The less a battery is drained/discharged the longer it will last. Strictly
speaking, flooded batteries are not designed for repeated deep discharges,
so when used in this manner, they fail prematurely. Frank was acutely aware
of this fact, so chose to buy from a place that had a great warranty
service, as did I.

AGM batteries, on the other hand, are designed for repeated deep discharges,
but require a sustained voltage of over 14 V to charge them fully, and most
alternators will not do this (at least without modification). So, yes it is
a good thing to have lots of reserve capacity.

The only thing I've read about capacity of AGM's, and perhaps somebody else
can confirm this, is they require 10 or 12 deep discharges before they reach
their full capacity. I've not run enough tests on one to know.

Take a look at: http://www.vanagonwiki.net/index.php/Solar for some good
reading about batteries. Thanks to Mr. Squirrel for passing this link along
to me.

Troy

----- Original Message -----
From: "Taeke" <taeke.t@gmail.com>
To: "Troy" <colorworks@gci.net>; <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, June 08, 2008 2:37 AM
Subject: RE: Battery Woes/Choice

Is it good to have too much rc/size? Especially if it means it has thinner
plates.