Now here's a trick wording of batteries-- A "Marine" battery doesn't necessarily have to be a deep cycle battery--it can be for marine use and just be an engine starter battery, in which case no, it isn't deep cycle. In general terms a "Marine" battery is the house battery, which is the battery for the house, or cabin accessories, which usually is a deep cycle unit. A good example is an electric trolling moter battery which is drained slowly for a long time, which is a Marine deep cycle battery. Most boater's , or guys with camper's have more than one battery in their vehicles. One for starting which has a short duration big cold cranking amps, and a deep cycle for a slow, long drain, to run the house accessories. The amp hours does not depend on what type of battery it is, it simply depends on how the battery is rated-- And if it was possible to mount two big amp six volt batteries into a Vanagon, the duration of the crankig time would be increased--this is why Semi's use 4 six volt batteries in series, rather than two 12 volt--more cranking duration---- Later, Terry
E-mail message From John Brush Well, just to split hairs, "Marine" batteries are not deep cycle batteries. They tend to fall in between a car battery, and a true deep cycle one. Of course its a lot of semantics, but manufacturers will try and get away with what they can. Buy a true, deep cycle battery and be safe. Decent sized deep cycle batteries tend to come in 6V packages (size being amp-hours) so one usually ends of buying a pair of them, especially when looking for a lot of amp-hours. Its a roaring battle in a lot of other groups, but just be careful that you get the right battery for the application. John |
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