battery

[hammerheadfistpunch]

so I think my deka agm is toast, I checked my voltage regulator and its supplying the right voltage but i can't keep my 50 qt arb running for more than a few hours on the medium cut setting. Wiring to the fridge is sound. question: whats the biggest non-deep cycle, non-agm i can fit? I don't know if I am sold on agm and im looking for alternatives.

 

[mct75]

Group 31 in the stock location. Why not a deep cycle battery?

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

Group 31 in the stock location. Why not a deep cycle battery?

this is the cranking battery, as far as i know there are no dual cycle wet cells.

 

[mct75]

Modern deep cycle batteries have 600+ CCA which satisfies the requirements in the manual, and won't be destroyed by deep-cycling like a starting battery would.

 

[mechanist]

I have a group 31 in mine, but the tie-down doesn't fit. I'm researching ways to keep the battery in place.

Check your local Interstate warehouse. They have blems and remans for less than $100. I bought my group 31 agm7 there for less than $100 out the door.

Edit: be sure you ask for the F-type or you'll have to make a 6 inch positive lead extension. Ask me how I know

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

Modern deep cycle batteries have 600+ CCA which satisfies the requirements in the manual, and won't be destroyed by deep-cycling like a starting battery would.

cranking a deep cycle kills them pretty quick, at least for wet cell.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

I have a group 31 in mine, but the tie-down doesn't fit. I'm researching ways to keep the battery in place.

Check your local Interstate warehouse. They have blems and remans for less than $100. I bought my group 31 agm7 there for less than $100 out the door.

I looked into a group 31, but there are no standard cranking wet cells, only deep cycle or agm

 

[mechanist]

I looked into a group 31, but there are no standard cranking wet cells, only deep cycle or agm

I didn't know that. I told the manager I was tired of batter acid all over my engine bay. He recommended the one I have as a starting battery. It was cheap enough so I figured why not.

Edit: The dimensions of my 31 (as it sits) are 13 x 7 x 9.5. Other batteries with similar dimensions are 30H, and 27. Sorry I'm not more help.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

Looking around, I think I am just going to go with a stock 27F wet cell starting battery and start looking into dual battery setups in the future. I like the idea of a single large 31 AGM, but Im not convinced the AGM is getting the proper charge based on the poor life of my current battery.

 

[mechanist]

Looking around, I think I am just going to go with a stock 27F wet cell starting battery and start looking into dual battery setups in the future. I like the idea of a single large 31 AGM, but Im not convinced the AGM is getting the proper charge based on the poor life of my current battery.

That's a good point. My concerns about the same thing have me looking at CTEK stuff for battery maintenance. Some people claim to get 20 years out of an AGM battery while others turn them in after only a few months. I hope the charger/maintainer helps.

The cheap one I bought retails for over $350. Some guy bought it a month ago and returned it as "bad". The manager told him it was fine, but the guy was tired of messing with it.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

Sounds likes like an AGM dual cycle. I checked the output for voltage and im where I should be ~14.4V but I just have no more capacity in it it seems and my scangauge shows only 13.5V at best that my ECU sees.

They say an AGM needs a little higher voltage to get from bulk to top off and if it never gets there it hurts the battery quite badly. I think alot of the guys running dual cycle 31's are having good luck because they are trail rigs that are on maintainers when not being driven. Mine is a DD and doesn't have the luxury.

For now Im going back to the standard battery and will look into a 31 for a house battery another time if I feel its nessisary. I never need the fridge to run for days at a time, just overnight really so it may not be all that important.

That's a good point. My concerns about the same thing have me looking at CTEK stuff for battery maintenance. Some people claim to get 20 years out of an AGM battery while others turn them in after only a few months. I hope the charger/maintainer helps.

The cheap one I bought retails for over $350. Some guy bought it a month ago and returned it as "bad". The manager told him it was fine, but the guy was tired of messing with it.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Your problem isn't the size of the battery, but how you use it. It's likely never fully charging, and it's being constantly run down by the fridge, so it sulfates and slowly dies. ANY battery will have the same issue. Remember the last few amp hours of charge takes ages to finally get into the battery and a 20 minute drive to work may get it to 90%, but not to full charge. That last 10% is the problem and takes hours, not minutes.

The solution is to plug the car into a batteryMinder or similar at night. It will fully charge and then float the battery-this will keep the battery healthy. It would also be better to leave the fridge off which lets the battery stay at a higher state of charge.

And it would be better practice, if you need to run the fridge, to have a second isolated deep cycle battery to run the fridge, and leave the starting battery out of the picture.

All batteries do best if kept at 100% state of charge all the time. Anything less, starts the sulfation process and leads inevitably to the premature death of your battery.

Me personally, I like the BatteryMinder charger. It's a true temperature compensated, stepped charger, isn't expensive, and keeps the battery at 100% state of charge all the time. Or you can replace your battery every year or two.

