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Batteries
THERE IS MORE TO THE CHOICE OF BATTERY THAN YOU MIGHT EXPECT
The type of battery being used is an important factor to consider when deciding on a battery management system. The battery choices fall into five groups:
Car Batteries: Ideal use - starting motors, light electrical accessory use and light winch application. Best features - price (fairly cheap).
Deep Cycle Batteries: Ideal use - fridge, UHF, CB, HF Radio, camping lights, inverters, in fact any low amp drain over a long period of time. Best Features - long life and can be flattened many times without significant damage to plates.
Hybrid Batteries: Ideal use - for when multiple batteries are not an option. A new style of battery that combines some elements of both a starting and deep cycle battery.
GEL & AGM Batteries: These batteries offer very unique features. They are totally sealed, have very fast recharge rates, are much smaller in size but have a similar capacity to a conventional battery.
When choosing a battery style we can use the analogy of a truck versus sports car. Both are motor vehicles but they are designed from the ground up for different purposes - just like battery types.
Starting batteries have 12 - 17 plates per cell giving us a huge area in contact with the acid, thus giving an enormous capacity to produce power (CCA) in a rush, but little staying power.
Deep cycle batteries may have as little as 4 plates per cell however the plates are much thicker and denser, therefore the acid penetrates more slowly, giving a lower CCA but much better staying power.
The Right Battery For Your Needs
STEP 1
Calculate the ‘watt hours’ by multiplying the loading of each piece of equipment (this is expressed in watts and is stamped into the compliance plate attached to the item) by the number of hours you intend to use it between recharges and then add them all up.
STEP 2
Determine the ‘Ampere Hour’ (AH) requirement that the battery must accommodate. A cable loss margin of 10% is usually appropriate. In addition, it's nice to have a little more capacity than you need. We recommend an over-capacity margin of 25%. If the battery will be needed for vehicle starting, you will need to increase your Ampere Hour estimate by 50% to ensure you still have starting power when the battery has been partly discharged.
Looking after your Batteries
These voltages are for batteries that have been at rest for at least 3 hours. The voltages while under charge will not give accurate reading.
For longest life batteries should stay in the green zone.
Occasional dips into the yellow are not harmful, but continual discharges to those levels will shorten battery life
WARNING: Batteries should never be discharged below 10.5 volts, and should never be stored flat!!
