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Advice please: starting problems
"John" wrote in message m... Peter Bennett wrote in message rnews.com... On 02 Jul 2003 13:52:45 GMT, (Plexiform) wrote: Sounds like you want to buy a "marine starting battery" - the only difference between this and a traditional automotive starting battery is that the marine version has carrying handles, and threaded posts on the terminals. (and may cost a little more :-( ) (I've noticed that some modern automotive batteries have strange terminals, and may be somewhat smaller than the traditional "group 24" size.) The differance between batteries for marine usage and automotive is more than just skin deep. Deep cycle batteries are designed for heavy discharging and recharging. Their's a lot of heat generated in the process. Deep cycle batteries have thicker plates inside, they resist warping under heavy load which ruins a battery. You can ruin an automotive battery real fast if you heat it up. And the differance in price, get real, it isn't that much. Try Sears, their marine batteries are very reasonable. I think you've got that back to front. He was actually referring to marine starting batteries. Starting batteries, whether marine or automotive have the same characteristics. Lots of thin plates to develop a high amperage for a short time. Doesn't matter which you buy, as long as the posts are in the right place and the right type for your installation.Except the word 'marine' seems to add 10% to the price. Although popularly they're known by their ampere-hour capacity, what really counts is their CCA capacity - Cold Cranking Amps they can deliver for a given time. A typical 50hp diesel may need some 600 CCA, and regularly use hundreds of amps on a start, but only over 10's of seconds. Deep cycle batteries have different characteristics. They're used in ambulances, golf carts, invalid wagons, lorries with loading ramps, camper vans and (add the usual 10%) for marine use. They have relatively few, thick plates per cell, and they're designed to tolerate 50% discharge and recharge for some 500 cycles or more, working at relatively low amperages (10's of amps for hours). If a deep cycle battery develops 100a for more than ten secs or so, there's danger that surface heating of the plates may warp them, so don't use them for starting, except in emergency. Much better to refer to batteries as for deep cycle use, or starting use, rather then the woolly 'marine use', a marketing term for raising the price of a product by convincing us ignorant sailors that MY battery is all things to all men. OK, some 'marine' batteries are compromises, suitable for small craft which can't have one battery for starting and one for domestics. That's better. Got that off my chest then. -- Jim B, Yacht RAPAZ, Summers in the Med, winters in UK jim[dot]baerselman[at]ntlworld[dot]com |
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