sealed for life batteries

[Champstar]

Excuse me for being stupid but what is the difference between sealed batteries and wet top up ones...and are they safe to use as leisure batteries??

 

cheers

[hallii]

There are wet sealed for life, gell sealed for life, wet non sealed, and other exotic ones. (NiCad, Lithium Iron, Lithium ion polymer battery,Nickel metal hydride battery and so on).

 

Any type will work if your pocket is deep enough, but they must be designed and built as a leisure battery.

 

Personally I think the the gell sealed lead acid is good value for money with the safety of gell and being sealed means no topping up and no leaks.

 

On the other hand I used a wet unsealed car battery in my caravan for about 5 years without problems.

 

Geoff

 

 

[Clive]

If you just stick to lead acid batteries there are several variants of "sealed for life" batteries. Gel batteries have been mentioned and these can stand a rollover without leaking. Also so can AGM batteries where the electrolyte is absorbed into an Active Glass Mat. But of late many conventional wet electrolyte batteries are also sealed as they are fitted with re-combination caps. These caps contain a catalist that joines the hydrogen and oxygen gasses generated during the later phase of charging back into water and drops it back into the cells. These are sometimes used when a leisure battery is mounted such that its not easy to fit a breather to the outside for the battery. Many starter batteries are the same.

Hope that helps.

C.

[Champstar]

Thanks all for the the advice