Piecing together a deep cycle battery solution - solar and house power

[Crowleyal]

Hello,

I’m totally new to using a battery backup for my Dreamstation. I’d like to avoid buying an Anker or Jackery type of solution. Instead I’m working on building a deep cycle battery that can be both trickle charged when house power is active as well as when a hurricane blows thru and knocks the power out for who knows how long. (Hi, yes, I’m a Florida resident.)

This is building off Crimson Nape’s reply to me on the thread called Battery backup question (thank you, Crimson!). I’d link to it but I’m under 4 posts atm and can’t. 

If I get the trickle charger connected to the battery with clamps, can I get a second set of clamps at the same time on the terminals to convert to DC socket to also connect to the battery and power my machine? Crimson linked to one that was eyelets to DC socket but I don’t get how the eyelets connect to the battery terminals. 

For the solar part, I’d disconnect the on-grid clamps. The path for solar is Panels>Solar controller>Battery. In this setup I’m still confused how power gets to the machine. Are the eyelet “load” leads on the controller the power path via the DC socket? Or am I still facing a dual clamp situation on the battery terminals?

I’d appreciate the advice. Looking to buy on some Black Friday sales.

[Crimson Nape]

Deep cycle batteries use threaded stud mounts, opposed to posts only. Be sure you purchase a battery tender type of maintainer. A trickle charger is not designed for a continuous connection. They will charge until the battery is fully charged and shut down. A battery maintainer contains the logic circuitry to address this.
- Red

[Rickyricardo]

You can charge and use a battery at the same time. Your car does that every time you drive it.

Or a cell phone or laptop, you can charge and use them at the same time.

You can buy battery terminal adapters which go on the usual lead posts and have a screw on connector. I have a trickle charger wired to my car battery because I don't drive very much. It's under the hood and uses one of the existing battery clamp screws.

Go to an RV shop or a place which sells trolling motors for fishing and they'll have lots of clamps for batteries.

[Crimson Nape]

You misunderstood what I was trying to say. I was referring to the type of device used to maintain the battery's charge.
- Red

[Crowleyal]

Deep cycle batteries use threaded stud mounts, opposed to posts only.  Be sure you purchase a battery tender type of maintainer.  A trickle charger is not designed for a continuous connection.  They will charge until the battery is fully charged and shut down.  A battery maintainer contains the logic circuitry to address this.
- Red

Ahh, this is the missing piece of the puzzle in my head. Thank you! I should’ve looked up the battery ahead of time…but if this post helps someone in the future then it was worth it. 

Thanks for the heads up on the maintainer. I know you posted that in the original thread I referenced; I was using ‘trickle charger’ generically but I really shouldn’t do that as it can easily create confusion.

[Rickyricardo]

I used the "trickle charger" term when in fact it is a smart battery maintainer under the hood that I have permanently attached to the battery so it monitors the state of charge and goes on and off as required.

[Crowleyal]

Deep cycle batteries use threaded stud mounts, opposed to posts only.  Be sure you purchase a battery tender type of maintainer.  A trickle charger is not designed for a continuous connection.  They will charge until the battery is fully charged and shut down.  A battery maintainer contains the logic circuitry to address this.
- Red

Ahh, this is the missing piece of the puzzle in my head. Thank you! I should’ve looked up the battery ahead of time…but if this post helps someone in the future then it was worth it. 

Thanks for the heads up on the maintainer. I know you posted that in the original thread I referenced; I was using ‘trickle charger’ generically but I really shouldn’t do that as it can easily create confusion.