Reply to "Optima Battery Life in a Pantera"

Battery tenders will damage Glass mat batteries. They need to remain charged but not over charging. They can not be run down or charged improperly. That is the main critical things with glass mat batteries.

Even lead acids typically won't last a year if ran completely down but for a glass mat its game over.

I am running 2 motorcycle batteries in my MG. I am only on year 3 right now but I have a battery cutoff for winter. I turn it off late fall, turn it on in the spring and it fires right up.

Lead acids in general last around 5 years. Our aircraft used to have Ni cads but all have lead acid in them now. We are lucky if we see 5 out of any of them so 13 is outstanding.

One more note about lead acids, I have heard some who take lead acids which have seem to have failed, flushed them out the re serviced them. Evidently the breakdown of the plates sits in the bottom of the battery conducting through the plates allowing the battery to discharge.