Marine battery in vehicle?

WTH · Mar 8, 2015

Anyone ever run a marine battery in one of their vehicles? I have one that sits for a while sometimes and it has finally killed the battery in it. I read somewhere not to put one in a car, I want to say it said it would not supply the amps needed? Just wondering if would be able to do a cold start as well as supply enough amps needed for a winch.

poolman · Mar 8, 2015

I've ran a blue top for the last 3,4 years no issues. Winch, electric fans, ect.

TBItoy · Mar 8, 2015

I only run deep cycle "marine" batterys.

Mr. leafspring · Mar 8, 2015

NO PROBLEM HERE !!!

Rokcrler · Mar 8, 2015

Re:

Optima blue or yellow, Current rig has red, I miss the blue

patooyee · Mar 8, 2015

I've ran Optima yellow and that other sealed gel-cell, I forget the name, the one with the really picky "lifetime" warranty. That one sucked and the lifetime warranty is basically not even worth the ink it is printed with. But the yellow tops have been supremely reliable for me. IN the past 15 years or so I recycled one yellow top through like 3 builds before it finally died. Replaced it with another which is currently in my rig today. I would sya that 2 in 15 years of the abuse we generally put on them is friggen phenomenal.

WTH · Mar 8, 2015

Thanks guys.

Any thoughts on Exide, Everstart, or Interstate brands? I can get any of them quick and easy.

sparepartsdave · Mar 8, 2015

if you are talking about running a deep cycle battery, they will survive a "cycling from fully charged to fully discharged" without any problem. But if you don't "cycle " them they will loose their ability to cycle. The only place for that type of battery is if you are running an inverter battery bank or a trolling motor. If you ever go to a bass tournament, you'll see the pro's running the trolling motors on the trailer to run teh batteries all the way dead before recharging them. I find deep cycle batteries generally don't have enough cranking amps to spin a motor over fast enough to start(especially with EFI) on a cold day. I pull deep cycle's out of boats on a regular basis and replace them with marine starting batteries. They make a "dual purpose" starting/deep cycle battery, but they generally do neither job well and are just a waste of money. I've had to educate hte West Marine Salesmen around here on more than one occasion about the proper battery to sell a customer. If you have a battery going dead, figure out whats killing it(probably your stereo) or if the battery is bad. Worse comes to worse, install a battery cut off switch so you can cut all drains off your battery when its not in use. They make those for boats adn race cars, make sure you get one that will handle the amps, like anything, they make cheap ones and good ones

sexxy · Mar 8, 2015

I have a walmart marine battery that came on a trade. I got rid of a older marine battery for it. I use it for jump starts, winching, boats, and cold starts on any and everything. With that being said I do have to cycle the key once to get a vortec to start, even a 4.3. It never fails but does take a little extra effort.

351yj · Mar 8, 2015

i got 2 blue tops i bought from the parts store on the cheap when they went out of date setting on the shelf... that was about 5 years ago... I've used them on several diffrent rock crawlers and race cars over the the last 5 years and they are holding up very well

grcthird · Mar 8, 2015

WTH said:
Thanks guys.

Any thoughts on Exide, Everstart, or Interstate brands? I can get any of them quick and easy.

The new interstate agm batteries are a badass battery, put one in my yota after killing a redtop a year for 2 years.

WTH · Mar 9, 2015

sparepartsdave said:
if you are talking about running a deep cycle battery, they will survive a "cycling from fully charged to fully discharged" without any problem. But if you don't "cycle " them they will loose their ability to cycle. The only place for that type of battery is if you are running an inverter battery bank or a trolling motor. If you ever go to a bass tournament, you'll see the pro's running the trolling motors on the trailer to run teh batteries all the way dead before recharging them. I find deep cycle batteries generally don't have enough cranking amps to spin a motor over fast enough to start(especially with EFI) on a cold day. I pull deep cycle's out of boats on a regular basis and replace them with marine starting batteries. They make a "dual purpose" starting/deep cycle battery, but they generally do neither job well and are just a waste of money. I've had to educate hte West Marine Salesmen around here on more than one occasion about the proper battery to sell a customer. If you have a battery going dead, figure out whats killing it(probably your stereo) or if the battery is bad. Worse comes to worse, install a battery cut off switch so you can cut all drains off your battery when its not in use. They make those for boats adn race cars, make sure you get one that will handle the amps, like anything, they make cheap ones and good ones

This is what I am taking about.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Maxx-Group-Size-29-Marine-Battery/20531539

sparepartsdave · Mar 9, 2015

WTH said:
This is what I am taking about.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Maxx-Group-Size-29-Marine-Battery/20531539

845 MCA is pretty weak, it will have a good reserve, but not much cold cranking(around 550 CCA). Mercury Marine recommends 1000 MCA on any engine that has a computer(with pretty good size cables as well), 1200 MCA for their new outboards. Thats one of those dual purpose batteries that don't do either job well. Get a good starting battery, figure out whats killing the battery, and/or install a shut off switch

TBItoy · Mar 9, 2015

D31M optima has good specs.

I've always ran the D34M.

Also, for those that didn't know, the only difference in yellow top and blue top optima is the blue tops all have marine stud posts in addition to regular terminal posts.