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11-26-2008, 03:32 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Port Townsend, WA
Posts: 206
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Good choice to go with the sealed battery (AGM?). The "regular" battery in a car normally gets kept pretty fully charged, whereas your house battery gets discharged down to as much as 50 percent regularly and then charged up again. So you really have to check the electrolyte pretty frequently. Also, if your SMB goes off-road or on rough roads, with a standard battery there's more chance of leakage. And sealed batteries don't gas off during charge like the regular ones. Unless of course you would prefer a high-maintenance battery to go with that girlfriend... 
__________________
1993 E350 SMB, 15M, 84k miles - a cheap date
2006 Toyota Prius because we like clean air
2002 Honda Odyssey - can haul lots of stuff
1972 Mercedes 350SL with 4.5l V-8, just because
Wag more, Bark less, Play well with others.
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11-27-2008, 02:53 PM
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#12
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Site Team
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Turlock Ca
Posts: 10,409
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by bgoetting
Got the new battery yesterday, $570 installed. A non-sealed battery would be half that. I wonder if it wouldn't be better to get the cheaper battery and plan to change it every few yrs. I remember back when car batteries had open cells. You usually never needed to add water or acid until the battery got old.
Going camping this weekend with my high-maintenance girlfriend. We'll see how this goes.
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W/O solar you might want to consider a battery switch.
http://bluesea.com/category/1/productline/2
I plan to add a switch to my system. At least the battery can be isolated when not in use and I won’t cycle the batteries as much. If the refrigerator is running while the van is parked at home I always plug into AC. The battery will last longer if it’s topped off while sitting and I keep the cycle rate as low as possible. Because an alternator won’t bring the battery up to its top percent, it has to be charged with a good charging system and this is where the solar comes in. A high quality maintenance charger will work if you don’t have solar. Whatever you do, don’t let the house battery fall below the lower 12 V range. I’ve lost a couple AGM’s to this and avoid the 11V range now. It might not kill it totally but the battery won’t charge up to its full potential.
DaveB
__________________
2006 Ford 6.0PSD EB-50/E-PH SMB 4X4 Rock Crawler Trailer
Sportsmobile 4X4 Adventures.......... On and off road adventures
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11-27-2008, 04:45 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Parker, CO
Posts: 7,644
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by bgoetting
Going camping this weekend with my high-maintenance girlfriend. We'll see how this goes.
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I'd make her absolutely skip the hairdryer unless you're on shore power. Even running the van that's a lot of watts for a long time.
Good luck!
__________________
it was good to be back
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11-30-2008, 01:51 PM
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#14
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Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: santa barbara, ca
Posts: 59
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New battery fixed the problem. GF loves the SMB!
__________________
'05 EB Diesel, e-PH, SMB 4x4
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11-30-2008, 06:26 PM
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#15
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Port Townsend, WA
Posts: 206
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How about telling GF that the battery is special, top of the line, and you got it just so that she would be comfortable? Course then she may expect a bigger Christmas present... 
__________________
1993 E350 SMB, 15M, 84k miles - a cheap date
2006 Toyota Prius because we like clean air
2002 Honda Odyssey - can haul lots of stuff
1972 Mercedes 350SL with 4.5l V-8, just because
Wag more, Bark less, Play well with others.
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11-30-2008, 09:45 PM
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#16
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Site Team
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Southern New Mexico
Posts: 10,179
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Psomaki
How about telling GF that the battery is special, top of the line, and you got it just so that she would be comfortable? Course then she may expect a bigger Christmas present... |
Would it be bad form to tell her that the battery is her present, so that she'll be more comfortable in the SMB? Come on, I dare you. 
Herb
__________________
SMB-less as of 02/04/2012. Our savings account is richer, but our adventures are poorer.
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Sportsmobile (AKA Money Pit)
Linear Mode
