marine starting battery/auto battery?

kfouryou

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Aug 28, 2009
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Can some one tell me the difference between a car battery and a marine starting battery.Reson being I was going to buy a new marine battery and wanted to use the old one as a spare for my durango or boat
 

NelsonQ

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Re: marine starting battery/auto battery?

Marine battery has thicker plates and the quality of construction is more resistance to vibration and discharge rates greater than 10%

I think the old marine battery would be a spare you could use in your truck, but for marine applications, stick with the marine battery
 

180shabah

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Re: marine starting battery/auto battery?

With very few exceptions, a marine starting battery has no real differences with an "auto" battery asside from the terminals. Deep cycle and dual purpose batteries are another story, but again nothing that makes them marine vs RV, etc.

Use you "new" spare in anything you want, as long as it has the capacity for the load you need.
 

TilliamWe

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Re: marine starting battery/auto battery?

Our boat used to get a new battery every couple of years, and its "old" battery went into whatever car it would fit in. Nothing wrong with doing that, if the battery has enough amps for the auto's requirements.
 

kfouryou

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Re: marine starting battery/auto battery?

yea thanks i think the ratings are simuliar I just wanted to make sure.
 

findinghomer

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Re: marine starting battery/auto battery?

similarily, i have a dual purpose battery, which works fine for deep cycle applications, but i was thinkin of using a cheap automotive battery as a backup, starting battery. Will this work?
 

trendsetter240

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Re: marine starting battery/auto battery?

Can some one tell me the difference between a car battery and a marine starting battery.Reson being I was going to buy a new marine battery and wanted to use the old one as a spare for my durango or boat

As said, not a problem using marine batteries in automobiles. The marine battery will typically be of better construction than the SLI auto battery you are replacing.

Automotive, or SLI (starting, lighting & ignition)
SLI batteries are commonly used to start and run automobiles, where a very large starting current is needed for a short time. SLI batteries have many very thin plates with a large surface area, designed to be discharged no more than 1 to 5% from full charge. These can be damaged quickly if deep cycled.

Marine / Deep Cycle
Deep cycle batteries are designed to be discharged down as much as 80% time after time, and have much thicker plates.
The so-called Marine deep-cycle batteries are actually a "hybrid", and fall between the SLI and deep-cycle batteries. These should not be discharged more than 50%. SLI batteries are usually rated at "CCA", or cold cranking amps, or "MCA, Marine cranking amps". Any battery with the capacity shown in "cranking amps" is NOT a deep-cycle battery, and some marine batteries with MCA ratings may be a hybrid (basically a battery with thicker plates than an automotive battery, but thinner than a true deep-cycle).

Source: http://www.magnacharge.com/mchg_all.htm
 

a70eliminator

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Sep 9, 2007
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Re: marine starting battery/auto battery?

I have an ever start marine trolling battery. It list 550 MCA 450 CCA it also has a 75 AH rating. It was advertized as being double duty, but typically I believe a true deep cycle battery will not hold up well to being kept continuously charged to full like in your car or I/O motor. I've had this trolling / cranking battery since 2005 and it has started my 60hp outboard and ran all the elecronics and night lights and has never let me down.
 

F14CRAZY

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Aug 12, 2008
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Re: marine starting battery/auto battery?

I was also wondering what the differences were, but now I know
 
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