Battery Advice
 

I have sleep apnea. That means I have to hook up my nose to a machine
blowing air into me all night long. Heated humidification makes it
better but in the summer, if humidity levels are high enough is not as
important.

This takes electricity. At a dock and plugged in, no problem. But since
I have been plugged in, I have not had the joy of dropping a hook in a
beautiful gunkhole. This is gonna change.

Anyone have a recommendation for a deep cycle battery with lots of (the
most?) amp hours which I can drain at night and rely on fully recharging
during the day?

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

Harlan,
I wanted a lot of capacity for my electricals while at hook, so I
researched a lot of batteries. I finally put two Trojan 105's (6V deep
cycles) in series for my boat. They have 447 minutes (7.45 hours) of
capacity at 25 amps and were about $85 each. The only drawback is they
weigh 60 Lbs apiece! Hope this helps.
Fair winds,
MikeH
s/v Making Memories
Perrysburg, OH

Harlan Lachman wrote:
I have sleep apnea. That means I have to hook up my nose to a machine
blowing air into me all night long. Heated humidification makes it
better but in the summer, if humidity levels are high enough is not as
important.

This takes electricity. At a dock and plugged in, no problem. But since
I have been plugged in, I have not had the joy of dropping a hook in a
beautiful gunkhole. This is gonna change.

Anyone have a recommendation for a deep cycle battery with lots of (the
most?) amp hours which I can drain at night and rely on fully recharging
during the day?

harlan

A couple of Trojan J305H 6 volt batteries will give you 335 Amp Hours.
Thats 16 3/4 hours at a 20 amp rate or 745 minutes (12.4 hours) at a 25
amp rate. they are only 1 1/4" longer and 3 1/2" higher than a T-105,
however they do weigh 97 pounds each (70# more than a pair of T-105's)
Krj

MikeH wrote:
Harlan,
I wanted a lot of capacity for my electricals while at hook, so I
researched a lot of batteries. I finally put two Trojan 105's (6V deep
cycles) in series for my boat. They have 447 minutes (7.45 hours) of
capacity at 25 amps and were about $85 each. The only drawback is they
weigh 60 Lbs apiece! Hope this helps.
Fair winds,
MikeH
s/v Making Memories
Perrysburg, OH

Harlan Lachman wrote:

I have sleep apnea. That means I have to hook up my nose to a machine
blowing air into me all night long. Heated humidification makes it
better but in the summer, if humidity levels are high enough is not as
important.

This takes electricity. At a dock and plugged in, no problem. But
since I have been plugged in, I have not had the joy of dropping a
hook in a beautiful gunkhole. This is gonna change.

Anyone have a recommendation for a deep cycle battery with lots of
(the most?) amp hours which I can drain at night and rely on fully
recharging during the day?

harlan

No, they don't have that much capacity. That is what they are rated
for, but if you discharge that deeply, they will die very quickly. For
extended use (ie sitting at anchor and recharging once or twice a day
with the engine, etc.) you can only figure on discharging down to 50%,
and recharging back to about 80%. In other words, you only get to use
about 30% of the batteries Amp-hour rating on one cycle. A pair of
Trojan 105's are rated at a bit over 200 Amp-hours, so you can figure on
about 60 Amp-hours in practice.

BTW, I've been using 4 T105's with a large fridge and freezer as the
major load for 5 years, including some extended cruising, so I have some
experience with these. My previous boat had a similar, though smaller
setup.

As for Harlan's question, it can't really be answered without knowing
the draw of the equipment. I'd guess the load is around a few amps, so
overnight should be less than 40 amps-hours. Also, we need to know the
size of the boat and the charging methods used. There are lots of
possibilities - the t105's are the most cost effective, but I'd also
consider an AGM battery. They have a bit less capacity but can be
discharged deeper without damage. Also, they have less self-discharge,
handy if the boar were to be left unattended without a charger.

Bottom line, there is no one "ideal battery" for all situations, you
have to tell us more about the application.


