Wednesday, April 11, 2018

battery options

Given the difficulty we have had at finding a replacement 33Ah battery for the Sealake FM12330, I've been starting to think about options or alternatives...

original battery configuration with positive on right

The perfect solution. An OEM battery that matches what I found inside the MotoMaster Nautilus power tank would be ideal. The correct dimensions, close to the amp-hours, and the nut-bolt terminals in the correct configuration. Interesting, the stock sealed lead acid battery is lying on its back.

alternate configuration with positive on left

Option 1. Actually, this is Wayne's solution, as he bought a similar (slightly larger) battery that had the terminals reversed. He needed heavy gauge interconnect wires to reach the terminals.

alternate configuration with upright short battery

Option 2. I have looked a little for a battery that is short but deep, in an upright configuration, the same overall form factor as stock battery when on its back.

alternate configuration with two smaller batteries

Option 3. And lately, I've been thinking we are barking up the tree. Maybe we should rethink the solution. Would it be easier to find two smaller batteries and interconnect them in parallel?

In a parallel arrangement, the same battery terminals would be connected. Positive to positive and negative to negative. When done, we can add the amperage and average the volts. So two 18Ah 12 volt SLAs in parallel would put out 36 ampere-hours.

Again, this option needs heavy gauge wire to interconnect the batteries. And there needs to be clearances inside the casing and mounting to support this.

§

A problem with the dual battery option is that 1 + 1 ≠ 2. The case for individual small batteries looks to be around 3 inches, maybe just under. But combined, it exceeds the depth limit of 5¼". Each separate battery should not be deeper than 2-5/8"...

No comments: