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I’m fixing to purchase a new Sterling Pro charger, and expand my batter bank. Currently i have two flooded group 24’s. 1 house, and 1 starter.
I’m going to add a 3rd battery, a group 24 for a starter, and place both the exiting group 24’s in parallel for the house.
My question is this, would it be ok to buy a gel or AGM for the starter for now and charge off the Sterling, without the add on thing that does different charge profiles? I’ve read that you typically don't want to mix battery types on a charger, just didn’t know if the flooded and gel’s were close enough for the time being.
Just looking at options. Eventually I want to go all lithium, but I’m not ready yet. So my thinking is just to buy a cheaper 3rd battery now and make due with what I have. The flooded batteries are only 18 months old and have quite a bit of life in them. Doubling my house capacity and adding a small bit of solar will take me a long way for now.
Thanks. FWIW, I plan on ordering the Sterling from Maine Sail’s website.
My understanding is that Group 24 is the size. The batteries are marine deep cycle. 75ah. Some northeast batter company called “The Best battery co.”
I can always just get another flooded I reckon. I’m just looking at options. If I were to replace the two I have, I’d probably go with all lithium’s, the new Trojans, and size up to the 31’s. I’m just not ready to do that right now, and I likely get by with just the two flooded 75ah’s for quite a while.
Other charge input will be 100-150w solar, likely the Victron controller.
My understanding is that Group 24 is the size. The batteries are marine deep cycle. 75ah. Some northeast batter company called "The Best battery co."
I can always just get another flooded I reckon. I'm just looking at options. If I were to replace the two I have, I'd probably go with all lithium's, the new Trojans, and size up to the 31's. I'm just not ready to do that right now, and I likely get by with just the two flooded 75ah's for quite a while.
Other charge input will be 100-150w solar, likely the Victron controller.
As I said, you want true deep cycle batteries, there are only a handful og good brands left, and few are sold in consumer or automotive retail outlets.
The best battery value by far is Duracell (actually Deka/East Penn) FLA deep cycle golf cart batteries, 2x6V, around $200 per 200+AH @12V pair from BatteriesPlus or Sam's Club. Deka labeled same batts also sold at Lowes.
And sticking with FLA lets you use any of the dozens of voltage-following combiner gadgets, no need to worry about radically different charge profiles.
I'm fixing to purchase a new Sterling Pro charger, and expand my batter bank. Currently i have two flooded group 24's. 1 house, and 1 starter.
I'm going to add a 3rd battery, a group 24 for a starter, and place both the exiting group 24's in parallel for the house.
My question is this, would it be ok to buy a gel or AGM for the starter for now and charge off the Sterling, without the add on thing that does different charge profiles? I've read that you typically don't want to mix battery types on a charger, just didn't know if the flooded and gel's were close enough for the time being.
Just looking at options. Eventually I want to go all lithium, but I'm not ready yet. So my thinking is just to buy a cheaper 3rd battery now and make due with what I have. The flooded batteries are only 18 months old and have quite a bit of life in them. Doubling my house capacity and adding a small bit of solar will take me a long way for now.
Thanks. FWIW, I plan on ordering the Sterling from Maine Sail's website.
It is pretty tough to mix GEL and AGM or Flooded on the same charger. GEL's need a low absorption and AGM and Flooded need higher. You can mix AGM and Flooded, provided the charge voltages are all within the right range, but a battery chemistry module or a Battery to Battery charger would be the better choice when mixing chemistries on the same charger.
That is what we did over 20 years ago. Two of the heavier Trojan 6 volt golf cart batteries live where the two factory-installed group 24 batteries once resided.
I have been getting 9 years out of each set of T-145+ Trojan's.
Our emergency battery is a spiral cell AGM that is over ten years old and still holding charge just fine, when tested to start the 25 hp diesel.
There are probably several different and equal answers to your question, but this has been working for us.
If you are changing your batt system within the next 2ish years, just go to walmart and find one. They used to offer free replacement for 2 yrs on some batts, and may still do so.
