Re :   ............a good way to extend the life of the standard
automotive  starting flooded cell battery.

That's simple -keep it properly charged up, and preferably in regular use.
This is for a regular lead-acid starting type battery. Which are not designed for being discharged much at all, except briefly during the start up cycle.

Even Deep Cycle conventional batteries don't like being heavily discharged.
I believe the rule on those is not to take them below 50 % discharge.

my regular starting batteries last just indefenitley almost.
I always get the very best one I can find that will fit properly, the most Cold Cranking Amps etc.
they usually cost about 90 bucks.
then I never do things like start the engine with the lights on ..... ( unfortunatley Vanagons are not smart enough to re-set the heated back window to 'off' each time the car it shut off ...........so there are lots of Vanaogons owners in the wintertime starting their engines with the 30 amp ( or whatever it is ) heated back window current draw already on - really not good on a diesel !  ............there is a LOT that ,many people are not aware of on vanagons, like this one ).

but just keep 'em well charged up, regualr use is best.
there are 'smart battery ' chragers for long term non-use, like say motorcylces in the winter, that charge the battery the right amount, and some of them even draw down the battery a bit..........so they put the battery through it's normal small laod- and re-charge cycle.
scott
www.turbovans.com

Frank Condelli wrote:
> In a message dated 08/06/2008 1:31:31 P.M. Central Standard Time,
> LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
>
> 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.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> You  do know that there is a good way to extend the life of the standard
> automotive  starting flooded cell battery ?  Koolatron and others sell a limiter
> that will shut off the drain on a battery once it reaches critical levels
> preset  by the manufacturer of the gadget.  I forget all the details of it but I
> got mine from Kootatron and it was made for their fridges to keep owners from
> wrecking the batteries in their vehicles.  See the Koolatron website for
> details.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Frank  Condelli
> Almonte, Ontario, Canada
> '87 Westy & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_
> (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
> _Frank Condelli &  Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
> - Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
> _Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust  Systems_
> (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/exhaust.htm)
> _BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper
> camping event, Almonte, ON, June 12 ~ 15,  2008
>
>
>