Buying 2 new batteries, share your favorites!

[goalsquid]

I am curious how you keep the 12V compartment charged. Do you just plug it into a charger or did you run something from the alternator?

Yellow or Red Optima depends.

I run with 6 Yellows: [1 + 1] = 24V and [4 x 1] = 12V creature comfort devices.
They don't out-gas, and orientate these on their side or in the up direction.

Red is better for cranking/starting, Yellow is better for deep-discharge. Either would be fine.
Red might be a bit better choice for starting, Yellow for the 12V compartment, long running
frig and mini-bar in the back of your 712

I stuck with Yellows all around, as that was the best choice for the 12V battery bay, and give
me the ability to interchange them at will.

ron

[rmel]

Belts and Suspenders approach.

Charging is via a REDARC BCDC1240 Battery charger, this unit has two sources of power:
One from a pair of 100W Siemens solar panels on the roof of my 710K. The other from the
24V alternator. These are not cheap from the land of Oz, but well worth it if you have Solar
and also need a dependable charge when your engine is running.

If you don't have panels, there are 24V to 12V chargers. One thing to consider, it's not a good idea
to run a 24V to 12V converter that is constantly ON -- could drain your 24V batteries to charge the 12V.
Look to see if the converter has a threshold cut-off or or have a Relay to disable. The REDARC has
intelligence built in with a DSP won't turn itself on unless it detects the presence of the Alternator.

ron