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Thread: Marine Vs Car/truck Battery (Moved)

  1. #1
    Mudcrab
    Guest

    Marine Vs Car/truck Battery (Moved)

    Having pulled/pushed/towed and jump started God knows how many broken down Boaties all due battery problems I can assure you that anything except a marine battery is a bad choice. The biggest problems with batteries is that the physical space between the bottem of the plates and the battery case is critical to their reliability. This space in Marine Batteries is much higher than the car/truck types. All the crap, sediment and chemical debris that settles on the bottem never gets in touch with the plates. In a car/truck battery, the gap is much smaller and the second a plate makes contact with this garbage on the bottem you have a battery that will fail or become very unreliable on your hands. Additionally, the plates on a Marine Battery are of a totally different composition and built to withstand the jarring and crashing of a boat. And again, on most of the better Marine Batteries, the distance between plates is wider than the non-boat types. This again gives you that little extra protection against sediment buildup and the plates touching although they are usually constructed with additional plates to suit the variations in the rated performance levels.They are made vibration resistant by lock bonding & fibreglass separators.
    And I am led to believe that the chemical composition of the hydralyte is also different, though not 100% sure on this one. Again do you want a cranking (starting) battery or a "house battery for running all the lights and radios etc. An 800 CAMP (cranking amp) battery will start a locomotive although these are very expensive (about $250 for the new Apollo Brand) but sure as hell won't let you down. In my opinion, every boatie who is serious should have two marine batteries on board. One SHIPS battery for starting and one HOUSE battery for the other stuff. Buy a good Smart Charge battery selector that automatically routes the alternator charge to the battery in need and you are in business. Also as a hint, if you have two batteries ganged up together, you should start on a different one each time you go out as the two together can often camouflage a deficient or on-the-way-out battery! 2 x 12 V batteries in parallel doesn't give you 24V, just the sum of the amperages available in each battery. Hopefully enough to get her going. Do I keep on? OK, many car/truck batteries have much thinner plates than the marine jobs so on a slow discharge (pretty common) the heat buildup in the plates can twist and distort them enough to stuff the battery. Our bread and butter is flat batteries! Don't leave home without two good marine batteries, trickle charged by a timer switch during the week, tested for a dead cell (still full voltage 12V) and the correct hydralyte level. End of sermon!

  2. #2

    Re: Marine Vs Car/truck Battery (Moved)


    Could B wrong...............
    Have been before..............
    Seen rep slap on STICKER @ MARINE dealer 4 marine battery ................. Then STICK DECAL on same battery 4 next stop...... 4 x 4 centre ............
    MACKA..........

  3. #3

    Re: Marine Vs Car/truck Battery (Moved)

    # Above a truck/ tractor/marine battery , the more u spend .....
    # #The more u can turn the key...........?????????
    Carry duel batteries my self.............
    ????????????????HAD Both die a quick death 2 gether once.//// LUCKILY @ ramp... $118 eh..... BUT Y
    both @ once........... Only 4 yr old .. Battery mob said
    after 2 yr need replacing.............
    $118 should last 4 EVER..............

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