The company is well ensconced in the telecom, UPS, marine, transportation, and industrial battery fields. Its batteries utilize thin plate, pure lead technology similar to EnerSys/Odyssey. Northstar Battery is a relatively new company. Energy1 NSB-115-FTB / Northstar NSB-100-FT Blue+ After 48 hours of float charging, we rested the battery for 24 hours and capacity tested it again.īottom line: We are still perplexed at the capacity loss on the second Deka battery when compared to the other AGM batteries tested. The second battery was also float-charged for two full days after absorption charging at 14.6 volts to 0.3 amps (the accepted charge current). After the tail current dropped to 0.5-amps and 14.6-volt absorption voltage, we had returned 110 percent of removed capacity but we kept charging until the tail current pushed toward 0.3 amps. The second and third capacity tests were done to 0.30-amp charge current at 14.6 volts, and we returned in excess of 110 percent of removed capacity per Dekas recommendation. This time, we made sure everything was done exactly to Dekas specifications. In our first test, Deka suggested that our capacity testing did not bring the battery up to full capacity for our post-PSOC capacity testing. As a result of the partial state of charge testing, the second battery lost approximately 27 percent of its original tested capacity. While this was a gain of 2.62 amp hours beyond the first 8A31DTM we tested, it still represents a surprisingly high capacity loss. ![]() Even after three capacity tests, the 8A31DTM could deliver only 76.04 amp hours. Its lowest usable capacity, after the one-hour recharge during the 30 PSOC cycles, was 35.88 amp hours thats a walk down loss of 10.57 amp hours over 30 PSOC cycles.Īt the end of the partial state of charge testing, however, this 8A31DTM, like its sister battery, had lost a large percentage of its original 104.8 amp-hour baseline capacity. It handled the partial state of charge cycling fairly well in terms of walk down. With each recharge during the partial state of charge testing, the Deka 8A31DTMs usable capacity (in amp hours) walked down at a reasonable pace compared to others, although it was slightly below its sister battery. Netting 104.8 amp hours from a 105-amp-hour battery is certainly an acceptable baseline capacity. The first Deka tested at 104.5 amp hours this shows good manufacturing consistency. Our second Deka test battery tested slightly below its rating with a baseline capacity of 104.8 amp hours. Some labels offer better warranties, so it can pay to compare. It is one of the least expensive AGM batteries you will find on the U.S. It is sold by Deka, West Marine, NAPA, and many Sams Clubs as a Duracell, OReilly Auto, Power-Tec, MK Battery, and numerous other smaller labels. Widely distributed under many different brand labels, this is perhaps the most popular AGM battery on boats today. The Deka/East Penn 8A31DTM is a hybrid, dual-purpose AGM battery. We had only one thin-plate, pure lead (TPPL) AGM in the first round, the Enersys Odyssey PC2150, and it earned a Recommended rating. We also wanted to test a thin-plate, pure lead AGM battery that we missed in the first round, Northstar Batterys Energy1 NSB-115-FTB (also sold as the Northstar NSB-100-FT Blue+). To double-check our findings, we decided to test a second Deka 8A31DTM. Some of the new absorbed glass mat batteries in our test never fully recovered to their pre-test capacity-and one in particular, the Deka 8ADTM, recovered a far smaller percentage of its original charge than the others. We then compared the capacity of each battery to its original capacity, before the partial state of charge test began. After completing 30 cycles, we used a multi-stage charging process to bring the batteries back up to full capacity. The discharge-recharge cycles were designed to mimic the recharging routine of a sailor who relies solely on his engine alternator to recharge his batteries when anchored. ![]() (See PS May 2015 online.) The object of the exercise was to demonstrate just how quickly sulfation, which is caused by keeping a battery in a partial state charge (PSOC), can reduce the capacity and eventually permanently ruin a good battery. In our recent test of absorbed glass mat (AGM) batteries, we cycled five different batteries through 30 deep cycles to 11.7 volts but only partially recharged them for one hour after each discharge cycle at a charge rate of 46 percent of battery amp-hour capacity.
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