For excessive vibration applications, in off-road operation, or extreme conditions, it is best to use a spiral wound AGM VRLA (Valve Regulated Lead-Acid) car or deep cycle battery because there is no shedding of active plate material since the plates are immobilized. In addition, they also use GRT (Gas Recombinant Technology) and have all of the characteristics of the AGM (Ca/Ca) VRLA batteries with Lead-Calcium positive and Lead-Calcium spiral wound plates plus:
- Withstand up to 15 times more vibration
- Up to twice the number of cycles than a wet lead-acid battery
- Smaller
- Recharges faster reducing charging cost
- Wider absorption and float charging voltage variance
- Withstand heat better
- Charging losses of 4% and maximum continuous discharge rate 33% of their capacity
Examples of spiral wound AGM VRLA batteries are Johnson Controls’ Optima, Exide’s Select Orbital or Maxxima, EnerSys’ Cyclon, BLS, or ToPin. Typically spiral wound AGM car batteries cost between $90 and $150 and deep cycle versions cost more.
Spiral wound batteries are essentially lead acid based and even though they are better than regular lead acid batteries, they are still subject to sulfation and can be optimized with desulfation.
Source: Greg Darden
