Quote:
Originally Posted by ILLusion
Well you're basically cutting your usable battery life by 1/3rd. Battery cells have a certain number of charges in its usable life. NiCad I can't remember what it is, but it's around 1700 charges. When you deep cycle, you use up three charges.
|
^^^^^
What he said. Guys, a battery's life is measured in charge/discharge cycles. This means unless you are having overt problems with the battery, stick with an NPT charge system, which minimizes memory issues and conditions the battery as it charges back from whatever level you used it last time. Discharging the battery should only be done for long term storage (3+ months) and even then discharge it to about 1/3 power.
And if you're going to discharge a battery, stay away from those 10amp dischargers. I've even seen some supposedly 'Digital' chargers discharge batteries waaaaaaaay to fast. What is the cheapest and easiest discharger on the market? Simple, a $2 12v backup light from Canadian Tire. Solder a connector to that and use it. Its polarity neutral, and its a more gentle manner to discharge the battery AND the light will indicate when the discharge is complete. I laugh when I see commercial dischargers because they are such a waste of money.