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Old 03-22-2019, 02:07 PM   #6 (permalink)
EcoCivic
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jjackstone View Post
Agree with the lithium battery. It will hold it's charge at approximately its nominal level until just before depletion whereas the lead acid will slowly but continuously decrease in voltage the entire time it's being used. It should also be much lighter than the deep cycle.

You might see decreased performance with accessories because even though the battery is rated at 12 volts, it will normally being getting charged from the alternator at the higher level between maybe 13.5 to 14.5 volts. Normally a fully charged battery should show between 12.6 and 13.2 volts on a volt meter.

Have you measured your voltage levels before and after yet? That would be useful information.

JJ
Great advice to get a lithium battery! I never thought much about them, although I knew that they existed. I will look into it, but I imagine that a lithium battery with a comparable amp hour rating would be prohibitively expensive though.

This alternator seems to have a temperature compensated regulator, so it will produce less voltage the hotter it gets. When it is started cold on a cold day, it will produce around 14.8 volts in high charge mode regardless of electrical load or RPM. However, on a very hot day after driving for a while, the alternator only produces around 13.6 volts in high charge mode. With the ELD plugged in, low charge mode always seems to be around 12.7 volts though regardless of temperature.
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