On 25 Jan 2005 11:12:20 -0800, wrote:

So you are saying it wont matter?

I was wanting to use the marine battery I have but someone else posted
a negative experience with the fumes ruining part of their house and
their own health. It scared me a little.

Hi Don,

Well it seems in the interim, you got good advice as to battery use in
the shack, and shabby advice about writing. ;-)

For the record, my batteries are actually sealed lead-acid Hawker
Energy (Gates) Cyclon BC Cell (25 AH) and not cheap - but then they
are rock solid. I went this direction knowing full well most
batteries die because of one cell failure - this way I can replace the
dead cell. My buddy used a deep discharge battery that was over
floated (probably 15V) and he rarely minded the water level (too bad
too) as he boiled it down. There was some obvious corrosion near the
battery (sitting open to the environment, and he's a heavy smoker) but
nothing widespread (his battery sat in a plastic tray on a wooden
shelf).

During normal use at field day, my batteries lasted many hours. When
the rig began to sputter, I swapped one out to charge from the car. I
also monitored the voltage, and rarely ran below 11.5 Volts. Even
with a "quick" charge, I would always current limit it to about 5A.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC