Golf Carts vs Deep Cycle Marine Batteries

[embla]

Originally Posted by sabray

yes its a concern unless it is ventilated and the batteries are contained.

Yes that's what I feared. So by the time I rewire 6volts together and make a sealed box, plus add ventilation (regulated extractor fan?) it's probably a zero sum gain....Back to 12v AGM's for me!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, embla.

[w32honu]

Cburger

Sorry for the delay.............

Yes..... 6v golf cart batteries. Trojan T-125. Four of them wired up in series/parallel which gives us 12V and 480AH of storage.

They weigh in at about 66 pounds each (I think). Its a good point others have made. It was a bit of work lugging the batteries aboard and positioning them. Definitely doable tho. Anything much heavier would be......... well a big time pain in the hinder.

Cheers.

[Greg4cocokai]

We have 10-6v golf cart batt's for our house bank with pretty hefty loads. 150 amp/hrs/day sitting at anchor, 300 amp/hrs/day under way. Our Trojan T-125's lasted 5 yrs cruising 99% of the time, no marinas and never letting the bank go below 50% discharge or 12v. Replaced them in Aus. for 10 Exide brand golf cart batt's for $2200au!! I used to pay $52 ea , for Exide's here in So Cal as we are close to the manufacturer. Had 4 on a friends boat for 14 years!
If you call around, you can find good prices on 6 or more batteries.

Cheers, Greg

[blgklr]

Is there not hydro caps available that will lessen water loss and reduce gassing for these types of batterys or are they only for some other type?

[Efraim]

Originally Posted by blgklr

Is there not hydro caps available that will lessen water loss and reduce gassing for these types of batterys or are they only for some other type?

Yes there is.

[NewMoon]

Originally Posted by embla

I too need to replace domestic bank of 2 year old AGM batteries, but am concerned that lead acid wet cell batteries emmit dangerous gas while charging and they are situated under bed in aft cabin (Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45 ). Is this a real concern?

Hi embla,

I wonder why your AGM's lasted only 2 years. I just replaced my house bank (two 12V group 31 Deka AGM's) after 11 years. Inadequate size? Wiring or charging issues? Might be well to resolve this before installing another pair of expensive batteries.

[embla]

Originally Posted by NewMoon

Hi embla,

I wonder why your AGM's lasted only 2 years. I just replaced my house bank (two 12V group 31 Deka AGM's) after 11 years. Inadequate size? Wiring or charging issues? Might be well to resolve this before installing another pair of expensive batteries.

Well to be honest I took the cheap route - the AGM's were allegedly Lucas BAGM100's but were only around £100 each at the time. I since learned (from the original supplier!) that they were Chinese batteries labelled as Lucas and no longer in business... Also I did note that my DuoGen charger was sometimes pushing out 15v at higher boat speeds, and so I am replacing the regulator. I had heard that these LVM regulators had been causing problems. So this time I am going for a better batteries - haven't quite decided between LifeLine and Elecsol and replacing the regulator with a Karasoul ICC50

[AmzngGrace]

I found this thread recently. I was wondering if now (10 years later) do the posts in this thread still “ring true”.

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by micheck

I have some of the Costco 6V 225 AH Deep Cycle Golf Cart batteries ($90/) - so far so good

That's what I use. Best bang for the buck. They last about 5 years. 210 AH bank and a frig AND separate freezer. 30 to 40 AH used nightly or until the solar kicks in.

[smac999]

a "marine battery" just means it has threaded studs for cables instead of car posts... there is nothing "marine" about it on the inside. and if it's 12v it's probably not deep cycle. a 12v marine deep cycle battery is just marketing BS.

[Phantom Jim]

Yes. We have 4 Interstate Golf Cart batteries in Phantom and have used GC batteries since 2004. They last 5-6 years with indifferent attention. There are other battery options available, but these are right for us.

[CaptTom]

Going on 8 years with my current set of GC batteries. That's about how long the last set had been in my previous boat when I sold it.

You can't beat them for AH for a given footprint (assuming FLA-type.) And they are a lot easier to move and stow than an 8D or some such. I'm as anxious as the next guy to move to newer battery technology, but right now these seem to be the sweet spot between capacity, price and longevity.