Proper Batterys

[Airwave(OH)]

I thought I would share this info because I see alot of people bring there boats in for repair and many times it's just the batterys. Unless they've been in to long and have done damage. First there is NO such thing as a DeepCycle/Starting Battery. It's a gimmick.(Words right from a Major manufacture). The two batterys work completely different from each other and Cannot be combined. Yes I know they sell batterys called that but it's not true. They are DeepCycle and if used in your boat without an isolator you Will destroy your alternator and or Stator. A Starting battery is designed to have high amperage and then charge quickly and reguire no more charging. A Deepcycle is used for accessories only and drained slowly and charged slowly. If you are charging off your alternator to deepcycle it's like the little engine that could . Your alternator is trying and trying but never gets the signal to shut down because the DC(Deepcycle) will never show charged. In the process you burn alternators and eventually Stators,modules Etc. from overheating. This is one you'll have to trust me on. we fix them all the time..Many times the boat is brought in cuz it's running bad. The overheating is cuasing component failure. First sign -sometimes it can be fixed with getting the DC off the charging system if it's not to late. It's the first thing I look for when someone says there engine all of a sudden starts running bad(missing).
Sorry so long but thought this was important to share. Every time I tell a customer this they say REALLY I never heard that before...

[rodbuster]

If I read this right, how dose one charge a deepcycle battery?
I have had 2 deepcycle batteries in my boat for years.Both hooked
up to charge off the alternator.Can't remember ever having a problem. Thanks Jim

[T-Mac]

Dang... Brion, you got different 20/20 last night than I did?
;-)

[Sparky]

I've been using deep cycle/start batteries for 9 seasons. I have four on the boat. Two are used for the trolling motor, one for the electronics, and one for starting. the electronic and starting battery are charged by the main engine whe underway and the kicker shen trolling. The two trolling batteries are just charged by the onboard charger. I've never had a problem with either of my engines charging systems. My amp gauge initially goes up on start but then it drops down to a low charge. What I've been doing seems to be working OK.

Sparky

[jim]

I'll have to disagree with you on this one. You are partly correct when you say that a starting battery is designed to allow a large amount of current out quickly and then be recharged. The deep cycle is designed to allow a longer, slower rate of discharge to being nearly dead and then be returned to a full charge a number of times. Their design differs from a starting battery by having a different number of plates, more or less total surface area and different plate materials. These differences can be mixed and matched to "build" the battery that can acomplish both starting and deep cycle functions. However a battery that is strictly designed to do one or the other will work slightly better.

I believe that the problem that you discribe with boats coming in with bad alternators and rectifiers could well be a connection problem. A regulator works on the principle of reading resistance in a system. This includes battery state of charge, cables, and any bad connections. When a battery is low (such as after starting the engine) the regulator see's low resistance, thus increasing altenator output. Once the battery nears full charge the resistance goes up and the alternator reduces output and goes into a maintenance mode (trickle charge).

When in this trickle mode very little heat is generated. If a battery has bad connections the resistance is high. The regulator thinks that the battery is fully charged when is is not. This causes the battery/ies to become discharged over a period of time. Typically the engine does not start and the owner checks the connections. The engine gets started by using a boost or a jump. Then the regulator sees a low battery and tries to recharge a battery from a nearly dead condition.

As we all SHOULD know the alternator on an engine (boat or vehicle) is NOT designed to recharge a dead battery. When the engine is used to try and recharge a nearly dead battery the electrical components end up overheating thus resulting in failure. An altenator is only designed to replentish the current that was used for starting or running accessory's. When this happens it starts at a larger amperage but quickly drops to the maintenance leval (this leval is also the rate that a deep cycle battrey takes when it is recieving a normal recharge). Therefore it ends up making a very small of extra heat.

People can avoid this situation by regularly checking their connections. If they find a dead battery they need to place it on a charger and bring it back to full charge slowly. Probably for a minimum of 12 hours, 24 would be better. The maximum charge for this nearly dead battery should be about 10 -15 amps.

Remember DON"T mix and match starting and deep cycle batteries and hook them in parallel. Only the same age and type of batteries should be hooked in parallel.

[Airwave(OH)]

The negative feedback is what I expected. but at least I feel better for telling you. I agree you can sometimes get away with it but if you don't it will cost you BIG TIME and it all could be avoided by using the right battery set up. It's like playing Russian Roulet. Rod Buster Deepcycles should be charged off an Electric power source. T-Mac this has nothing to do with 20/20 last night. To tell you the truth I fell asleep and never got to see it.