Marrine vs car battery.

I recently had a very large marine battery die at an early age, about 5 years old. It came with my 10k dump trailer. Two cells next to either shorted out with sulfide crystals or overheated and the plates touched. No way to know. Hydrometer shows dead, battery tester shows bad cells. Battery smells of sulfur when charged. BATTERY IS DEAD.

So I'm thinking, a marine battery is designed to produce a small current for a long period of time. A good marine battery will power my BIL's bass boat for all the time we go fishing in a day.

My dump trailer needs a very large current for a short period of time, about a minute, when dumping. That makes me think a car battery may be more suited for a dump trailer vs a marine battery.

Instead of buying a new marine battery, I used an older marine battery, 500cca off my shelf, along with 2 used excide cutting edge mower batteries that produce 400 cca each. I also wired the truck and tractor battery to charge the 3 other batteries when I'm using the dump trailer. The wire on the truck and tractor are fused with 30 amp fuse, the dump trailer has a 20 amp breaker.

I've been pulling the dump trailer with my farmall C. While dumping I slow the engine charge at 15 amps. I leave tractor running between loads, 20 minutes. That's enough time to recharge the batteries.

I don't know how many amps the battery powered hyd pump draws, but I'm thinking the current is closer to starter current than it is to trolling motor current. So wouldn't it make scene to use a car battery instead of a marine battery?

"So I'm thinking, a marine battery is designed to produce a small current for a long period of time. A good marine battery will power my BIL's bass boat for all the time we go fishing in a day.

My dump trailer needs a very large current for a short period of time, about a minute, when dumping. That makes me think a car battery may be more suited for a dump trailer vs a marine battery."

2 kinds of marine batteries. Deep cycle (the kind you use with a trolling motor on a fishing boat all day) And a starting battery (the kind you use to start that 225 horse Merc). You do not want a deep cycle battery on your trailer. Difference between a marine starting battery and a car or truck battery is the marine battery is supposed to be able to withstand vibrations and constant pounding better.

"Marine battery" has no specific meaning. It can be a deep-cycle marine battery, a cranking marine battery or half-way in between and called a "hybrid."

I've been buying Johnson Controls marine "deep cycle" batteries for years. Usually from Walmart. 5-7 years is exceptional life for a type 27 or 29 battery. Years back when I was using Exides - many failed at two years.

I never buy the "combo" or "hybrid" or "marine cranking" batteries. I'd rather have an auto battery with the longer warranty.

Deep-cycle batteries called "marine" or not work fine for cranking batteries. Just figure around 20% less cranking power then a same-sized battery made just for cranking.

A deep cycle battery is designed for a fairly small / mid amp load, but can better stand deep (50% or lower) discharges without damage.

A marine battery is kind of a hybrid, in that it can supply cranking amps for a mid size engine, yet take deep discharges like a deep cycle battery, but at lower capacity for a given size, compared to a truc deep cycle.

A car / truck starting battery is designed for very high cranking amps, but is normally not discharged more than 10% or less during a normal start. Deep discharges will warp the plates in a starting battery and cause failure after a dozen or so deep discharges.

I run a 12,000 pound lectric winch on a trailer that I power with a the largest Deep cycle flooded cell battery they had. weighs about 70 pounds. I dont use it a lot, but the battery has held up to this use for 3 years now.
Winching 3 7000 pound tractors up on the trailer will leave the battery at about 75% charge. I dont have wiring to recharge it on the truck, just recharge it with a smart charger at home when parked.

Considering your use, a deep cycle or marine battery may still be your best choice, as a starting battery does not normally live long with deep discharges.

The marine style batteries I've been looking don't say anything about starting engine cranking. They only say like 30 amps for 90 minutes. Even the oem battery that was in the trailer when I bought it has nothing on it.

Sounds like I don't need a marine battery to withstand vibrations and constant pounding. I need a large truck battery or put many car/lawn mower batteries in parallel so a single battery doesn't have to produce all the current.

For on the Farmall I'd switch it over to hyd. dump ?
Wonder if you could just tap into the lift cyl. and bypass the elec./hyd. pump unit ?

stick with marine battery. it's made for what your doing, the car battery isn't.

batteries in parallel are problematic, internal resistance will be different so one will drain the other. 2 x 6 in series or 1 12 will yield best results.

Some diesel truck have batteries in parallel. I've found if all the batteries are all healthy, parallel works. If one isn't then you have a problem. I charge all 4 batteries, 3 in dump trailer and 1 on tractor all at the same time. No problem so far. Started this about a month ago.

When I had the junk oem trailer in parallel with my other good marine battery, charging would causes the junk battery to smell of sulfur and it wouldn't hold a charge.

Batteries tend to fail early when mounted on trailers that shake and vibrate a lot.

Then How will it work when I use the truck to pull the trailer?

There isn't a lot of shaking when trailer is pulled
my Farmall C at 5 mph.

The tailer doens't bounce behind truck, full or
empty. I would say the battery in trailer doesn't
bounce any more than the battery in truck.

(quoted from post at 19:42:10 01/13/15) Then How will it work when I use the truck to pull the trailer?

Click to expand...

Shorter life on batteries subjected to vibration are just a price to pay. Maybe the glassmat type of batteries would work better? I dunno.

