AGM are great, unless you are cheap... From: Jeremy Sent: Friday, January 5, 2018 9:07 AM To: af@afmug.com Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Sealed or flooded batteries for DC backup?
Gave up flooded years ago. Had a few sites where the APC exploded the batteries. Even when that didn't happen, I got tired of the yearly battery check and fill at all the sites. When I started my own company I switched to AGM and never looked back. They are amazing. Also, we don't use APCs anymore except at a couple of large sites where we use the 3000XL, which has a much better charging system. On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 6:38 AM, David M <dmilho...@wletc.com> wrote: there is always an evaporation issue with flooded.. They have to be maintained on a regular schedule in order to have extended life beyond 5 yrs AGM/GEL expensive but reliable with little maintenance. Give em a good home and little venting and get 7 to 10 with those. On 1/4/2018 3:47 PM, Robert Andrews wrote: Sounds like a problem with the Charge controller being incorrectly set. If this is on-grid, I would lower the voltage the charge controller is maintaining and make sure it is set to NOT do any equalize cycles. Then flooded should be better. Of course if the environment is causing evaporation that is a different problem. I didn't find telecom batteries were worth the expense. So if I dumped wet, I would probably go with sealed Marine.. Best, Robert On 01/04/2018 01:38 PM, TJ Trout wrote: I have been really liking flooded batteries over the last 10 years or so because I am able to service the battery and extend the life but I am finding that on sites that I forget to add distilled water at least twice a year sometimes the batteries dry out due to the charge controller over gassing the batteries. Right now I'm trying to decide between Walmart deep Cycles, rack mount telecom batteries or just sealed RV Marine deep cycle batteries. What is the best bang-for-the-buck currently considering the life span and capacity ? Thanks TJ