I've been wanting to post this for a while. If you're buying a maintainance free battery for your Stove Bolt, you may want to think twice. It probably is not comapatible with your charging system. Lead/calcium batteries are not very resistant to "deep-cycling" (deep discharge followed by a full charge). This made them inappropriate for uses such as to power trolling motors in fishing boats. It also required a higher charging voltage. General Motors studied the charging characteristics of lead/calcium batteries and set the voltage regulators of cars equipped with the "Delco Freedom II" battery at 14.8 volts. Lower settings prevented charging to full capacity. This is too high for lead/antimony batteries and will cause them to lose water rapidly.
Older vehicles with voltage regulators set at about 14.0 volts simply will not fully charge lead/calcium or hybrid batteries. Stories abound of cars with older regulators leaving their owners stranded on cold mornings shortly after a "new, improved, maintenance-free" battery was installed. Even two weeks of sitting in the garage, with no load other than the electric clock and burglar alarm, can discharge a battery if the voltage regulator prevented it from being properly charged.
Antimony batteries are not campatible with the modern "high output" GM charging systems. It will "cook" the battery, greatly reducing life span. Did you ever see a battery tray & frame rail in a GM vehicle corroded? That's because an Antimony/Lead battery was installed, and boiled out it's contents. These charging systems require Calcuim/Lead batteries. These batteries need to be "force charged", and can handle the higher output of the GM charging systems.
Think about the next battery you but in your "Bolt"!!
Just thought I would share this with you guys.
Jim Sgrig
