I have a 79 VW Bus, and I cant seem to find a happy battery for her? About a year and a half ago, I originally bought a regular (over the counter) battery from Autozone when the battery that I had got used from a junkyard went bad. $80 dollars later, it didn't last 6 months. I don't drive my Bus everyday, and fail to hook up the charger when its not in daily use. So, I decided to buy an expensive ($120) Bosch battery for her. That lasted for about 6 months also, however, it was under warranty, so I took it back and got another one. I had put the Bus in storage outside for about 7 months. and just took it back out of storage when I welded in the Bus boy adjusters... http://thelatebay.com/index.php?topic=20298.0 Of course, once I took it out of storage I put it on the charger, and the battery charged right up! However, it won't hold! In 8 hours the battery drains to nothing!!! So, my options are either, take it back up to Pepboys and swap out the Bosch battery under warranty, or pick up something even nicer.... http://www.batteriesplus.com/product/42031-SLI48AGM-Xtreme-AGM-Battery/560-SLI/5319-Car-and-Truck-Batteries/639099-Volkswagen/2005-2-Isuzu-3KRI--VA05-Rechargeable/Passat-TDI.aspx You already know what I'm going to do... Another $120 foolishly spent! My questions are, will this size battery even fit? What the hell is an AGM battery, and how is it different, or better? All I know is I bought one for my motorcycle (1979 KZ1000) about 6 moths ago and it was the best battery I have ever purchased for it, so I'm guessing it will do the same for my Bus, right? Your thoughts please...
Bosch batteries are normally good, you need to keep them charged up - any lead acid battery left for a long time will discharge and if left discharged for too long or too often wont hold a charge again. I wanted to know myself what advantages AGM batteries have so I looked here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorbent_glass_mat AGM more sensitive to heat - not quantified in the article, but the engine bay gets quite hot, hence our bus files caused by perishing fuel pipes. AGM have a shorter life time AGM are more sensitive to over charging
I bought an Odyssey AGM battery for my R1200GS. It worked alright, but when it got discharged (forgotten about for a couple of months in the very cold winter a couple of years ago) it never came back up past 12V. I've heavily discharged good lead acid batteries and always got them back to a decent Voltage, but this never recovered. Sold the bike since, so not my problem, but when I needed a battery for the R90/6 I just got lead acid and it's fine.
My AGM is still going strong on a bike left for months at a time, it's been on there for three years, I've never had to charge it. They are expensive but I was getting through a lead acid batty every six months Jago
AGM goes flat ONCE it is DEAD unless recharged IMMEDIATELY. And it needs a modified regulator to charge properly in a car. Wet battery goes flat you have a bit longer... if a normal battery discharges quickly, then fitting an AGM is just a more expensive waste of battery.
