|
I have equipped most of my farm machinery including cars and pickups with the spiral cell AGM batteries made by Optima and Exide orbital, I love em, they last forever, my oldest Optima is 16 years old and still cranks like new. Others of both Optima and Exide brand are from 2-12 years old and none have failed in a starting application including some that have been totally discharged several times because some accessory was left on. They seem to shrug off this kind of abuse and come back at full power.
They have great starting power are very slow to self discharge. They produce no acid or corrosive fumes, so you never have a corroded cable or battery box.
If they have a weakness, it is that the spiral cell AGM battery has very little excess electrolyte and you can quickly dry them out and ruin them if your charging system puts out over 15 volts or if you put a big unregulated charger on them and walk away for a few hours. Once they are overcharged so badly that the pressure relief valves open and release electrolyte vapor, there is no way to add more electrolyte to replace what has been lost. Treat them to a normal charge rate / voltage and you have very nearly a instal it and forget it battery for the life of the machine. Some try using a deep cycle spiral cell AGM battery for a starting battery , this is common where a high power sound system or a winch is used with the engine off. The results have not been very good using a deep cycle battery in this way,many times they are short lived. My good luck with them in a starting application has been with the cranking / lighting / ignition type AGM spiral batteries like the Optima red top and the Exide orbital CLI type.
| 
