If it's a 20amp draw why are they fitted with a 80amp fuse? Personally if I had an 85Ah battery in good condition I wouldn't rush out and buy a new battery. When it came time to replace it I would choose a 110Ah one however.
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the bigger the battery the longer it will last.. both in its run time and its usable life time..
what people dont seem to realize is that batteries wear out with use.. the heavier the use relative to the batteries capacity the quicker they will wear out..
the rated capacity is over a slow 20 hour discharge.. the higher the discharge rate the lower the capacity..
batteries are only at their rated capacity when new.. with use they slowly lose capacity.. the 110 amp hour battery becomes an 85 amp hour battery and then a 65 amp battery and so on down the line..
there comes a point when the battery loses that much capacity that it dosnt do the job its intended to do..
back to the bigger the battery the longer it will last.. the more capacity you start off with the more you can lose before the battery ceases to do the job it was bought to do..
i have a fancy battery tester.. it shows my caravan batteries capacity as being 80% which mean after two years use its 20% worn out.. at 50% it comes up with a dustbin symbol.. the dustbin symbol means the battery needs to be replaced..
the tester is meant for people that need to know how good a battery is before it fails on them..
most folks use a battery well beyond the point it should be replaced..
there is a weight penalty linked to the bigger battery.. but apart from that the bigger the battery the better..
lithium batteries do away with the weight penalty but larger ones are expensive and they carry a fire risk..
Boeing found that out the hard way when they designed their fancy new dream liner airplane.. :)
I don't see how a larger battery will 'last longer' than a small one. Once they become sulphated they are effectively at end of life however small or large.
Have a look at your car battery - how large is that? The car maker could fit a larger one, but they only fit one with enough capacity to do the job due to weight penalty and efficiency reasons.
Its only necessary to fit a battery of a capacity recommended by the motor mover (if fitted), and if on EHU. By all means higher capacity if off grid.
Theres more chance of a small battery becoming sulfated due to being constantly discharged than a large battery occasionally discharged, neither should discharged frequently.
Quote: Originally posted by Paul_B on 22/3/2017
Theres more chance of a small battery becoming sulfated due to being constantly discharged than a large battery occasionally discharged, neither should discharged frequently.
Or stated differently, a negligently treated big battery will last a bit longer than the same standard of care applied to a smaller battery.
Treated correctly there will be little difference, though the same money spent on a bigger battery, if spent on buying a better quality smaller battery could win hands down.