How to charge using deep cycle batteries.

[Slyster]

Well my WalFart "Maxx Marine" deep cycles died... just after ONE year now.

I found out two things..... 1) they are NOT true deep cycles and dual purpose (so my deep discharging them killed them) and 2) WalFart doesn't have any warrenty.

So stay away from WarFart... but oh well.

So... today I bought two "Resolute" deep cycles from Fleet Farm and they are great.. they are true deep cycles and have more capacity than the Maxx Marines yet they are lighter... and after charging ten 6s4000mah packs today I sill had 75% left on them.

PLUS.. they have a 24 month FULL warrenty.... with a sliding scale after that. I am well protected now.

Best thing? $69 each!

[Lighty]

nice one Sly, I have the Trojan Deep cycles.

[Alignnitro]

So it looks as if your gonna get a lot more charging out of these. I know advance auto here in md has some deep cycles and they warranty for 3 years at 100 percent. Keep the receipt and if they die or loose performance you get a replacement no questions asked. Has any tried those optimum batteries. I know they are a little expensive but I had one in my truck for an audio setup and it rocked. Sly that is a great deal. U can not beat that at all. Please let us know what the Max amount of batteries you can charge

[drdispatch]

75% after that much charging? I wonder how many flights you can get before hitting the cut off.. probably would be hard to fly that much in a day?

[desertstalker]

Originally Posted by Slyster

So... today I bought two "Resolute" deep cycles from Fleet Farm and they are great.. they are true deep cycles and have more capacity than the Maxx Marines yet they are lighter... and after charging ten 6s4000mah packs today I sill had 75% left on them.

Makes sense if they are 150-160Ah Batteries (or even a bit lower since the lipos arnt empty)

Were the older ones smaller, or just lying about their capacity?

[Slyster]

The older ones were dual purpose (cranking/marine) and lower capacity. Yet the newer ones a tad smaller and lighter. Today I charged 2 6s5300's and the deep cycle's voltage didn't go down enough to even bother charging them. Still over 25V.

[Lighty]

Can you post a link up on the batteries Sly?

[Slyster]

Originally Posted by Lighty

Can you post a link up on the batteries Sly?

No link. Only at Fleet Farm. If you google 'resolute deep cycle" you will find lots of posts about FF and how people are liking them, but not direct links. Not sure who actually makes them. And Fleet Farm is only in the midwestern US.

http://www.fleetfarm.com/

[hobdean]

Do you just double the voltage to find your 50% discharge for 24volts? 12.06 v is 50% for one and 24.12 would be for two in series? I have two interstate 29 deep cycles. My volts go down alot under a charge. Power lab 6 I set at 30 amps and the batteries have kept up pretty well. Faster you charge your lipos to more it pulls your deep cycles down.

[Slyster]

use this chart. yeah don't worry about voltage while charging.. worry about resting voltage (give them a minute or two to bounce back)

[Allen_H]

I got mine at walfart they each came with a 24 month warrenty they had 2 to chose from one had 2 month and the one i got had 24 month maxx marine

[Lighty]

Hmm I charged my 105ah deep cycles on 5 amps and not the 10 amps, after resting for 3 hours they read 13.13v ! What tha at a 10 amp charge they read 12.6v.

Why is that?

[Slyster]

Geeze... my new deep cycles are amazing! I charged 14 packs today.... I flew my 550 eight times and my 600 four times and my deep cycles were still at 65%

[Lighty]

Cazy looks like the AGM's are the way to go!

[Cadriel]

Slyster - what is the new rating of your batteries?

Lighty - how many charges are you getting from your 105ah's?

I'm looking at my options here and for a true 105ah AGM Deep Cycle i'm looking at $269 each. Hefty price for only 105ah - so I'm hoping they'll suffice.

[Lighty]

Hi Cabriel

I ended up getting 10 x 6S(5300) packs fully charged from my 550. These packs after flying end up at 25%, giving the batteries a rest they read 30% at the end of the day. Depends on how you fly but next time I would get the 120+ ah batteries.

[crash151]

I have been using duracell deep cycles that I bought at sams club. They were about $90 each and have been working great. True deep cycle and comes with warantee.

[Psuedo_Heli_Commander]

FWIW another possible solution. 6v commercial golf cart batteries in series. I use these on a special emergency circuit at home after a friend of mine put these in his 48' sailboat to power the 120vac inverter after having 12v ones not last. The 6v batteries are about the same physical size as a type 24 12v. More amp capacity and handle deep cycling well.

My golf cart batteries are always on a motorcycle battery tender. I check water levels every two months unless they have had several hard or long periods of operation. I paid around $100 each through a warehouse.

This set of batteries were purchased august 2006 and still work pretty well. If I run them hard, I use a 20 amp charger to recharge before returning to the battery tender. Good luck.

[Grok]

Slyster, do you put a storage charge on your flight batts at the end of the day?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Slyster]

No.. waste of time.. instead I decrease my flight time a tad so they end up at around 35%-40% which is fine for storage. Now if I am not going to fly in a week I will do a charge to 50%.

I'd rather fly a minute less than have to hook them all up twice as much