Deep-Cycle Battery vs Normal Lead-Acid Battery?
Deep-Cycle Battery vs Normal Lead-Acid Battery?
Posted on March 16, 2020
When it comes to batteries, there are two different choices: A normal, lead-acid battery or a deep-cycle battery. Both of these batteries have their advantages and disadvantages. When trying to decide which battery would be best for your vehicle, you need to first take into consideration what type of vehicle you have and what the vehicle will be used for. In order to better help you understand which battery would be best for you, here is a look at both a deep-cycle battery and a normal lead-acid battery.
Lead-Acid Batteries
Lead-Acid batteries, also known as starter batteries, are used in almost every car, light truck, SUV, and vans. These batteries produce a large jolt of power at one time in order to start the car's engine. After that, the alternator takes over and recharges the battery. Because of this, a car's battery can go its entire life without being drained more than 20% of its overall power. And because its power is never fully drained, car batteries usually have a longer lifespan than deep-cycle batteries.
Deep Cycle Batteries
Unlike a traditional car battery, deep-cycle batteries provide a long, steady stream of power. It can provide a short burst of power, but nothing like a car battery. Deep cycle batteries are also lead-acid batteries but they are designed to be discharged and recharged regularly. They have strong plates inside of them that allow their power to be completely drained repeatedly without causing damage to the battery itself. If you were to completely drain a car's battery over and over again, you would dramatically shorten its life.
Deep cycle batteries were not made to power most vehicles. However, they are often used for recreational vehicles, boats, and golf carts. Because they deliver a steady flow of power over a long period of time, these batteries are also useful in solar panels and other plug-in electronics.
Deep-Cycle Battery vs A Regular Lead-Acid Battery
The main difference between these two types of batteries is their Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) and Reserve Capacity (RC) amounts.
The CCA refers to how many amps that a battery can produce for 30 seconds at 0 degrees Celcius. And RC refers to the number of minutes that a battery is able to produce 25 amps while maintaining a voltage rating of 10.5 volts.
A normal lead-acid battery will usually have two to three times less RC than a deep-cycle battery will. Additionally, a deep-cycle battery is only able to deliver about half as much CCA as a regular car battery.
If you have any questions about these two types of batteries or you would like more information about your specific car battery, feel free to contact us today.