Pros and cons of this house battery?

New to all of this including the Tacoma itself, but I'm slowly building out a livabe long weekend camper setup with an 07 DCSB and a modified Overland Habitat. I'm willing to throw money at this within reason, but don't want to go nuts as I'll never be in the Alaskan outback for weeks at a time. So I like free stuff, and a friend gave me one of these from a data center that had to refresh backup batteries by policy.

https://www.northstarbattery.com/product/nsb-155ft-red

I like the form factor, but it weighs about 100lbs. Operating temp shouldn't ever be an issue with its range. I'm thinking of installing it either behind the back seat or up against the front wall of the bed. It's way overkill for my fridge, lights, and laptop charging, but the price is right and I would have capacity to add other stuff if needed. Would also want to tie it into the alternator someday but that's above my skill level, probably have to pay somebody to at least consult.

Pros and cons of one of these? Any deal killers?

 

It's a good idea in theory. I love these front access battery form factors, this is is 4.9" wide and you can get smaller ones around 4.3" wide. I've actually started trying to fit one of those into the space between the bed and the rear panels for some reserve power.

I won't comment on the battery itself because I'm the quality and service director for a company in direct competition with Northstar, but I will say every year I get complaints from people telling me they had an issue with a battery and then find out its 4-5 years old and they got it from a guy who worked in a data center or some other place with a standby battery.

There's a reason that these guys get rid of the batteries, they last an average of 3-5 years in UPS (datacenter) service. You'll see talk of 10, 12 or even 15 year design life, but that's lab conditions, 68-77 degrees F constant temps and never discharging. Just sitting on float charge.

You may get lucky and get one that's got some life left in it but don't expect more than a year or two before it starts having issues. So if you go this route and build around it, expect to shell out $450+ on a new replacement in a year or two (or make sure to stay friends with whoever is getting you this one)

 

Great feedback, that's exactly what I'm looking for. Turns out this one might already be deceased, it doesn't want to power my 12v fridge very long, although it never completely shuts off. Just doesn't cool anything.

This whole thing is sort of a trial run for whether I'm serious about camping/overlanding. If it sticks, the next one will be more purpose built and spendy to address whatever I want to make more.efficient. if it doesn't, then I didn't blow a bunch of money unnecessarily.

 

Consider reading this.

https://renogy.force.com/helpcenter/s/article/Battery-Types-Explained

 

I'm back. Buddy replaced the dead one with another of the same type, have already used it twice to run an iceco 12v fridge for 3-4 days nonstop. I'm willing to build around it and okay with shelling out for a new one if it dies. Since these are built for indoor use, I assume I would be okay putting it in the cab, no off gassing since it's sealed?

I would like to be able to charge it off the alternator, but also plug into the wall to top it off if I haven't driven the truck in a while. is this possible? I will be paying a pro to do this, but wanted to learn more so I can be sure I know what I want. Is there a combo charger /inverter that would save me some space?

 

VRLA will still gas some, but not very much and only when charging, so when the vehicle is running and your fan is blowing so not much risk. Bigger risk would be heating/ thermal runaway if you're on a long trip (8 hours plus) if it dries out. Still very low risk.

These are high specific gravity, likely 1.300 or 1.320 vs 1.285 that you see on most automotive batteries. So you can charge it off the alternator but ideal charging voltage is going to be around 14.4V. Using a supplemental charger from time to time is a good idea. They make trickle chargers with quick disconnects that would do well for this. Ones with an auto shutoff might get confused because you'd have this connected to the regular battery too.

Your best bet is probably to get a disconnect switch to isolate the battery from the rest of the vehicle when you charge it from the house. They are pretty cheap. I think the switch I used for my winch is like $25 and rated to 500A .

 

Thanks once again. I keep seeing the Xantrex Freedom XC 2000watt charger inverter, which is likely overkill. I'm not convinced I need an inverter, but would rather do too much than too little. it doesn't seem much larger than a plain old charger that would do what I need (charge from alternator, shore, and maybe solar someday. Plus I like the ability to monitor via Bluetooth since I know little of this) Also seems smart enough to know when it is connected to shore power and pass through. I am sort of assuming it would also know to cut off from the alternator, but still learning. Am I thinking along the right lines? Better ideas come to mind?