WHAT DOES "VRLA", "MF", "AGM", AND "SLA" STAND FOR?

"VRLA" stands for Valve Regulated Lead Acid, "MF" stands for Maintenance-Free, "AGM" stands for Absorbed Glass Mat, and "SLA" stands for Sealed Lead Acid. All 4 of these terms basically refer to the same type of battery.

A VRLA battery is an SLA that uses valves to control the recombination of Hydrogen and oxygen back into water, after it was electrolyzed during charging. This allows the charging voltage to be raised slightly compared to a 'conventional' SLA battery, whose voltage must be kept below the electrolysis point to prevent gassing

WHAT IS THE SHELF LIFE OF A SEALED LEAD ACID BATTERY?

SLA batteries naturally discharge over time. A sealed lead acid battery generally discharges 3% every month. If it is not charged periodically, the battery’s full capacity may not be reached again. The shelf life of sealed lead acid batteries varies according to several factors.

1)Temperature (The ideal temperature to store SLA batteries is 20°C (68°F))

2)Capacity(Was the battery fully charged when placed on the shelf and is it being recharged periodically?)

3)Age(All sealed lead acid batteries eventually exceed their life expectancy.)

A SLA (Sealed Lead Acid) battery can generally sit on a shelf at room temperature with no charging for up to a year when at full capacity, but is not recommended. Sealed Lead Acid batteries should be charged at least every 6 months.

HOW LONG DOES A BATTERY LAST?

The service design life of a battery is considerably with many circumstances. A battery’s lifetime is largely dependent on how it is used and maintained (how often - and how deeply - a battery is discharged). It is also important to take other factors such as the ambient temperature into account.

WHAT DETERMINES THE LIFE OF A VRLA BATTERY? 

Sealed lead acid battery life is determined by many factors. These include temperature, depth and rate of discharge, and the number of charges and discharges (called cycles).

CAN I CONNECT BATTERIES OF DIFFERENT Amp-Hours IN SERIES?

Batteries connected in series must be as close to identical as possible, to make sure that the individual cells in each battery charge and discharge together and are 'balanced' (have the same voltage). VRLA provides some balancing capability, by allowing higher voltage cells to gas while the lower voltage cells are still charging. Putting different capacity batteries is series will lead to disaster because the lower capacity battery will charge up faster and become grossly overcharged, causing it to vent and release gasses that cannot be replaced - and perhaps even explode!

Batteries lose performance and may go out of balance as they age. Therefore for best performance you should only combine batteries which have the same age and usage, preferably new batteries bought at the same time. Connecting random batteries together will probably give poor results, as the older weaker ones will not provide the expected capacity.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FLOAT AND CYCLE APPLICATIONS? 

A float application requires the battery to be on constant charge with an occasional discharge. Cycle applications charge and discharge the battery on a regular basis.

WHEN SHOULD A DEEP-CYCLE BATTERY BE USED? 

Deep-cycle batteries are used when 50% or more of the capacity is used per cycle. The most common use of deep-cycle batteries is in applications that require deep, repetitive drain, like powerful car audio systems, trolling motors, golf carts, electric wheelchairs, or RV house power sources. Public safety and high-performance vehicles are other applications that call for the special characteristics of deep-cycle batteries.