Best Battery to power Unicooler for the week

[jute]

I'm building Figjam's larger model swamp cooler, the Unicooler, that uses a 12V solar pump and the EverBreeze 12V fan.

Anyone have a suggestion for the best battery that will likely last the entire week? We'd rather not recharge with solar or a generator so as to keep it simple. Will probably want to use the swamp cooler 4-5 hours per day.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks!

[FIGJAM]

Walmart has a 100 AH "marine" deep cycle battery for around 80$.

If you run the fan on low or medium for 4-5 hours a day, that battery should last all week.

[euphoria101]

Woohoo! I was just about to do a search for this info... and then the master himself walks in with an answer!! Thanks FIGJAM!

[dinko2013]

I inherited a 'FigJam' swamp cooler from my friends who only used it once (last year). They used a 105 amp battery and it lasted the entire week without recharging. The battery has been stored in our camp storage unit for the past year. The unit is located in Fernley, NV (dry desert-like conditions). Do these batteries last from year to year? I understand it will most likely need charging, but I don't want to show up and have it not work at all. I thought about getting a solar power alternative, but I honestly don't want to spend $200 if I don't have to.

thanks

[BBadger]

It may have drained, but you can probably recharge it as it'll have enough charge cycles. Beware that it'll take some time to charge up, so I don't know how you're intending on doing this prior to your arrival unless you're booking a room or something.

[GreyCoyote]

To "restart" a basically new but badly discharged battery, stick it on a trickle charger for 3-4 hours until the battery reads over 12.2 volts without a load (repolarization). After this, hit it with 10-15 amp charge for 2-3 hours. This stirs the electrolyte and makes the battery ready to take a charge. Throttle back to 2-3 amps for 48 hours and then check the specific gravity of each cell. If the SGs are within a few points of each other, do an equalization charge, let it sit for a day unconnected, and then do a 50% depth of discharge at the C/10 rate.. Recharge normally and you SHOULD be good to go. Its also been my experience that a gentle shaking or rocking of the battery before the high-rate charge sequence can work wonders as well. YMMV.

Best practices say you should fully charge (and equalize) a wet lead-acid cell before long-storage, adding a trickle charge ever 2-3 months to keep it well-fluffed (scientific term).