On Monday 07 February 2005 12:20 am, Peter Johansson scribbled:
> First off, you do *not* want to use an automotive (or starting)
> battery.  Automotive batteries are designed to provide a lot of
> ...
>
> Off-the-cuff, your tech info seems ballpark, but be sure to check out
> the car and deep cycle battery FAQ:
>
> http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/carfaq.htm

Ah-ha! I did not know the difference between regular and deep-cycle batteries.  
But your mention of them now helped me also locate other useful info, and I 
should have access to (borrow) an Optima deep-cycle battery.

What's curious/interesting though is that the FAQ you link to mentions in #1.7 
that a regular battery should not be discharged below ~12.0V, but #1.12 says 
that a deep cycle battery should also not be discharged below ~12.0V.  Huh?  
So where's the advantage of being able to be deep discharged?  It also 
mentions that shallow discharges should be avoided for deep-cycle batteries, 
but I will be discharging at low rates frequently.

I have a voltmeter with an alarm that I can setup to alert me when the voltage 
level gets to the critical point.  But I've still not found a clear enough 
answer that tells me how much useful Amp-Hours I can get off a deep-cycle 
battery without damaging it, and what that critical level actually is.

Cheers,
-Neil.


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