Hanging around the phone this morning, waiting for word on the Jeep. Shop owner has promised an extensive list of other ways in which the poor thing has been neglected, none of which are likely to come as a surprise. Back when it got regular maintenance Landlady’s Jeep had a reputation as a terrible money pit and I am absolutely amazed that it has gone this long (over five years!) without simply giving up the ghost. It’s reminding me of my old salvage-ticket 4Runner when I was unemployed and hungry in California – it never ran WELL, but it never quit me. I like to imagine it did me one last favor after the cops stole it by catching fire and burning down the impound yard.
Meanwhile, speaking of expensive repairs, I’m looking at deep-cycle battery prices to replace the deader in my power shed and I’m encouraged: New Trojan 200ish amp/hour 6v lead/acid batteries are being advertised in the $150 range. I need two, which is $300 more than I’ll have in the bank after the cataract surgery. But I’m wondering – yes I know you’re not supposed to do this, thank you for reminding me, but I’m really wondering if I could get away with just replacing the one dead 186 a/h battery. Because I’ll have $160 in hand at the end of next week, and at this price it would be a $150 gamble in hopes of saving another $150 (plus shipping, which is whatever) that I don’t have and won’t for at least a month. Decisions, decisions…
For what its worth,
I see alot of solar setups using GC2 batteries for golf carts. 6v 205ah, often under $90 (locally for me at least) for a flooded deep cycle that should be awfully close to what you already use.
then your $160 nearly covers both of them
As far as I know (which probably isn’t too far; YMMV) the only downside of mixing batteries is that the new one will end up dying at the same time as the old one i.e. much sooner than it would have anyways. If that’s true and you suspect that the good battery you already have has a lot of life left then I can’t see any reason not to go for it.
On the other hand, running it with that bad battery has probably taken a lot of life off of the “good” one…
After the cops stole it?
This sounds like a seriously good story. Have you posted about it before?
No, Goober, that’s not a story I’ve told.
And after almost six years I find I still get too emotional to tell it. Not emotional about the truck so much, because I knew that job was dangerous when I took it. But It happened because of a terrible mistake I made, which in turn was due to an extremely bad thing that happened without warning. And I’m still not unemotional about the bad thing. So I’m going to keep that story for me. Enough to say that my papers were not in order.
I make my own power; have for years. Never done what you’re suggesting. I’d say the only legitimate answer can come from from someone who does likewise (on the power thing) and has swapped in 50% (regardless of the number) new cells on a dead ‘system’.
Living on solar and have fried batteries in the past. Mix and match and you’ll be buying 2 more batteries in a couple of months. Your best bet is 2 GC’s as was said above. Walmart, Cosco both have Chinese made ones. Not exactly junk (close) but you HAVE to monitor the voltage and not get below 50%. They’ll cost close to $100 apiece with tax, minus the core charge. Instead of Trojans, buy Rollls batteries. Much better made here in the US. Not cheap so get it all together before buying them. I’ve found that more panels help the batteries a whole lot and during the day at least, makeup for bad ones. Get LED’s or kerosine lamps for night as I used to do.