What's the best way to deliberately drain a battery?

[Rivman1243]

This escalated quickly

 

[JCruse]

You did not mention a deep cycle battery in the mix, just a 'house battery' although to be fair it does not make much difference, apart from the part where I said you should not be pulling a battery down so far. But again there is an issue, deep cycle batteries are not designed to have a hard load applied to them, ("pulling 50% out of a battery in just a few minutes"), they are more about a trickle drain over a long period.

I run a starter and a 'house' battery but, they are both marine batteries. Having a 'starter' battery and a 'deep cycle' battery as an all in one (as I use) unit means there has to be a compromise. But a good quality marine battery is as good as it gets when using for mixed use, been doing it for more years than I can remember, each pair of batteries lasting around four years.

I would not worry about 'surface charge' when plugging in a decent 'smart' charger in, as per TrickyT said (good post), a decent charger will sort that out.

regards

Dave

Hi Dave.
I was just quoting you about that "50% in a few minutes", I never put that kind of a drain on my batteries.

The batteries in question aren't both marine type but one is, actually it's the starter; an Odyssey 31M PC2150, the other isn't "marine" but it's a deep cycle and it's got more capacity than the starter. It's a Lifeline GPL-31XT.
Hope that clarifies a bit.


You're probably right about not needing to drain down before a charge, but I wanted to be ready if it is needed.





.

 

[JCruse]

I use 10 gauge speaker wire...








Oh NO, I'M the anonymous troll!!

 

[Dave 2000]

Hi Dave.
I was just quoting you about that "50% in a few minutes", I never put that kind of a drain on my batteries.

The batteries in question aren't both marine type but one is, actually it's the starter; an Odyssey 31M PC2150, the other isn't "marine" but it's a deep cycle and it's got more capacity than the starter. It's a Lifeline GPL-31XT.
Hope that clarifies a bit.

You're probably right about not needing to drain down before a charge, but I wanted to be ready if it is needed.

.

Not a problem JCruse, I was using it as an example of what not to do, as opposed to what you actually do.

regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

I use 10 gauge speaker wire...

Oh NO, I'M the anonymous troll!!

Yeh plenty of them about I'm afraid.


regards

Dave