Deka and Dual Battery set-up

Finally, a real question, and not more trolly bs...

I'm planning, a dual battery set-up for my Taco, mainly to run some lights, small appliance,electronics or the odd power tool.
I know very little about this, so I'm reading what I can.
The Chief Techninian at our base gave me a used Deka Dominator sealed gel beep cycle battery, showing 12.9V, but only 54% charge max (even charging doesn't increase this).
Does anone know if this battery will do for my purposes (cheaper than a new one!), if the charge level will matter, or any tips on these batteries?
I'd appreciate any links to helpful threads, too, (Yes, I'm already using the Search function...)

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/158176-need-help-choosing-battery-isolator.html
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technical-chat/137788-dual-battery-tray.html#post2687841
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technical-chat/104061-dual-battery-question-3.html#post2384506
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technical-chat/103969-electronics-basics-reference.html#post1998709

Well, that was easy.

Still curious about DEKA if anyone has experience...thanks...

 

So what did you end up doing? I'm looking at the same questions myself...

 

How are you charging it? It may sound weird but alot gel cells need to be charged in a series or parallel cant remember which to receive of full charge. Ive had a few like that and we always charged two together.

 

Please see Section 9 in the Car and Deep Cycle Battery FAQ on www.batteryfaq.org for more information on charging and Section 7.1.8 on dual battery setups.