Here is a piece on gel cell reliability snagged from another
list concerning boat building (Doug follows this also):
It is true that gels and AGMs are
more efficient than the flooded types,
and that I waste some of my produced energy by not using them; however,
I find gel cells way too finicky/too sensitive to overcharging for me to
trust them while cruising. If someone is using gel cells and their
regulator shorts out (i.e., the charging voltage goes above 13.3 or so),
all they'll be able to do for their batteries is give them a decent
burial at sea. My Trojans take 15+ volts for several hours (during
equalization) and have no problems whatsoever.
There have been some supporting commentaries to this post.
R/Jay
Respectfully,
Jay K. Jeffries
Andros Is., Bahamas
As scarce as the truth is, the supply has always been in excess of
the demand.
-Josh Billings