Gel battery for JE?

[TheJoker]

Hi guys,

It seems my car has chewed up yet another battery. It does this because I don't use the car often enough, so it deep discharges which in turn kills off the battery.

So, now I'm pondering if I should invest in a deep cycle Gel Battery?!

Such as one of these?
http://www.vbat.co.uk/Deep-Cycle-AGM-GEL-Sealed-Lead-Acid-Batteries.asp
or even nicer, an Optima battery, but they're very expensive!
http://www.vbat.co.uk/Optima-Yellow-Top-Batteries.asp
(The yellow top ones seem to be specifically designed for deep discharge)

Is this a good idea or should I abandon it?

Does anyone know what I should look for? Specs?

Thanks!

[renaultbiler]

I used to have a Optima Yellow Top in my Alpine, also because it is parked during winter and rarely used in summer - but they died for me one after the other so i went back to a traditional battery instead as it became too expencive to replace one of these each year/two years (even if i charged it a few times aswell).

I would rather get a fixed battery charger in the car and have it charging/controlling the battery when not in use. I do that on our Espace as we have a Scenic for daily use + i have a company car - so the Espace is just for family hollidays etc.

[TheJoker]

I've got a solar panel charger. I thought that would have been ideal as it requires no external wiring and it'll keep charging (and for free) "forever". Sadly I'm unable to find a spot that would allow me to pull a cable from the cabin into the engine compartment. I did find a spare fuse that had +12V on all the time, so I connected into there. Sadly this seems to have put some gremlings into the car as it started playing up a bit. Since stopping using the solar panel things have returned to normal.
I guess I could disconnect one of the battery leads and then connect it straight to the battery by running the cable from the cabin to the engine room via the passenger door. Just that I'm lazy! 

Thanks for the info on the Optimas. I didn't know they were that fragile. I guess I'll stick with replacing the standard batteries should the go pop. Having said that I've just been out for a run in the car. I put the car on charge around 1pm and took it off at about 4pm and it fired up straight away, no complaints. Maybe the battery isn't as dead as I thought.

Thanks again!

[Matra_Hans]

You can get special electronicaly controlled chargers for use on cars that are parked for long time such as old timers that are parked during vinter.
But of cause you need to be able to park nead en electric socket.
Hans

[TheJoker]

Thanks Hans!
I know of those trickle chargers/conditioners. They are very common on motorbikes that don't get used very often.
I guess I could rig up one of those. Have a "special" cable that's, kind of discretely located. Put a trickle charger in the garage and some nice plugs on the cable so I can easily disconnect it all when I need the car.
The car is parked outside the garage, some 1.5-2m from the door. The problem is that the garage opens up to a public street, so people walk past the car all the time.