Lead Crystal Batteries?

[10G]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with lead crystal batteries?

I need to run medical equipment at night which runs off 240VAC. I have a 300W inverter and an old lead acid deep cycle battery which won't do so I'm looking for alternatives.

AGM and traditional lead acid batteries I don't think will have enough time to charge between night times, so I'm looking at the lead crystal batteries as I've read they can charge 2-3 times quicker.

I'm keen to hear from anyone with any experience with lead crystal and any recommendations people may have, about people I can get in touch with to purchase from.

[PeeBee]

10G, I think you should be looking at capacity and DOD (depth of discharge) instead of focusing on charge -re charge rate unless you only have a tiny window of opportunity to work with. @Cuppa might be able to chime in as he runs some critical gear thru the night as well and easily recharges it via a combination of solar and running the car. Unfortunately I have never heard of lead crystal batteries. The charge up time will be directly relative to the DOD, and if your charge rate and controller are suitably sized you may be OK. What capacity are you looking for and what is the envelope size you are putting as a maximum size? What is your charge controller, or dual battery system and does it do multi stage charging? What is its charge rate?

[Clunk]

Not sure what the med equipment is but I run my CPAP machine off a 35AH Aldi battery quite happily. Charge it up for a few hours via solar

[Yeti's Beast]

Lead crystals need to be charged at 30% of the batteries capacity compared to 10% which is standard for other batteries. So if you get 100 ah battery it needs 30 amps going into it to charge properly. This is a fact stated by the manufacturer.
They are more expensive and in my mind not worth the extra money and I have found they don’t charge noticeably faster.
Your either better off with an agm or a quality Gel like a Sonnenschein or go all out and buy a lithium


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[the evil twin]

^^^^ Agree

I would go Lithium with built in BMS to keep the cells balanced.
Last a poo poo lot longer, much lighter and can be around 1/2 the AH rating of AGM for what you want so smaller as well.

EG quality 120AH RV batteries (IE 100 Amp or less max current) are well under $1,000 bucks now... crankers are still a bit dearer

Here is the small discussion from last year... I still reckon either AGM or Lithium and give the Crystals a miss
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...stal+batteries

[10G]

Not sure what the med equipment is but I run my CPAP machine off a 35AH Aldi battery quite happily. Charge it up for a few hours via solar

Hey Clunk, a CPAP m/c is exactly what I am needing to run so any tips would be greatly appreciated. The m/c we have requires 24V at 3.75 amps.

Also, I have pretty much nothing 2nd battery wise ATM. I have a 5 year old Century lead acid battery and a Redarc SBI12, no solar panels, so I'm open to any suggestions for panels, chargers, batteries and so on.

[the evil twin]

IMHO, given the latest tech and trying to be brief...

You now only need a 2nd 'cranker' spec battery (capable of high current draw) if you want to use it in parallel for winching.
You also only need that for prolonged/regular winching otherwise a good cranker and decent Alt will usually suffice.
For 'emergency' jumps I carry a Lithium Power Pack as they hold charge for yoinks and will happily start my 6.5 Chev, walk up start for 3rd party IE no jumper leads and also run a lappy or whatever for quite a few hours.

The above means you can use a lower max current spec battery for vehicle aux or camper/van house applications and they are usually up to 20% cheaper.
Cheapest solution is AGM and fine if weight, space, voltage sag and cycles aren't an issue.

Best solution ATM is Lithium (by a mile 'cept for initial cost) especially for voltage sensitive stuff and you will get equivalent use out of a battery approx 40% smaller so when comparing price a 60AH is approx equal to a 100 AH AGM.
It/they will also last much longer but a lot of us may not see that advantage in reccy use but it means the bottom line over extended time is the Liths are now almost equiv to AGM in price.
If you get one that has the 'onboard BMS' most refer too then any charge source is equally good for either tech.

Charge sources (when not using as a 2nd cranker/wincher)... IMHO again...
Aux in vehicle... Battery Isolator only
Aux in vehicle and solar panels... Battery Isolator and dinky little quality Solar Controller or genuine full MPPT if you really want
Aux in trailer/van... combo DC/DC MPPT multiple input Controller

[10G]

IMHO, given the latest tech and trying to be brief...

