On Thu, 17 Feb 2011 09:51:31 -0600, Ignoramus5243
wrote:

On 2011-02-17, Pete C. wrote:

Ignoramus20463 wrote:

On 2011-02-16, wrote:
On Tue, 15 Feb 2011 06:03:50 -0800 (PST), Jim Wilkins
wrote:

On Feb 15, 8:51??am, Ignoramus20463 ignoramus20...@NOSPAM.
20463.invalid wrote:
...
No, blue top is deep cycle. Yellow top is deep cycle plus cranking
duty. Red top is cranking only. I just got a yellow top battery for
myself today, cannot wait to get it.

i-

http://www.optimabatteries.com/home.php
With spec sheets and instructions.

jsw
OK, just picking one size out of the mix - a group 34.

The Blue 34M is 1000ca, 800cca, 100 reserve, 50 reserve @ c/20. 0.003
ohm resistance and 38.4 lbs.
The red 34 or 34R are also 1000 ca, 800cca, 100 reserve, and 50
reserve @c/20 with 0.003 ohms resistance, and is half a pound ligher
(aprox) at 37.9 lbs

The yellow D34, on the other hand, is only 750 ca, and 870cca, but has
a 120 minute reserve and 55 reserve @ c/20. The resistance is also
lower at 0.0028 ohms, and it weighs a whopping 42.9 lbs - in the same
sized case.

These numbers tell you what the advertizing does not. The YELLOW top
battery is THE deep cycle battery.
The red top and the blue top are extremely close in both construction
and specification and are heavilly biased in their design to motor
starting duty.
The blue battery has a bit more weight than the red one, which points
to a slighly more deep-cycle design than the red one, all else being
the same.


Very good. These dischares really do ruin regular starting batteries.

i

You might want to look at a different inverter, many have a low voltage
shutoff feature to turn them off at something like 11V to prevent deep
discharge damage.

I agree with you. I will look into this.

i

You might also want to measure the actual current your inverter draws
from the power source as all (particularly cheap Chinese) inverters
are not created equally and some of the cheaper ones actually draw
more current then larger (better designed) ones with the same load.