North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Take what I say with a grain of salt, my opinions are based on only my experience, my research, and a 20 year old DC power certification. I do use the CTEK D250S in my car, and love it. When I finally pony up for the 24v Minn Kota for the boat, I expect I'll be relying more on the charge i can punch in on the hard, than what I can punch in on the water.

However Ronje has proved time and time again that he knows his poop. His posts need their own "like" button. Thanks again for the input.

Geez. Careful Jabsy people may become suspicious of our relationship. Good to catch up with you again.

Jer
Those batteries will be ok for starting/cranking because they are starting/cranking batteries. bl..dy yanks again playing fast and loose with facts.

Battery industry could see an emerging market for a battery in between cranking/starting and deep cycle so they redesigned battery construction to produce one that had some characteristics of both types. They called it a marine battery or RV battery. Its known in the trade as a hybrid battery. Neither your a..e nor your elbow.

To confuse matters they started mixing the terms together. In some cases deliberately I believe to pick up both markets.

The real question is whether one is OK to do the deep cycle trick with your Minkota.

The answer is that it will have shortened life compared to a proper deep cycle would for use on the Minkota.

But because its hybrid (some characteristics of both types) it will have a life somewhere between a cranking/starting type and a real deepcycle. What you are using it for is the reverse application that I said would end up ruining the battery. And it will but more slowly.

So the question is what to do now?

Its pretty convenient to have 2 batteries the same for mix and max purposes etc and simply accept that the one in question (the one driving the Minkota) will have a shorter life than the other. Swap them regularly to even up the lives of them I guess. Initial cost differences between battery types also plays a part as does the knowledge of the guy selling you the batteries. THAT'S where a lot of these troubles start.

So, do nothing but watch what life you get. If happy get the same again. If not, go to proper deep cycles of 110-120 ahrs to cover both applications. But make sure they're real deep cycles and not the tupperware ones that seem so common.

The other thing the retailers will tell you about is the CCA figure. Cold Cranking Amps which is pretty useless in our part of the world. CCA is measured at temperatures below zero which we don't get. The real figure to look out for is MCA which is Marine Cranking Amps measured at above zero temperature. It\ll be higher as the battery is warmer. But I guess CCA at least gives the opportunity to compare apples with apples.

Matt would be more interested in Cold Cranking Amps in his part of the world.

Good luck.

Thanks heaps for all the info guys; collectively I believe I've just ready through a few centuries worth of knowledge and past experiences.
I think I'm going to get a Full River Battery for the boat and a Power AGM for the car, as the current AGM battery I have in the Prado is coming up to 5 years old and is struggling to hold charge, not bad for an E-bay no name brand. Surprisingly, the both the Full River and Power AGM batteries are the same price, if not a little cheaper than the E-bay battery I currently have…go figure….