Can anyone point me to a easy to build DIY load-capacity test rig for a
largish (130 aH) deep cycle battery?

I'd rather test this thing in the garage than when camping.

--
Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
Bend, Ore.
1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.

Sent from my kitchen.

On 01/25/2012 08:41 PM, Dennis Haynes wrote:
> Over discharging  battery one time does not necessarily kill it. Especially
> a deep cycle constructed as well as the Trojan. The biggest danger to a
> discharged battery is the possibility of freezing but if that did not happen
> you are likely OK. While holding voltage is a good sign the real proof is a
> load-capacity test.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Rocket J Squirrel
> Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 4:14 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Just hibernating&  a battery mystery
>
> In case anyone is wondering where the heck I've been. Admit it, you have
> been.
>
> My Westy is dozing under a Just Kampers vehicle cover (Vanagon content!) for
> the duration of the Bend, Oregon, winter. I have many projects which I was
> unable to get around to completing last year that I hope to get to in
> spring. Camping got in the way. Boo hoo.
>
> Until camping weather returns, Mrs Squirrel and I are snugged away in our
> little house with the nuts and firewood (four cord!) we gathered last
> summer.
>
> My mainly non-Vanagon postings are at<http://socal2bend.blogspot.com/>,
> for those interesting in Keeping Up With The Skuirrels.
>
> In the past 24 hours, Mt. Bachelor ski area has picked up 8'' of snow for
> those who ski (me? no: pot-metal knee). Snow's at something like 100'' of
> depth.
>
> For Westy-related fun I like to spot Vanagons in town. Yesterday I saw four,
> one of which appeared to be a 1984 ivory Westy just like ours.
>
> I may have killed my expensive Trojan deep-cycle 130 A/h battery. The van
> had been parked for a few weeks, slumbering, with a light (200mA) load on it
> (the load is primarily the Xantech battery monitor thingy).
>
> But the smart charger I usually keep connected to the battery had come
> unplugged, unbeknownst to me. So the load drained the battery.
>
> When I climbed into the van last week to take a bunch of boxes of seasonal
> decorations down to our storage facility, I saw that the battery was showing
> less than 7 volts. This should mean that the battery is so deeply discharged
> that it is damaged beyond recovery.
>
> I popped over to Sears and picked up a 10A "not dumb" charger, pulled the
> battery, and put a charge on it. In about 12 hours it showed a fully-charged
> battery. Now, one week after the charger has been removed, it still shows
> 12.48 volts (50 degrees F), and the float-type hydrometer says "100%."
>
> Does this make sense? Shouldn't this battery be pretty much a lead and
> sulfur-filled brick?
>
> --
> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
> Bend, Ore.
> 1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
> 1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in San
> Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
>