You dont care about it beyond your change.
One and done....off your mind
I had a Wal-Mart "Marine Cranking" battery. (yes, I know it's a car battery with marine looking terminals) It lasted about a year before it wouldn't crank my little 2GM20(F) anymore. Took it back with the receipt, they hooked it up to a charger to "test" it and told me they could charge it to 12v so nothing was wrong with it. I asked if they load tested it. They didn't know what I meant. I explained that I could get 12v out of a stack of AAA batteries, but it still wouldn't crank a marine engine... and on and on...
Long story short, Wal-Mart sucks, and I purchased a better battery, with a better warranty (that I never used because it was a better battery) elsewhere.
Good feedback. The Golf cart batteries would be a no brainer if I wanted to stay with flooded long term. The drawbacks there for me is that my battery bank (and the only place to really put it) is in the port side lazerette, and I already have a weight problem on that side of the boat, in addition to the short term cost.
Another concern I have on flooded is that the current fiberglassed in battery box arrangement seems to have the batteries in the wrong orientation for healing over. Seems I read somewhere about the orientation batteries facing port or starboard was not ideal.
Long term, I think lithium is where I want to be, from a weight perspective and from a usable capacity perspective. 3 grand is just a lot to drop right now when I don't have the rest of the charging system to support them. My thought is to upgrade to a good short power charger, add solar, evaluate needs on an ongoing basis, and eventually swap to all lithium. That will solve several problems for me. We’re trying to be very minimal on our power needs, so the most bang for the least amount of space and weight is appealing.
i think just spending $150 on a cheap flooded battery and making due with my pseudo deep cycles will hold me for a while. I probably wont go more than another year on the current batteries.
I’ve got a lot of other high dollar projects/upgrades going on right now (new sails, deck hardware upgrades, etc..).
Maines article posted above was great. Very enlightening.
Good feedback. The Golf cart batteries would be a no brainer if I wanted to stay with flooded long term. The drawbacks there for me is that my battery bank (and the only place to really put it) is in the port side lazerette, and I already have a weight problem on that side of the boat, in addition to the short term cost.
Another concern I have on flooded is that the current fiberglassed in battery box arrangement seems to have the batteries in the wrong orientation for healing over. Seems I read somewhere about the orientation batteries facing port or starboard was not ideal.
Long term, I think lithium is where I want to be, from a weight perspective and from a usable capacity perspective. 3 grand is just a lot to drop right now when I don't have the rest of the charging system to support them. My thought is to upgrade to a good short power charger, add solar, evaluate needs on an ongoing basis, and eventually swap to all lithium. That will solve several problems for me. We're trying to be very minimal on our power needs, so the most bang for the least amount of space and weight is appealing.
i think just spending $150 on a cheap flooded battery and making due with my pseudo deep cycles will hold me for a while. I probably wont go more than another year on the current batteries.
I've got a lot of other high dollar projects/upgrades going on right now (new sails, deck hardware upgrades, etc..).
Maines article posted above was great. Very enlightening.
Golf cart batteries weigh average 53 lbs group 24 43 lbs
Gold cart batteries footprint is the same of less than group 24
More ah from 2 golf cart batteries
At least twice if not three times the deep cycles for golf cart batteries.
The price of the lithium's is not just the enormous battery price, but the nex charger and alternator too. If you are a cruiser I worth it. A weekend sailor, probably not.
Beyond the warning against mixing chemistries, I see no advantage to having a Gel battery for a start battery. The start battery is rarely discharged very much, which is a Gel's primary advantage. Gel is generally more expensive too. I would just get another inexpensive flooded battery for starting only. Especially, if you're planning an upgrade in the near to intermediate future.
Well I recommend AGM only be used if necessary, most people are not aware of their many disadvantages vs FLA.
But for those willing to pay for quality, e.g. Lifeline, Odyssey, Northstar they are fine.
Note I'm not including Walmart's ongoing attempt to setup an online marketplace for third parties to compete with Amazon and eBay, but items actually sold by Walmart.
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