[Power] Charge controller ?

[Richard A. Smith]

On 03/06/2010 06:26 PM, Paul Fox wrote:

> smith wrote:
>   >  when you go into a large %DoD.  If you take a LA battery below 50% DoD
>   >  on a regular basis you will destroy it.  So for 8Ah of juice you need a
>
> is it this effect that so-called "deep discharge" batteries are
> better at?

Consumer deep cycle LA batteries aka "Marine" batteries mean that you 
can pull them down on a semi-occasional basis and they won't die. 
Opposed to say a car battery where 5 deep cycles and its toast.

A consumer grade deep cycle battery is fine for running your trolling 
motor or your UPS but not in the same league as a LA battery designed 
for alternative power use.  They are designed for discharge use on a 
daily basis.

They are doing pretty fancy things these days with LA.  I see a lot of 
VLRA [1] types when I've been doing searches for capacity pricing.  The 
big big boys however are still flooded cell.

Once LiFePO4 (LFP) batteries come down a bit more in price LA will be a 
thing of the past.  LFP is superior in every category except price. 
Even now if you look at long term life and TCO LFP wins but its still a 
good bit more expensive on the front end.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRLA_battery

Funny the wikipedia article doesn't list alternative power under 
applications.

-- 
Richard A. Smith  <richard at laptop.org>
One Laptop per Child