Is the AGM battery worth the extra cost?

[beowulf]

What I am learning here is that there is a whole lot I don't know about batteries. AGM, battery tenders, Nico chargers, off gassing, effect of vibration, and more. I don't even know what kind I have. I will have to do a bit of reading to catch up.

 

[RickB]

What I am learning here is that there is a whole lot I don't know about batteries. AGM, battery tenders, Nico chargers, off gassing, effect of vibration, and more. I don't even know what kind I have. I will have to do a bit of reading to catch up.

Skip back to post #16 and absorb that.

 

[grsthegreat]

i dont have a single agm battery. i maintain all my batteries yearly. i never use a trickle charger (except for winter storage of jet ski batteries), just normal use. even in cold winters. i DO remove all batteries from winterized rigs (horse trailer, dump trailer, lawn mover, etc) and store in heated tack room on rubber mat. never charge them. hook them back up come summer. always good to go. Batteries always last a super long time. I hardly ever need to add distilled water. I use Interstate and exide batteries exclusively.

i find the trick is using a good terminal protector spray and paste. with that i never have corrosion issues or failures.

i use a high quality Midtronics battery analyzer i have for my generator business to check state on all batteries.

 

[KYBobcat]

Glad to hear all these opinions, thanks. As dodge man reminded, it's for a dump trailer, not a vehicle, so cranking amps are of little interest. What's most important is the reserve capacity, and I see no point in paying nearly double to increase the RC from 120 minutes to 135. The battery is on a battery minder when sitting idle, and is being trickle charged when connected to the truck. Cold is not an issue where I am. Bouncing around is not an issue the way the trailer gets used. All the battery ever does is run the electric motor that drives the hydraulic pump tha raises the trailer bed. That's it. Oh, and act as a power source for the trailer breakaway. All things considered, I'm with Industrial Toys and will just get a low priced deep cycle battery.

Sounds like you already had the answer to your own question. As I mentioned, I think you can find much better pricing than 電ouble the price of lead acid batteries.

If you are just using it in a dump trailer, another option could be to take an old lead acid battery out of one of your vehicles, put it in the dump trailer and put an AGM where you can take advantage of the benefits.

 

[ning]

Three years ago I replaced the battery in my Kubota with a Odyssey. It's a group 31 with 1150 CCA. It was $400 - so it better last a while longer than the OEM.

I recently tried to go to town on my motorcycle and it wouldn't start... driveway is downhill so I bump-started it. Got home and put the charger on it... "Hmmm that battery didn't last very long but obviously needs a replacement"

I ordered the last one in spring 2014. Motorcycles are tough on batteries, especially since I've worked from home more and more in the last 5 years, and the bike often sits in a hot garage for a couple weeks between short trips to the hardware store.

I'm pretty impressed with the Odyssey batteries; the price was about 15% higher than the normal battery from Napa.

 

[oosik]

My BMW R1200GSA came with an AGM battery. Man - is the OEM replacement expensive. So - - I treat this OEM battery well. The battery is on a special BMW designed battery tender/minder. I see that there are Li-Ion batteries available for motorcycles now. They are light as a feather. I've read unsettling stories about these new Li-Ion batteries. AGM is high tech enough for me.

 

[Industrial Toys]

It''s kind of like if you were a practical person and for some weird reason needed a watch. Why would you get a Rolex when a Timex will do the job perfectly?

 

[shooterdon]

It''s kind of like if you were a practical person and for some weird reason needed a watch. Why would you get a Rolex when a Timex will do the job perfectly?

Who is gong to brag about having a Timex?

 

[fried1765]

Who is gong to brag about having a Timex?

No one is going to brag about the Timex, but it will do the same job as the Rolex.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Actually funny. I always scoff, why people are wearing these enourmous ornate watches when everyone has a cell phone, and every vehicle has a clock. BUT, if you ask TEXANS this last week, maybe having a dedicated timepiece isn't such a bad idea after all. lol Maybe reminds you to what you might normally be doing. Or, and please forgive the dark humour, but witness your own TOD.