true deep cycle vs marine deep cycle

Re: true deep cycle vs marine deep cycle

You can read the full story in the deep cycle battery FAQ's here: http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm

The short version is that it's a difference in the way the plates are made. The automotive battery has relatively thin plates with a lot of surface area to give short, heavy discharge for starting engines. At the other end you have the "true" deep cycle which has thick plates without so much surface area which limits the available current but allows it to be discharged and recharged fairly deeply and many times over. The Marine/RV batteries fall in-between, with thick automotive-style plates that are a compromise of providing heavy current and repeated deep cycling. Since battery manufacturers don't build them all alike, it's a bit of a gamble how well any Marine/RV battery will work for an RE application.

There are several good manufacturers of deep cycles, including Trojan and Crown to name two. You'll have to look in your yellow pages and on the Internet and see what sort of sources you can fin near you. Look for industrial battery suppliers rather than automotive. Sometimes the big warehouse outlets have "house brand" golf cart batteries at a good price. These are often a bargain in terms of Amp hours for the money.