly is a must when it comes to taking care of AGMs.

If the Arizona heat is a problem when chharging, I wonder if only charging at night might be less stress on those batteries.

Jay
87 SaftLiner