Re: [VAC] Batteries and chargers

["Dr. Gerald N. Johnson, P.E." <geraldj@xxxxxxxx>]

Many chargers are not very good. Decades ago, good chargers were very
expensive and heavy, not to be part of a consumer product like the
Airstream. And the SAE tolerances on charging voltages are far too wide
for decent battery life.

I have had several deep cycle diehards. A couple were used for ham gear
for a while until the owner noticed the leaking acid was etching his
basement floor. The better of those I ran in my old 1 ton truck for a
few years. Currently I have one on my standby generator, but its problem
is dying of neglect since it may not get used more than a couple times a
year. It has a built in voltage monitor and I may check it occasionally
and put a charger on it. I expect it to fail me when I need the
generator. Fortunately I have a crank for the generator. It would be
better if I was to make it crank the generator once a week.

There little doubt the better golf cart batteries are super for a
trailer because a pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries will have a lot
greater capacity than most any reasonable weight 12 volt battery. And
they are made for the service, both bouncing around and being fully
discharged repeatedly.

Bouncing: well a battery needs to be ANCHORED to the trailer so it
doesn't impact the trailer by bouncing. The shock of bouncing will break
a super quality battery eventually, a cheap battery almost immediately.
Plates broken loose from their connector bars no longer contribute to
the battery output. Plates with all the active material shaken out
contribute but very little.

Gerald J.