Gel Versus Firefly Carbon Foam

[john61ct]

Two separate issues here.

Mfg rating for cycles is based on getting back to 100% full every cycle.

A given battery like Trojan's RE series, say T-105RE may be rated for lots and lots of cycles A, great value for money.

But start cycling it without getting back to full and you may only get B, say half those cycles.

The **ratio** between A and B is less with Gel than AGM.

But the Firefly formulation apparently isn't bothered by the PSOC regime much if at all, and that's its USP in the marketplace.

And remember, these mfg lab stats about cycles mean little in comparing different mfg, only useful within one co, say Trojan's regular T-105 vs the T-105RE.

[Emouchet]

What do you mean by CAR ?

[Training Wheels]

Charge acceptance rate, I believe.

[john61ct]

Yes. C = the 20-hour discharge AH rating of a bank, e.g. 4 golf cart batteries may be 430AH.

If a 50% depleted bank that size accepts a charging rate of only 60A, that's a CAR of around .15C (15% of ~400AH)

Some high-quality AGM can get up to or even past 1C, and LFP even higher, where even a deeply discharged bank can be recharged in well under an hour.

But very high currents can be dangerous, the wiring infrastructure has to be robust enough to handle it.

That's the reason many mfg spec a maximum rate lower than what the batt will absorb.