BATTERY QUESTIONS

[ROLAND]

Ok boys, time for me to continue my "boating education" here at pontoon forums university. A reminder I've never owned a boat til now and the one I got is only 3 months old and we've only had it in the water twice. Todays class is "batterys". I don't understand all this marine, deep cycle stuff. When it comes time to replace my current pontoon battery ( only one in the boat right now ) can't I just go to sears and buy the biggest strongest car / truck battery they make? what's the difference? Thanks guys.

Roland

[wwind3]

Ok boys, time for me to continue my "boating education" here at pontoon forums university. A reminder I've never owned a boat til now and the one I got is only 3 months old and we've only had it in the water twice. Todays class is "batterys". I don't understand all this marine, deep cycle stuff. When it comes time to replace my current pontoon battery ( only one in the boat right now ) can't I just go to sears and buy the biggest strongest car / truck battery they make? what's the difference? Thanks guys.

Roland

Deep cycles are used for trolling motors--applications that require constant discharging and recharging.

If you just need a cranking battery--yep--get a biggun.

There are dual use batteries I believe but I am not familiar with them.

Invest in a battery maintainer to keep batteries charged when not used. Some models actually have a desulfator? feature
that is touted to restore batteries to top condition. I bought one at Northern Tool for about 40 bucks on sale. A battery maintainer that doest have the desulfator feature was around 20 bucks at walmart.

[oldmn19]

A deep cycle battery is designed to provide a constant current draw to power things like trolling motor's, power amps for radio's, any thing that's fairly constant in demand for hours. Starting battery's are designed to give up a large amount of current over just a few minutes, turning your starter, and recharged quickly. Starting battery's do not like to be discharged at a steady rate for hours and then recharged quickly. In a nut shell a starting battery, is a starting battery, a deep cycle battery is for your toys on board! It's a lot more complicated than this but it's all you really need to know, except it's always best to buy the largest capacity battery of either kind that will fit in the space.

[wed]

Also make sure your charger is compatible with each type of battery, most have a deep cycle mode and a regular mode. This is very important if you are using sealed (maintenance free) batteris as you cannot replace the electrolyte if it is boiled out due to overcharging.

[wed]

wwind

A desulfator? The liquid electrolyte in a lead acid battery is dilute sulphuric acid (with water). When a battery discharges the sulphur will begin to come out of solution and deposite onto the lead plates. As the battery continues to discharge more sulphur will be deposited. The sulphur deposites will tend to insulate the battery plates and if left for a period of time become hard and difficult to remove. Eventually the battery will become useless.

The only way to remove the sulphur is to drive it back into solution by charging at an increased voltage for a period of time. This is called equalization (de-sulphating). Some battery charges have this feature....some do not. If a battery is equalized too long the electrolyte will tend to boil out and distilled water must be added to replace lost water.

Good charge maintenance is the best prevention for this!

[WaltF]

I know about batteries!
Prob more then most want to know.... heh

I started getting into learning about em because of camping off the grid.

Deep cycle - low amps over a long time
Start battery - high amps for a short time
Marine battery - a combo somewhere in between

Some may call a marine battery best of both worlds, but to me, a marine is the worst of both worlds....
Ideally, youd want a starting battery taking care of your engine, then a deep cycle cranking your tunes or trolling motor when the engine isnt running.

They also differ on the way you want to charge em.
You can jam alot of amps into a starting battery quickly, but you dont want to do that to a deep cycle battery.

I replaced my single 12 volt battery on my camper with (2) 6 volt deep cycle golf cart batteries then added on a Trimetric 2020 battery monitor system.
http://www.bestconverter.com/TriMetric- ... _p_95.html
It Rocks!
Ya see, the only real way of monitoring your batteries is the watch the actual in and out flow of amps, thus the push Idiot Light type of monitor is worthless.

With my single 12 volt cheezy battery that came on my camper, i might be able to run the lights and heat maybe 1-2 days, and thats it..
With the (2) 6 volt system they still basically = 1 12 volt battery, BUT the amp hours are greatly increased. I can go a full week with my current setup.

A 3 stage charger will take care of both very well.
I recommend this charger: http://www.blackanddecker.com/ProductGu ... ctID=15580
About $90 at WallyWorld.

Read here for more info then you ever wanted to know about batteries..
http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

There.. that outta keep you busy for abit....

[captain kurt]

nice walt! loads & loads of great info you put into tht post. helps alot.

[GXPWeasel]

Okay, I'll ask....

Can you run 1 of each type ( starting & deep cycle ) on your boat, and use a battery switch to go back and forth between the two? Or is the switch mainly for 2 starting batteries?

[wed]

GPX -I run one of each type and charge them separately. I would tie them together only for emergency cranking if needed. IMO they would need to be separated for correct charging. Your altenator is set up to charge cranking batteries just like an automobile.

I agree with WaltF that it is easier to maintain and use the specific type of battery, either deep cycle or cranking, to get longer battery life and better performance.... but you must have the correct charger setup.

[oldmn19]

Here''s more of the information on batteries! You will probably get even more confused!
http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Batter ... 0Batteries

[mike]

I have one of each and a switch between them. I haved started on one and then switched over and charge the other with the motor many times, no problems.

[oldmn19]

You must have a good swt, because you can blow the alternator switching battery's while the engine is running! Big warning about doing that in my Yammy's owners manual!

[mike]

I have a make before break switch that puts them toghether before disconnecting the first one. Probably why it does not hurt anything...

[WaltF]

Yupp... a make before break would work, cause , ya, youre right oldmn19, having nothing, even for a second, will hose up the alternator...