New Battery Required

pommyroy · Member

New Battery Required

GypsyBob · Veteran Member

I'm not an expert - but throwing my penny's worth in and will follow this thread because I am also in the market for a 100Ah battery.

I'm leaning to the Ritar RA12-100Ah for about $280 or the RA12-120Ah for an extra $20. These seem to have very good specs.

Any comments from all of you wise and wonderful "Techies"

Loki · Senior Member

I take it by 'dry' battery you mean a sealed battery - I go back as far as the old dry cells they used in the crank telephones, large, expensive, 1.5V and wouldn't last long with the load demanded in a van. Anyway, GypsyBob has suggested AGM batteries and I can wholeheartedly support this suggestion. AGM batteries require a Smart Charger to properly charge them as they require a higher charging voltage than lead acid batteries. Hope this helps.

aussietraveller · Guru

confuse confuse Gday Roy I also like the AGM battery and most caravans now have a smart Charger as mentioned by Loki I use a Full River 100 Ah and paid around $250 about 6 months ago wink biggrin wink

landy · Guru

Loki wrote:

I take it by 'dry' battery you mean a sealed battery - I go back as far as the old dry cells they used in the crank telephones, large, expensive, 1.5V and wouldn't last long with the load demanded in a van. Anyway, GypsyBob has suggested AGM batteries and I can wholeheartedly support this suggestion. AGM batteries require a Smart Charger to properly charge them as they require a higher charging voltage than lead acid batteries. Hope this helps.

Sorry to take the thread off subject but does this mean that an AGM battery will not charge properly from a solar panel and regulator.
Cheers Landy

PeterD · Guru

Good 240 chargers, solar regulators and DC-DC chargers can all be smart chargers. They are called smart chargers because they start charging a discharged battery by delivering their maximum rated current (called the bulk charge stage.) When the battery terminal voltage rises to the set voltage for the absorption stage they enter that stage and the output voltage remains fixed at that level. As the absorption stage continues the battery charge level comes up to nearly fully charged and at the same time the charge current drops. When the charge current drops to a small value the charger considers the battery to be fully charged and switches its regulated output voltage to a lower voltage and the charger enters the float or maintenance stage.

This float voltage is set to a value that will counter the self discharge or the battery but not cause it to overcharge. If you use a simple cheap battery charger that does not have multi stage control of the output, it will be slow to charge the battery but as the output voltage is not reduced the charger will overcharge the battery eventually.

I wish people would not use the term 'smart charger.' A better name is multi stage charger. This reflects that the charger will go through the 3 stages of charging I detailed above. A lot of them have more than 3 charging stages such as testing the battery before they commence the 3 main stages and some test stages after. The dislike I have for smart charger is that some manufacturers label their equipment as smart when it really is not.

beiffe · Guru

Roy
I would be very suspect when a battery company offers you a Lithium battery.
The cost of $1000 for 100Ah battery is way to expensive and it would be because they have include a battery management system. These are usually added because they don't know how to maintain a safe battery /cell level and therefore need extensive electronics to monitor them. They try and maintain a set cell level by successive charge and discharge cycles. This is usually the part that fails and destroys your cells.
Many manufacturers know little about the use of Lithiums in Rv's
If you want a basic system you would be best sticking to an AGM
Lithiums are a better battery giving more available power for much less weight and size but I suggest not buying a battery that is not single cells and must have no management as we have proved it is not needed if you know what you are doing. They are actually cheaper per usable AH's but then many try and debate that so it is just my assumption
If you are not in the habit of looking for more power (eg want to live a more comfortable life while on the road) then stay with what you know for the time being.
For a new setup or someone on the road full time or someone who wishes to listen and learn and get to do lots of the things that the experts say cant be done whilst on batteries, then it is the way to go.
Hope this is not confusing for you but helps in your choice.
Regards
Brian

pommyroy · Member

Thanks for all the responses re my battery replacement. I will probably go for an AGM and will be much wiser when I start my shopping around. Pommyroy

countryroad · Senior Member

I think ' Smart Charger " is what some advertising co. thought up and for us that know no different / better, and have worked in other fields we use the term.

Those who have " worked in the field " should take into account we are only using the ...what I thought was the Common Term for some wonderful new invention.

It is pleasing when someone From the Field can help us...I hope the men / women "In the Know " of whatever field, have thoroughly explained all this to your partners as they may one day be like us who aren't "In the Know'

Cheers,

Robyn

GypsyBob · Veteran Member

I have replaced my dead battery with a pair of Fusion AGM 120Ah batteries. They came highly recommended by some friends that work in the industry. They have an anicipated life of over 1500 cycles with a 30% depth of discharge. over 600 cycles with a 50% DOD and over 250 cycles with a 100% discharge. Many deep cycle batteries are ruined if fully sischarged. Oh, they were great value for money too at only $231

landy · Guru

PeterD wrote:

Good 240 chargers, solar regulators and DC-DC chargers can all be smart chargers. They are called smart chargers because they start charging a discharged battery by delivering their maximum rated current (called the bulk charge stage.) When the battery terminal voltage rises to the set voltage for the absorption stage they enter that stage and the output voltage remains fixed at that level. As the absorption stage continues the battery charge level comes up to nearly fully charged and at the same time the charge current drops. When the charge current drops to a small value the charger considers the battery to be fully charged and switches its regulated output voltage to a lower voltage and the charger enters the float or maintenance stage.

This float voltage is set to a value that will counter the self discharge or the battery but not cause it to overcharge. If you use a simple cheap battery charger that does not have multi stage control of the output, it will be slow to charge the battery but as the output voltage is not reduced the charger will overcharge the battery eventually.

I wish people would not use the term 'smart charger.' A better name is multi stage charger. This reflects that the charger will go through the 3 stages of charging I detailed above. A lot of them have more than 3 charging stages such as testing the battery before they commence the 3 main stages and some test stages after. The dislike I have for smart charger is that some manufacturers label their equipment as smart when it really is not.

Thanks for the explanation Pete very interesting