Battery Advice

Choosing a 12V battery

With a wide range of 12V battery types & sizes available on the market today, choosing the right battery for your Ark battery box can be confusing without a little help - which is where we come in.

Battery type:
Ark recommend deep cycle batteries for use in our power battery boxes. These will give you the prolonged, steady release of power most people are looking for when camping, boating and 4WD’ing. There are 3 main types of deep cycle batteries (as shown opposite) - AGM, Gel, Lead Acid.

Battery size:
Battery size is measured in amp hours (ah) and most batteries range in size from 60 amp hours up to 130 amp hours. The larger the amp hours, the more power you will have available to you. A typical and highly suitable battery size for the ArkPak, commonly available in most stores, is the Group 31 size deep cycle battery.

Jump Starting:
Ark recommends an AGM battery for this purpose as it combines longevity of power with sufficiently high cold cranking amps to get your flat battery started.

AGM batteries

An AGM battery (Absorbed Glass Matt) is different to Flooded Lead Acid because all its electrolyte is “absorbed” in the separator material. The separator acts like a sponge and is saturated to approximately 98%. This is why an AGM battery is spill-proof and can be mounted in virtually any position. AGM battery plates can be flat or rolled and as there is no free flooding of acid, they can operate in any position, hence can last substantially longer than conventional cycling batteries.

Gel batteries

Gel batteries are very similar to traditional flooded lead acid batteries. The difference is that a gelling agent is added to the electrolyte and pressure vents are added to the cover of the battery. The gelled electrolyte can also flow, which means there are some limitations in mounting orientations. Gel Batteries offer vibration, shock and corrosion resistance.

Lead Acid batteries

There are generally 2 types of flooded lead acid batteries - maintainable flooded lead acid and maintenance free flooded lead acid. All flooded lead acid batteries have vents that are continuously open to the environment. A “sealed” flooded battery generally refers to the cover design as being non accessible. Flooded batteries generally cannot be operated at an angle greater than 45 degrees.

Exide Deep Cycle batteries

Ark recommend Exide batteries for long lasting, premium performance. Both of the 2 batteries shown opposite can be used in the Ark power pack range, to deliver the most optimal performance from your ArkPak (see right).
www.exide.com

Size matters!
When it comes to size, it depends on how many days you plan to stay out for and what devices you need to power over that time. The larger the battery size, the more 12V (and 110V) energy you will have to power and recharge all of your essential and non-essential devices.

Exide® Edge™ Marine / RV AGM

LONG LASTING BOAT BATTERIES
Perfect for starting and deep cycle marine and RV applications. Ready for all-day, key-on and key-off action.

The Exide Edge flat plate design contains six sets of plates, with glass mat separators, arranged in a straight line inside the battery, like sliced bread. SureLife® Graphite Technology retains initial capacity longer for lasting energy capacity.

EXIDE® Nautilus™ Marine Deep Cycle

These batteries are designed to provide continuous operating time to run trolling motors, live wells, inverters, depth/fish finders, etc. They can be discharged and recharged many times without damaging the internal components of the battery.

Note: battery performance may vary