Battery recommendations looking for long life with intermittent use of machine

[arbwork]

After taking almost ½ tonne of batteries to the recycle's the other day I am looking to find a better situation of buying and replacing,  my problem is some of our machinery is only used occasionally, be it bike, excavator, saw mill, tractor, car, mower etc.  I have optima battery that has lasted better than most but there is only a limited range and similar with varley and Odyssey race/rally style batteries, I am aware that start up run every week or 2 is ideal and or keep on shelf with regular charging management, possible solar charging in situ, I have found most seem to last long enough to get past guarantee date then expire, gasp. My supplier yesterday said they are only built now to be regularly used and not for occasional use. Any help or suggestions appreciated.     

[coppice cutter]

Have you tried Yuasa yet?

 

For me they are the best battery on the market and by some margin. We use them in everything, tractors large and small, diggers, our own cars, and of-course bikes!

 

Only issue with them is pricing. They seem to have a pretty disorganised supply chain with prices all over the place so you need to be especially careful where you buy and what you pay.

[arbwork]

coppice cutter ta for reply, just replaced yb1l-a2 and yb12al-a-a2 bike and mower, also cargo super heavy duty 900amp all yuasa the later just 2 month past guarantee 

[woody paul]

If big kit like digger / tractors Red top take some beating as big house near me has MF 35 which only gets like use and it has Red top on it must be12 years old and still starts it. 

Small kit you are limited. Some type of trickle charger just to keep them topped up. 

Edited April 18, 2021 by woody paul

[Dan Maynard]

I'm a big fan of a maintenance charger, I used to get two years tops from a battery in my Spitfire due to lower use in winter but now I just plug in to the cigarette lighter every time I park it up. Charger only bungs out 0.8A but it monitors the voltage so you just leave it connected all the time and it goes through the charge/discharge cycle automatically.

I think it was about £40 which I initially thought was expensive because that was about the cost of a battery when I bought it, but I've saved many times that in batteries over the years.

[coppice cutter]

1 hour ago, arbwork said:

coppice cutter ta for reply, just replaced yb1l-a2 and yb12al-a-a2 bike and mower, also cargo super heavy duty 900amp all yuasa the later just 2 month past guarantee 

I can only repeat that our experience of them over many years is very different to that.

 

Maybe you need to look at your battery maintenance a bit more, any battery left for any period of time in a state of discharge will be life limited as a result.

 

 

[arbwork]

thanks I am aware I need to do something a bit more proactive to help situation, have tried to disconnect and use cutouts to see if it will help ( some have immobilisers that require power )unfortunately most of the larger machinery is away from power source, no fun trying to lift tractor battery's into wheel barrow even worse trying to lift em back up into place  I use optimate on some near to power  this has helped

 

[coppice cutter]

I keep a large (120ft plus) extension lead permanently connected in one outbuilding, and put a couple of wall brackets beside it to make it easily trailed out and most importantly gathered up again. It's main job through the winter is keeping batteries topped up, I've two Kubota tractors and a Kubota digger, all 04/05 and still on their original batteries and working well.

 

Failing that, shift something to where the power is and get it on the charger before the battery gets so low that it won't start it.

 

You just have to discipline yourself to make the effort to hook something up for half a day when it hasn't been used for a while.

Edited April 18, 2021 by coppice cutter
extra info

[aspenarb]

Battery isolators on everything and buy a load of those solar chargers, they wont  charge anything up but they put out enough in to stop a battery going backwards, had them on the donkey engines and the newer ones unlike the earlier offerings actually work.

 

Bob

[Baldbloke]

If I know I’m not going to use something for an extended period (and it uses a wet cell battery) I usually fully charge it and then remove it and drain it. Then prior to reuse, refill with fresh acid and recharge.

The dry layoff with a full charge supposedly stops degradation.

Otherwise it’s a case of using a low amperage smart charger.