7 amp battery question - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

GregAndrew · 04-03-2017, 11:19 PM

There are all kinds of issues with SLA batteries:

You can overcharge them by leaving them on a non trickle charger.

You can charge them too soon in their discharge (they can develop a memory).

They have a relatimely small number of recharges before they begin to lose capacity.

You can drain them too far, killing cells.

And they can easily discharge too fast with a short.

The good news is that they are cheap.

I have a garage full of them from before I switched to LifePo4 batteries. I have been using the same 2 6v batteries for at least 3 years and the same 2 12v batteries for at least 4 years. Averaging around 100 days otw per year. All of the batteries still last at least 2 7-8hr days per charge. The bad news is that they are expensive. But when you figure in the time and frustration of discovering and replacing bad batteries, it is not that bad.

That said, the backlight on most FFs will vary the power requirement quite a bit.

04-03-2017, 11:19 PM	#10
GregAndrew Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 2,384	There are all kinds of issues with SLA batteries: You can overcharge them by leaving them on a non trickle charger. You can charge them too soon in their discharge (they can develop a memory). They have a relatimely small number of recharges before they begin to lose capacity. You can drain them too far, killing cells. And they can easily discharge too fast with a short. The good news is that they are cheap. I have a garage full of them from before I switched to LifePo4 batteries. I have been using the same 2 6v batteries for at least 3 years and the same 2 12v batteries for at least 4 years. Averaging around 100 days otw per year. All of the batteries still last at least 2 7-8hr days per charge. The bad news is that they are expensive. But when you figure in the time and frustration of discovering and replacing bad batteries, it is not that bad. That said, the backlight on most FFs will vary the power requirement quite a bit.