Looking around, I think I am just going to go with a stock 27F wet cell starting battery and start looking into dual battery setups in the future. I like the idea of a single large 31 AGM, but Im not convinced the AGM is getting the proper charge based on the poor life of my current battery.

I think this is a good plan. The Grp 31s do not fit well. Wet cell starting batteries are fine, just remember to check the electrolyte level from time to time and top with distilled water if needed. And keep it on a battery maintainer. This will easily double the life of your batteries. A battery maintainer is not the same thing as a trickle charger. So spend the $75 on a BatteryMinder and forget about battery problems for the foreseeable future. If you don't want to plug it in at night, then don't run your fridge so the battery stays at a higher state of charge.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

Your problem isn't the size of the battery, but how you use it. It's likely never fully charging, and it's being constantly run down by the fridge, so it sulfates and slowly dies. ANY battery will have the same issue. Remember the last few amp hours of charge takes ages to finally get into the battery and a 20 minute drive to work may get it to 90%, but not to full charge. That last 10% is the problem and takes hours, not minutes.

The solution is to plug the car into a batteryMinder or similar at night. It will fully charge and then float the battery-this will keep the battery healthy. It would also be better to leave the fridge off which lets the battery stay at a higher state of charge.

And it would be better practice, if you need to run the fridge, to have a second isolated deep cycle battery to run the fridge, and leave the starting battery out of the picture.

All batteries do best if kept at 100% state of charge all the time. Anything less, starts the sulfation process and leads inevitably to the premature death of your battery.

Me personally, I like the BatteryMinder charger. It's a true temperature compensated, stepped charger, isn't expensive, and keeps the battery at 100% state of charge all the time. Or you can replace your battery every year or two.



I think this is a good plan. The Grp 31s do not fit well. Wet cell starting batteries are fine, just remember to check the electrolyte level from time to time and top with distilled water if needed. And keep it on a battery maintainer. This will easily double the life of your batteries. A battery maintainer is not the same thing as a trickle charger. So spend the $75 on a BatteryMinder and forget about battery problems for the foreseeable future. If you don't want to plug it in at night, then don't run your fridge so the battery stays at a higher state of charge.

Bear in mind the fridge is only in the truck for trips. Its on AC in the garage the rest of the time. 90% of this batteries life has just been as a daily driver.

I've got a NOCO 7200 for maintence and desulfating. It charges the AGM battery great, but even after a repair cycle the capacity just doesn't feel there.

the REAL trouble is that I am leaving on a trip tomorrow with the fridge. So I am in that situation where I get when I know will be an easy fix now, or worry about the future. Frankly I think even 50% discharge on a starting battery is going to be fine occasionally checking the fluids and doing a repair after each trip.

 

[Marine7]

Using a deep cell as a starting battery on a 6 cal Cruiser isn't going to hurt it. Hell, probably 300-400 cca will fire these engines with no problem. Now if you were cranking a high compression big block that "cammed" out, yea.... that deep cell wouldn't do good!
Single battery..... use marine deep cell, it's everything you need. But, as mentioned above, it needs to be fully recharged at night!

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Using a deep cell as a starting battery on a 6 cal Cruiser isn't going to hurt it. Hell, probably 300-400 cca will fire these engines with no problem. Now if you were cranking a high compression big block that "cammed" out, yea.... that deep cell wouldn't do good!
Single battery..... use marine deep cell, it's everything you need. But, as mentioned above, it needs to be fully recharged at night!

But hard to find a 27F (reversed post) wet cell deep cycle battery. Easy to find 27F starting battery.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

anyone fit a wet cell dual cycle marine 27M in their truck before? do the cables reach? Is the height an issue?

 

[mechanist]

27m will have the posts reversed so you will need to make a 4 inch extension for the positive post. Simple to do. Get a four inch section of 2ga AWG and 2 copper crimp fittings (I got mine at advanced auto parts). You'll also need one m8 bolt about an inch long, a nut, and two star washers (Ace). I took the wire and fittings to a local electrical contractors supply store and they crimped the terminals for me. Pretty strait forward.

Edit: the negative cable will reach.

Also, depending on how much stuff you have coming off your positive you may need a longer m8 bolt.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

27m will have the posts reversed so you will need to make a 4 inch extension for the positive post. Simple to do. Get a four inch section of 2ga AWG and 2 copper crimp fittings (I got mine at advanced auto parts). You'll also need one m8 bolt about an inch long, a nut, and two star washers (Ace). I took the wire and fittings to a local electrical contractors supply store and they crimped the terminals for me. Pretty strait forward.

Edit: the negative cable will reach.

Also, depending on how much stuff you have coming off your positive you may need a longer m8 bolt.

so here is the conclusion that I've come to. I'm just going to bring along a 24r deep cycle as a spare and deal with it in detail when I get home.