You now only need a 2nd 'cranker' spec battery (capable of high current draw) if you want to use it in parallel for winching.
You also only need that for prolonged/regular winching otherwise a good cranker and decent Alt will usually suffice.
For 'emergency' jumps I carry a Lithium Power Pack as they hold charge for yoinks and will happily start my 6.5 Chev, walk up start for 3rd party IE no jumper leads and also run a lappy or whatever for quite a few hours.

The above means you can use a lower max current spec battery for vehicle aux or camper/van house applications and they are usually up to 20% cheaper.
Cheapest solution is AGM and fine if weight, space, voltage sag and cycles aren't an issue.

Best solution ATM is Lithium (by a mile 'cept for initial cost) especially for voltage sensitive stuff and you will get equivalent use out of a battery approx 40% smaller so when comparing price a 60AH is approx equal to a 100 AH AGM.
It/they will also last much longer but a lot of us may not see that advantage in reccy use but it means the bottom line over extended time is the Liths are now almost equiv to AGM in price.
If you get one that has the 'onboard BMS' most refer too then any charge source is equally good for either tech.

Charge sources (when not using as a 2nd cranker/wincher)... IMHO again...
Aux in vehicle... Battery Isolator only
Aux in vehicle and solar panels... Battery Isolator and dinky little quality Solar Controller or genuine full MPPT if you really want
Aux in trailer/van... combo DC/DC MPPT multiple input Controller

Thanks for the info ET, greatly appreciated.

I've been looking into this today. So far, looking into lithium, I've seen on the enerdrive web site, the guy say that lithium batteries shouldn't really be kept under the bonnet & not used for cranking and the DCS guy use them for winching and showing them hooked up under the bonnet, so I need to look into that a bit more.

I'm looking into solar. Any recommendations on manufacturers? I know Redarc, but are there any other reputable solar panel manaufacturers/ brands I could look at as alternatives?

Also lithium. I know about enerdrive, any other brands that are worth looking at?

[Yeti's Beast]

Lithium shouldn’t be used under bonnet because it’s BMS has a temp compensation program. Agm/ Gel/ Lithium and even Lead Crystal all like to operate in cooler temps for longevity. These sealed batteries really on micro recombination of its electrolyte, the hotter they get the quicker they dry out. Remember heat equals resistance to a charger. The hotter the battery the more resistance so more amps go into the battery and can cause what’s known as Thermal Runaway.
When we sell batteries to data rooms for UPS they are in air conditioned rooms set to between 25-27 c. This give the batteries the best chance to last 5 - 10 years
We have seen many times that when the air con fails the batteries get too hot and the charger goes crazy to the point the batteries catch fire.
Enerdrive is a good company and can build you a custom battery. I know the owner personally. Ask them for information based on your needs and they will tailor make something for you.


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[the evil twin]

^^^^ What Yeti said x 2.

I wouldn't put a Lith under bonnet at all and only put a 2nd battery under the bonnet as an absolute last resort unless you want it for winching.
I might also add I only use fully maintainable SLA's under bonnet (Caterpillar to be exact)

Battery Isolation I like Redarc for simple solutions, Intervolt for programmable apps

Solar I like Intervolt, Victron, Morningstar and Tracer but the best rule is you get what you pay for... I like those 4 'cause I am used to them

Combo DC/DC Solar for reccy vehicles hard to split Redarc and Ctek.
DC/DC only I like Intervolt and FWIW I have had a suprisingly good run out of some Powertech (Jaycar) gear.
Enerdrive have a cracking reputation and I have yet to use their gear but if Yeti likes them that works for me

I am starting to go off Ctek as they have let others catch or pass them esp in their Mains Chargers

Bottom line is Redarc, Intervolt and Victron (and I am sure Enerdrive) have excellent tech and customer service so it's hard for me to change away and therefore make a call on a lot of other brands as I haven't laid a hand on them.