wandaandwoodie
Member
I am looking at replacing my pitiful 12V battery that came with our new Cyclone 3950 HD (3 months ago). I have read a lot about flooded vs. AGM batteries. Recommendations on "Lifeline" brand, by Concorde Battery, AGM batteries came from amsolar.com. Does anyone have experience with these batteries? They seem to be the "best you can buy" and are very expensive ($425 a pop). I hear claims that the battery life is indefinite if you keep the discharge level at 50% or less. Another claim is that the case is so rugged and the seal is so good that they can be installed on their sides (dunno why i would) and hydrogen off-gassing is negligible (but I would ventilate anyway).
My general plan is:
1) Replace the whimpy 12V battery with (2) GPL-4DL 12V batteries to get 420 Ahr at 20 hour rating. Keeping discharge below 50% yields a little over 200 Ahr useable power (should run the heater blower and a couple of exterior lights thru the night). I am hoping to find a battery monitor to keep tabs on power remaining. I plan to use a combiner so the existing converter/charger will charge mostly equally....both new batts, equal discharge, equal age, equal condition, etc.....should be o.k.?
2) Later add an inverter/charger and then, even later, add solar panels and a controller. When adding the inverter, I would swap out the power supply for a power supply without a charger so as not to conflict with the new charger on the inverter (which is a very good 3 stage, high current charger). The inverter is a "pass thru" when shore power is detected, so it can go downstream of the automatic xfer switch for the generator.
Any experts out there? Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated. Oh, I forgot, the batteries are 130# each and will fit in the front compartment next to the generator. May have to reinforce floor to support them.
Thanks,
My general plan is:
1) Replace the whimpy 12V battery with (2) GPL-4DL 12V batteries to get 420 Ahr at 20 hour rating. Keeping discharge below 50% yields a little over 200 Ahr useable power (should run the heater blower and a couple of exterior lights thru the night). I am hoping to find a battery monitor to keep tabs on power remaining. I plan to use a combiner so the existing converter/charger will charge mostly equally....both new batts, equal discharge, equal age, equal condition, etc.....should be o.k.?
2) Later add an inverter/charger and then, even later, add solar panels and a controller. When adding the inverter, I would swap out the power supply for a power supply without a charger so as not to conflict with the new charger on the inverter (which is a very good 3 stage, high current charger). The inverter is a "pass thru" when shore power is detected, so it can go downstream of the automatic xfer switch for the generator.
Any experts out there? Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated. Oh, I forgot, the batteries are 130# each and will fit in the front compartment next to the generator. May have to reinforce floor to support them.
Thanks,
