Deep cycle battery in a vehicle?

[Elkins45]

Is there a practical reason a deep cycle battery of the appropriate size and capacity couldn’t be used as a vehicle starting battery? Or do deep cycle batteries sacrifice cranking power in favor of repeatedly enduring a slow, steady drain almost to empty?

 

[brianl703]

Is there a practical reason a deep cycle battery of the appropriate size and capacity couldn’t be used as a vehicle starting battery? Or do deep cycle batteries sacrifice cranking power in favor of repeatedly enduring a slow, steady drain almost to empty?

They do, but as long as the CCA rating of the deep cycle battery is sufficient for the climate in your area..there isn't a problem.

 

[Danno]

Or do deep cycle batteries sacrifice cranking power in favor of repeatedly enduring a slow, steady drain almost to empty?

This,
I found Odyssey batteries to offer a good compromise on this for fleet use. Not sure if they quality has suffered over the years.

 

[SHOZ]

I use to run Odysseys for the light weight.

 

[eljefino]

It's not good for a starter if the battery bogs too much by not delivering the amps.

But you'll notice your starter is probably around 1100-1200 watts, which is
Finally, an official CCA rating is what a battery can supply for 30 seconds, you probably don't need that much time.

 

[SC Maintenance]

There is different types of Deep Cycle. I think what you want is deep cycle / starting - its sort of a half way. I know a guy that runs one is his Frontier. He runs a lot of accessories including while not running. He went way larger than OEM size wize as well.

If you have one sitting around you can try it. If you were going to do so for the above reasons I think I would simply go dual battery.

 

[MSCH]

I've never really thought about it, but the 2 types of batteries are designed to perform differently and their charge cycles are different.

. Deep Cycle is designed for a long steady current drain and a long recharge time, whereas your typical starting battery is just designed to provide enough OOOMPH for a quick burst of hi amperage to the starter motor on the vehicle, whereupon the vehicle is running and the little bit of energy taken out of the battery is put right back into it and other wise the battery acts as an electrical shock absorber and the alternator runs the vehicle.. so the answer is either will work but one is better for automotive use and the other is better for RV's and trolling motors.

 

[atikovi]

Is there a practical reason a deep cycle battery of the appropriate size and capacity couldn’t be used as a vehicle starting battery?

Warranty. They typically only have 1 year vs. 3 years for similarly priced regular batteries.

 

[SHOZ]

I run Odysseys in my mowers. Got 12 years out of the last one. Got a smaller one this time though. Never any need to even boost it in the spring. Whenever I did it was only like 15 minutes to full charge.

If I were to get one for a car and not soley worried aout weight I would make sure it has more CCAs than stock.

 

[Cujet]

We use them in aircraft all the time. They work wonderfully for cranking big displacement, difficult to start injected Lycoming engines.

 

[meep]

My neighbor had a 80’s dodge conversion van. He loved it. However if his wife drove it, she often flooded the carb and it would stall. She’d leave it on the road size with the hazards on until he could get it. They ate batteries. I helped him put a group 31 deep cycle in it. It had no trouble spinning the starter, and if his wife left it somewhere, he would simply stop by 8 hours later after work, hazards still bright and flashing, start it up and drive it home. Battery had zero issues.

 

[barryh]

I've run a deep cycle Gel battery on my BMW motorcycle for 9 years with not he slightest problem. It's not a small starter motor either being a standard Bosch type used in some cars.

 

[mr_boring]

Did it once when I was young and broke until I could afford a new battery, that was several weeks of daily use and I never had any problems trolling with that battery afterwards. Old as dirt Diehard battery at that, it had to have been 5-8 years old.

 

[UncleDave]

This,
I found Odyssey batteries to offer a good compromise on this for fleet use. Not sure if they quality has suffered over the years.

Im pretty sure all the TPPL batts qualify as deep cycle.

I dont think quality has suffered from what I can tell so, I just picked up three new ones and can attest at min the case and weight are identical to the take outs.

Im on 14 years on my odyssey truck battery