AGM’s affected by engine heat?

henry9

Member
Hi,

I’ve got the old school lead acid batteries that I’m considering replacing with AGM’s due to the corrosive effects to the nearby brake lines. I know Roadtrek switched to AGM’s but do they degrade faster due to engine heat? Just wondering, definitely going to replace with seals AGM’s!

Thanks

2008 Agile

Henry
 

jdpartin

Member
Underwood might be a minor problem in traffic jams but usually you cruise along at 70 or so and engine heat is being blown away. What killed mine was extreme cold of 10-15 degrees or so for a week.
 

autostaretx

Erratic Member
There's another recent thread where someone put a layer of Reflectix around his under-hood AGM .. and it made a 20 F difference in their temperature
(i'll add a link if i find it)((done two posts down v))

--dick
 
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Rock Doc

Active member
I don’t know if AGMs degrade faster with heat than FLAs, but it’s true that heat isn’t a friend to ANY battery system or chemistry.

I think the reality is that we face a series of compromises with our battery systems and chemistries that at best, we can optimize, but not make perfect. The factors I see are costs, location, safety, and the effort/work/time that must be accommodated to change a given configuration. It’s all a type of iron triangle where you can’t make the system perfect, so you choose which are the most important factors for your situation, and then allow yourself to be satisfied with that.

Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good!

(For me, my two GC1 FLA batteries are under the hood, and I have Reflectix around them to give some heat shielding.)

Rock Doc
2014 Pleasureway Plateau TS in 2013 Sprinter 3500
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
I have 115Ah AGM Fullriver under the hood since 2013 coupled with one in the van. Didn’t noticed battery degrading. Battery is well insulated.

It is certainly not the best scenario but it was a reasonable tradeoff due to space limitation.
 

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RT.SS

Active member
Not sure if how much degradation if any, but it’s most likely not good for the battery when exposed to extreme engine heat, not to mention the ill effects of constant higher charging voltage (14+) from alternator when battery is hot. I fabricated a battery enclosure on mine using aluminum sheet lined with heat insulation mat, the batteries temp stays below 90ºF (per Blue Sky/ and Magnum battery temp monitor) even after long drives.


Picture with the front heat shield removed.
 

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