I put the Apex batteries in yesterday and today. They shipped sometime in December and have sat in my aluminum trailer in the cold ever since. Since I magnanimously pushed the install back by three months to totally intentionally test the shelf life
I thought I'd post.
Both batteries came fully charged but I didn't check them immediately. I know they were fully charged because after six weeks sitting they still had 12.7 and 12.6v. I didn't pay attention to which was which, however by the time I managed to start this project they were down to 12.3 and 11.4. I did have a little trouble getting the test leads to contact the battery contacts so the readings might have been erroneous.
I hit the lower one with a trickle charger for a few hours and after brushing things up I read 12.7 on each. Since then they've been installed and solar has been up. Not sure what I'm holding but I'll give an update in the future.
The batteries are a pretty (or ugly) green. They seemed nicely made, except one terminal was slightly bent and all the terminals had sort of a corroded coating that I wire brushed off before starting. I mean it was less coating than there is dust on my desk at the moment, but it was a little less than shiny before brushing. I'm not sure brushing mattered that much because the leads all dug into the terminals fairly far upon tightening. I don't remember that happening with the Lifeline or any of the Deka batteries. They were slightly smaller than the lifeline and far smaller than the Deka (1/4" width?) which left a few gaps in my tray. They went in nice and easy despite that.
The handles are a loop of string and a plastic handle which flattens against the top of the handle spot, and otherwise the outsides are nearly featureless. It's a nice basic design, that is if you like kelly green. All in all I'm fairly confident these will solve my house problems (along with the new alternator and new starting batteries).
My old Deka batteries sat on a trickle charger for a month or so in the garage after they were removed, and one of them is still testing above 12v despite sitting cold for another month. The other one won't come up over 10v, so I think one was bad-bad and the other might be repurposed for something other than a $5 autozone credit. Still, the Apex pair were cheaper than a single replacement Deka, and the labor is what really kills so I wouldn't want to pair a questionable battery even with a new one.
I swear I'll take care of them this time- although some of my problems were to blame on my alternator baking them, I didn't, until recently, have a good way to shore power at home and the solar only works out of the SMB Tent.
Linear Mode
