Yes - it is the best buy, by far

Posted by jdemaris on October 21, 2006 at 11:15:12 from (66.218.13.47):

In Reply to: Starting battery question posted by frankiee on October 21, 2006 at 07:04:53:

I guess I'm going to disgree with a few other comments that were posted. First, in my opinion, the glass-mat (AGM) batteries are often a waste of money. They have a high rate of failure and cost much more than their conventional lead-acid counterparts. They are very intolerant to overcharging. I have repaired several solar-electric systems where the overpriced AGMs failed within two years. And, in some cases, the warrantees are not honored - since the "small print" voids the warantee if overcharging is suspected. The lead-acid replacements usually last over seven years - for the cheaper batteries like Trojan T-105s and Deka GC-2s, and sometimes over ten years with the Canadian Rolls/Surette batteries. Paying twice the price for half the battery makes little sense to me. Yes - they have their place. Since there is no "free" liquid acid in them, they can often be shipped whereas other batteries cannot. They are spill-proof. Also, they work well indoors since they produce very little hydrogen gas, and most are maintenance-free.
If you're looking for a good, cheap, all-around battery - for moderate deep-cycle use and cranking . . . I hate to say it - but you can't beat the Walmart deep-cycle batteries. Of course, that could change at any time - but I've been using them for five years now. I have a bank of twelve that I keep installed for a solar-powered cabin during the spring and summer. Then, I take them home and use them for cranking batteries in several diesel tractors and trucks. They work fine. Johnson Controls makes them for Walmart - often $50 each - Everstart Deep Cycle Marine 27DC-6, 12 volts, 115 amphours, 750 cold cranking amps, and 750 marine cranking amps.
Keep in mind that the Walmart batteries - by defintion - are not true deep-cycle batteries - but they are close enough. Most true deep-cycle batteries are 6 volt and have heavier plates - which makes using them inconvenient for 12 volt tractors unless you have the room for two.
I figured up a cost-per-year cost of several types of deep-cycle batteries when used in solar-storage systems. These figures use real case-histories of people that have used them. If you wanted to have around 10 kilowatt-hours of storage - all the time -then you figure the cost of the batteries and how long they last - and calculate the cost per year. That's about it.

Deka lead-acid deep-cycle - eight 215 AH batteries cost $69 per year = 10.3 KWh.
Concord AGM - eight 220 Ah batteries cost $242 per year for 10.5 for 10.5 KWh of storage.
Trojan lead-acid - five 370 AH batteries cost $171 per year for 11.1 KWh of storage.
Rolls/Surette lead-acid - three 546 AH batteries cost $78 per year for 9.8 KWh of storage.

Replies:

• Re: Yes - it is the best buy, by far Jon Hagen 12:30:11 10/21/06 (3)
  • Re: Yes - it is the best buy, by far jdemaris 16:18:46 10/21/06 (2)
    • Re: Yes - it is the best buy, by far Jon Hagen 17:28:09 10/21/06 (1)
      • Re: Yes - it is the best buy, by far jdemaris 11:47:33 10/22/06 (0)

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