MikeH wrote:
Harlan,
I wanted a lot of capacity for my electricals while at hook, so I
researched a lot of batteries. I finally put two Trojan 105's (6V deep
cycles) in series for my boat. They have 447 minutes (7.45 hours) of
capacity at 25 amps and were about $85 each. The only drawback is they
weigh 60 Lbs apiece! Hope this helps.
Fair winds,
MikeH
s/v Making Memories
Perrysburg, OH

Harlan Lachman wrote:

I have sleep apnea. That means I have to hook up my nose to a machine
blowing air into me all night long. Heated humidification makes it
better but in the summer, if humidity levels are high enough is not as
important.

This takes electricity. At a dock and plugged in, no problem. But
since I have been plugged in, I have not had the joy of dropping a
hook in a beautiful gunkhole. This is gonna change.

Anyone have a recommendation for a deep cycle battery with lots of
(the most?) amp hours which I can drain at night and rely on fully
recharging during the day?

harlan

I've been doing this for years in the boat, camp trailer and whatever. Only
time I had a problem was in the camp trailer when the old batteries went
completely TU.
Gordon
"Harlan Lachman" wrote in message
...
I have sleep apnea. That means I have to hook up my nose to a machine
blowing air into me all night long. Heated humidification makes it
better but in the summer, if humidity levels are high enough is not as
important.

This takes electricity. At a dock and plugged in, no problem. But since
I have been plugged in, I have not had the joy of dropping a hook in a
beautiful gunkhole. This is gonna change.

Anyone have a recommendation for a deep cycle battery with lots of (the
most?) amp hours which I can drain at night and rely on fully recharging
during the day?

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

In article ,
Harlan Lachman wrote:

I have sleep apnea. That means I have to hook up my nose to a machine
blowing air into me all night long. Heated humidification makes it
better but in the summer, if humidity levels are high enough is not as
important.

This takes electricity. At a dock and plugged in, no problem. But since
I have been plugged in, I have not had the joy of dropping a hook in a
beautiful gunkhole. This is gonna change.

Anyone have a recommendation for a deep cycle battery with lots of (the
most?) amp hours which I can drain at night and rely on fully recharging
during the day?

harlan

Thanks to all for the info.

harlan

--
To respond, obviously drop the "nospan"?

Harlan,
If your machine is like mine, it really doesn't draw all that much.
Mine uses less than 2 amps while I'm using it. This is less than many
of my cabin lights and a lot less than the computer I'm typing on.

I have 3 group 27 batteries of no particular brand (2 are LTH, a Mexican
brand and one I got at Costco). We are conservative with our electrical
use, especially in cloudy weather since all our power comes from solar
panels and can go 4 - 5 consecutive cloudy days before having to start
the engine to charge them. We also have a dedicated starting battery so
if we do draw the house bank down too far, we can always start the
engine. I would strongly recommend that you install a Link 10 battery
monitor like we have (or some equivalent) as it takes all of the mystery
out of managing your power.

Whatever you do, don't elect to go without the CPAP machine. As you are
no doubt aware, for those of us with sleep apnea, life sucks without it
and night watches are virtually impossible.

Have fun - Dan

Harlan Lachman wrote:

I have sleep apnea. That means I have to hook up my nose to a machine
blowing air into me all night long. Heated humidification makes it
better but in the summer, if humidity levels are high enough is not as
important.

This takes electricity. At a dock and plugged in, no problem. But since
I have been plugged in, I have not had the joy of dropping a hook in a
beautiful gunkhole. This is gonna change.

Anyone have a recommendation for a deep cycle battery with lots of (the
most?) amp hours which I can drain at night and rely on fully recharging
during the day?

harlan

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 10:47:31 -0500, Harlan Lachman
wrote:

I have sleep apnea. That means I have to hook up my nose to a machine
blowing air into me all night long. Heated humidification makes it
better but in the summer, if humidity levels are high enough is not as
important.

This takes electricity. At a dock and plugged in, no problem. But since
I have been plugged in, I have not had the joy of dropping a hook in a
beautiful gunkhole. This is gonna change.

Anyone have a recommendation for a deep cycle battery with lots of (the
most?) amp hours which I can drain at night and rely on fully recharging
during the day?

harlan

I wouldn't worry about it too much Harlan. Without heated
huidification my wife's cpap maching only draws .4 amps.
Mark E. Williams