After having the one year old Deka 4Ds for our house bank fail to prove enough ooomph while on the hook I decided to replace them with 4 Trojan T105s. I checked Specific Gravity and both were marginal at best. Also did a load test by fully charging them and then throwing apx 24A load on them. It only took an hour for them to drop to a 50% level, not a good sign. Not sure exactly why the Dekas failed so soon but I suspect I've been undercharging them and they're badly sulfated. One sign is they never need topping off. The charger is set to the Hot temperature setting which may have contributed to the undercharging. The Xantrex tech suggested I set it back to Warm and keep a close eye on the water levels. I'm trying to find a battery temp monitor but Xantrex doesn't make them anymore so it's hit and miss via web searches and phone calls. I could have equalized them but I didn't feel confident that they'd hold up and I hate to lose any sailing time due to low power. Especially on this energy hog. At any rate I'll be installing the Trojan's ASAP this weekend then off on a weeks vacation alternating between marinas and the hook. The new Amp Hrs will be 450 vs 325 (at best) with the old. Should be a much better situation while off shore power.
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