NOT sure what he is obsessing over, MANY batteries don't make 5 years!

I know you are using what you have on hand and it will work, but the battery "wizards" tell us that when you pair batteries they should be the same, age,size, brand. If not they will work against each other to some degree. Just my two cents worth. Steve

They make several different kinds of marine batteries.
All are better built to withstand vibrations.
Deep cycle type can take large discharge cycles better.

1) starting battery; This will show CCA in the specs.
2) duel purpose; This is a deep cycle that will also double as a starting battery. Shows CCA and amps/hours life in specs
3) a true deep cycle; This will only show amps/hours life in the specs because it is not a cranking battery

If you need a large amount of amps for a short time; have little vibration; and have it hooked to a motor driven alternator; Get you a truck battery.

Steve,
I'm no battery wizard, only experienced. 4 years ago I purchased a batteryminder 12248 and a Battery conductivity tester. About $350 investment. I have 20 batteries. The only battery that die in that 4 year period is the dump trailer battery.

The time it takes for the batteryminder to go through it's different stages, charging, desufating and then to the trickle stage tells me just how healthy the battery is. Most of my batteries get a batteryminder treatment about every 30 days. The really healthy batteries take less than 24 hours for charger to complete it different modes.

I left the tractor battery connected to the 3 batteries in dump trailer. I used dump trailer yesterday. Then I charged all 4 batteries at the same time. The charging cycle was completed in under 24 hours. All batteries test healthy. The manufacture of charger says it can to be used on 3 batteries at the same time in an RV.

No one has said how much current the pump uses. I have no way to measure it either. No info on pump. So, if you look at the marine battery on the right, the wires may be confusing. Look for a red and black wire that are the same gauge attached to the battery. They go to the pump. I'm guessing it a #6 or 8 copper. If it's a #6, there is a good chance the pump uses around 60 amps give or take.

If all 4 batteries share the load, then each battery is supplying 15. That would help explain why the ammeter on the tractor is close to 15 amps when dumping.

So, all the batteries I'm using are paid for and are spare batteries that were just sitting on the work bench. After learning not all marine batteries are the same, I think I'll continue to use what I have. I may put foam cushion under them. If I ever need new battery, I will get the biggest truck battery on the market.


Thanks to all for your input.

Why a motor driven generator when the alternator on truck of tractor can get the job done in 20 minutes. Yes, a big truck battery in the future.

George;
Wanta borrow my glasses LOL!!!!!

I said "motor driven alternator"
As in you will have it hooked up to where your truck or tractor can be charging it all the time.

If you have a alternator hooked to it you do not need a deep cycle.
If you plan on using the dump just off the battery and charge it off a plug in battery charger at the end of the day you need a deep cycle.

Hope that explains it better; but thanks for the laugh.

Yup, some do, and so does a CAT D8, 2 sets in parallel and 2 in series, don't make it right though. Try to avoid it if at all possible. At the end of the day its your money.

I will answer one question fer ya...

So I'm thinking, a marine battery is designed to produce a small current for a long period of time. A good marine battery will power my BIL's bass boat for all the time we go fishing in a day.

Have ya ever herd the story about the tortoise and the Rabbit...
Marine is low amp draw for the long haul...



Your dump if loaded is a amp lover it likes all you can supply it... You can forgo all the hype about the bonce get you a real heavy duty diesel truck bat are 2 the more the better...

A conductive battery checker is for those that do not under stand what a load means.. It was made so a minimum wadge guy could look good... It has been proven they are wrong more than thay are rite...

Every place that sells batteries, even my GM
dealer uses battery conductivity tester.

I gave my old load tester to my BIL to test his
golf cart batteries.

I have a lot of faith my tester. It's light years
ahead of my old load testers.

The conductivity tester even showed my old marine
battery was dying about a year before it finally
gave up the ghost. At the end, it even showed
battery had a dead cell, which the hydrometer
confirmed.

Please post where you found conductivity testers
are junk. I did find that if the battery
connections are not good, it will show low cca
numbers. But I don't think they are junk.

My son has a 15000 lb trailer that will retrieve roll off boxes. 12000lb, winch plus dumping hyd pump. It has 2 group 31 truck batteries. It is hard on them. If you have hooked to truck when retrieving will blow the fuse (ford truck). Also have a same size grain dump trailer. It just has one battery. It will blow the fuse on trailer circuit also. Will not keep it charged unloading at the bin every hr. So keep a booster battery charger to put on it every time I unload. or run very long jumper cables from truck to trailer battery. One load every 2 hrs. will keep up.

I pull my truck fuse when dumping, then replace it when finished.
If I slow my tractor to an idle, watch the ammeter, the alternator won't put out more than 15 amps when I dumping. My tractor and truck are fused with 30 amps and a 20a auto rest circuit breaker on dump trailer. That works well, no blown fuses.

My dump came new with a marine style battery. If I need a replacement battery I will look at something that has large CCA, a truck battery. For now using what I have seems to be working well.

It takes 30 minutes for the alternator on tractor to put the charge back in battery.

This might be doable with one of those spool style selector valves for hyd. that you push in for one function and pull out for another. You could leave both systems hooked up and use the selector depending on which system you are selecting to use.