might look into a regulator that's a little smarter than the one I have now
+++++++++++++++++ Like most things, battery design has its compromises - electrolyte (gel) volume, plate area, distance between plates etc. These parameters obviously effect size and weight for a given AH capacity and the often ignored cold cranking capacity (where relevant). Some batteries are designed to efficiently "store" energy that is received and delivered at modest (charge / discharge) rates - units designed for Solar and UPS applications generally fall in this category and are very effective provided they are not subjected to high charge / discharge rates. The acceptable charge rate (in this case) is more of a trickle charge, but certainly not much over C/10 and the acceptable discharge rate is adequate to deliver the full (stored) capacity over a period of time. Whereas we can control the charge rate and solve most of the battery damage type problems, cranking an engine is very demanding in terms of current draw, if the battery is not designed for this, its life will be short. Subjecting the battery to a higher (than spec) charge (or discharge?) rate is more likely to cause damage from overheating, than high temps in the general environment. Steve Zambia
