>Does equalization help lengthen the life of lead acid batteries.... If equalization is a good idea, how often do you do it? Absolutely. We equalize about twice a year on the advice of our electrical shop based on the way we used our batteries. Equalization can double the life of a lead-acid battery, although everyone's mileage will vary depending on battery type, battery use, etc. ____________________ C. Marin Faure GB36-403 "La Perouse" Bellingham, Washington

This thread is hitting a raw nerve with me at the moment! 3.5 years ago I decided to replace my existing Sonnenshein 8D's with the Northstar AGM batteries, 10 of them at 210 amp each. There was a lot of positive coverage on these batteries and their shape allowed me to double my battery capacity in substantially the same footprint, albeit they were taller. All went well then just under 2 years later in the spring of 2008 I experienced a loss of charge. Investigation revealed 3 dead batteries. As my main bank was 24 volt and wired in series/parallel at that time I was faced with changing the whole bank. The outcome was expensive as the UK dealer replaced the dead batteries for free but refused to deal with the fall out on the rest of the bank in the same way, although to his credit he gave me an at cost price for them. Before we get into debate, I have Victron chargers in parallel set at the float and absorption dictated by the technical guy at Northstar (Bob Shirk), they are temp and volt sensed at the battery. The bank is NEVER taken below 70% charge! (Clearly without a good system my complaint would have failed) So the new bank was installed and I had the wiring changed to a bus arrangement to cover any future issues and because I was advised this was the best way to manage a large bank. Pairs of blocks could be changed without effecting the rest or themselves. Well 18 months on; 2 of those new ones have failed and another is looking suspect! Furthermore, 4 of the good ones from the earlier bank went onto a friends boat and 2 of those failed last Autumn! The UK dealer is a bit stuck. Northstar say they do not really care about the marine market and are not prepared to entertain any level of support. The UK dealer has offered and delivered a further 2 batteries to replace the dead ones but as you can imagine my confidence is at zero at this time. I have had an exchange with THE guru Arild and he advises me that similar experiences are coming to light in the US. My view is that there are some clear design issues and quality control as well perhaps, however Northstar still advertise these batteries in a marine variant and frankly I find their careless attitude amazing. Their main market I understand is telecoms and I wonder what the big players would think of the sort of results that are not out there. Does anyone have any thoughts on Northstar, and also what options might be open to achieve the same amps from the same footprint. I have noticed that Odyssea have a similar block FT1800 I think in their trolling range, and they have a 3 year warranty! Michael Slater Sally Lillian Falmouth UK

"Michael Slater" <m-slater@btconnect.com> writes: >Does anyone have any thoughts on Northstar, and also what options might be >open to achieve the same amps from the same footprint. I have noticed that >Odyssea have a similar block FT1800 I think in their trolling range, and >they have a 3 year warranty! I had essentially the same experience, but with 8D AGM batteries from Concorde. I first discovered it on my start bank (2 X 8D in series). I was using an Echo Charger, and I chalked it up to that. A year later the capacity of my main house bank (4 X 8D in series/parallel to get 24 volts) was below 50%. I was not happy. I replace the start bank with some el-cheapo Chinese 8D AGMs, and they have been just fine. For the house bank, I went with the Discover L-16 AGM. I used 12 X 6 volt in series/parallel to get 24 volts, but if I was doing it again I'd use 12 X 2 volts, that way you could replace individual cells. 12 L16s will fit in the same footprint as 4 8Ds, but they are about 6 inches taller. So far, they have been great. See http://www.discover-energy.com/productsearch?filter0=47&filter1=**ALL**&filter2=**ALL**&filter3= for details Scott Welch Chief Evangelist, Open Text Social Media Group www.opentext.com 905 762 6101 "Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out." - John Wooden