On 18 Jan 2005 08:54:09 -0800, wrote:

I have a mobile ham radio I am wanting to use upstairs in my house.
Would it be acceptable to take my deep cycle marine batteyr up there to
use and hook it up to one of those trickle chargers? Will the batter if
it is in a battery box ruin the carpet?

Might be better to use a sealed battery instead. You could use one
that's made for use in four wheeler's or for marine apps.(I used a
sealed lead acid in one of my old swamp runners that I'd routinely run
rivers and backwaters in)
Both yasua and US battery make a line of sealed lead acids for indoor
use.(I have a 12Ah US battery hooked up to a trickle charger that runs
a CB radio that I've got setup for home use and it works fine.)
If you insist on using a vented wet cell best to seal it up in a
plastic battery box with a vent tube going to an outdoor source.(much
like the way they're vented on motorcycles etc.. A small plastic tube,
in your case at least a 1/4 inch, ran from a barbed fitting mounted on
the sealed plastic case to a vent source. Say a 2x2 the length of a
window sill with a small hole drilled in it to run the plastic tubing
through. You can lift the window just enough to insert the 2x2 and
drop the window back down on it for a tight fit. Use corrosive grade
tygon tubing and nylon or uhmw plastic barb fittings, available at
your local hardware store.)
I can tell you that running a vented wet cell in a closed enviroment
will lead to problems if you don't vent it to the outdoors.
Virtually all fabrics in the enclosed space will develop acid rot and
it can cause serious health issues with your respiratory tract if you
let it vent inside.(Had a friend who built a small battery backup
system in a backroom of his house years back who went through this.
He'd not bothered to vent all those auto 12v's he had in series and it
rotted out most all the cotton fabric in the house as well as the wall
paper throughout. He developed severe bronchitis over the space of a
couple of years as well. His lung problem cleared up when we moved his
"home brew" backup system to an outdoor shed off of the house.)

The wet cells DO offer a more durable, longer lasting power solution
but do require a bit more consideration in planning though.
If you can afford it go with the sealed lead acids, they're low in
cost and give 2 to 5 years use with proper charging.( i usually pay
around 19 bucks for a 10-12 ah dry cell at my local industrial batery
outlet and the sealed one's made for four wheelers and such can be had
at motorcycle shops or your local Wal-Mart for as little as 30 bucks.
They tend to last a bit longer and can take a higher charge rate as
well.)