Re: O.T.-----battery voltage control

Posted by Jon Hagen on July 11, 2007 at 10:31:58 from (12.175.230.36):

In Reply to: Re: O.T.-----battery voltage control posted by KEB on July 11, 2007 at 07:26:53:

Got to argue a bit with you on the spiral cell design AGM battery, they are not perfect,but head and shoulders above the conventional flooded cell battery for most applications. Rolling a single pos plate/agm seperator and neg plate into a tightly wound package eliminates most of the vibration/ plate material sluffing and swell/shrink warp damage of the normal charge discharge cycle that eventually destroys the flooded plate design. The many short plate connectors used with the spiral design are much tougher and conduct more power than the single end connector of a conventional design,so short duration output is better than the spiral cells CCA numbers would indicate.
(Personal experience with a diesel combine and several large diesel tractors is that is that they crank stronger and recharge faster with a pair of group 24 Exide orbital AGMs than they ever did with the pair of group 31 flooded batterys, even though the spiral AGMs have a 800 CCA rating while the group 31's were rated at 1000 CCA.)

The sealed design eliminates corrosion on and around the battery. The plate alloy used allows the battery to have a very slow discharge rate.

The only thing I have seen that will do them in is a defective charging system or an idiot with an unregulated fast charger who boils the electrolyte out of them.
I have several of ths spiral cell Optima batterys in constant use,with the oldest being 16 years old and still cranks like new. It has never had any special care and has been totally discharged at least a half dozen times. Recharging a spiral AGM in that condition consisted of "junp" starting the machine and allowing the 60+ amp alternator to hammer a charge back into the poor dead thing, it still works like new.
I also have another half dozen or so of the Exide "orbital power" spiral cell AGM batterys in various pieces of equipment where they have been as reliable and maintenence free as the Optima brand for 40% less money, although the oldest of those are only 10 years old.
They are a pleasure in seasonal use equipment like combines and tractors where you can be assured that the machine will start after many months of non use and nothing related to the battery will be corroded.
Connecting a float charger every 2 months will usually take 1/2-1 hour or more for the charger to switch from charge to float with a flooded cell battery, while the lower self discharge of the spiral AGM usually switches off in 5-10 min.

For a cranking/lighting/ignition application they are hard to beat, almost an install it and forget it for the life of the machine type of deal.

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