Alright, just curious if deep cycle batteries take longer to gather the charge then regular batteries or not? Just a myth or truth that I'm trying to uncover about them. And also curious cause I just dropped one in my car, seems to be slow draggin on the charging process.

 

I'm no expert on deep cycles or anything, but if it is a bigger battery capable of holding a bigger charge, it should take longer to charge than a smaller battery on the same charger / alternator. But then again, if it's a new battery it should come fully charged, I believe. Anyway I can tell you that the optima yellow top is the one, especially if you are doing heavy car audio / electronics.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by citrEK &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Alright, just curious if deep cycle batteries take longer to gather the charge then regular batteries or not? Just a myth or truth that I'm trying to uncover about them. And also curious cause I just dropped one in my car, seems to be slow draggin on the charging process.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Define slow? it should take that long to charge that battery besides what kind of engine / stereo do you have that requires the deep cycle?

 

i got it cause whenever i replace something on my car, i upgrade... i picked it up from pep boys, has been sitting for quite some time, and collected lots of dust... i'm going to go there and have them test it for free, since they sold it to me and i think its junk.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by citrEK &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">, has been sitting for quite some time, and collected lots of dust... .</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well theres why its taking a long time to charge.. you discharged it by letting it sit so I bet it got below the 10volt mark. Vehicle batteries have very short shelf lives they like to be charged and kept around the 12volt mark all the time so if you buy a battery do not leave it on the side for use later on, it will become useless fast.

 

You should not be having a problem using a optima in your car. Take it back and have them test it. It probably sat at Pep Boys to long and drained down. I love optima batteries you can mount them in any position and they are damn near indestructible.

 

SVR Makes a good battery for our cars too, and it will fit in the stock location, I am pretty sure the specs are higher than the optimas also, and its cheaper. I had one, it worked great, but unfortunately it was destroyed when my car sat outside for 5 months...covered in corosion...but if your in the market for a high performance battery, give SVR a shot they under 100 dollars I think.

 

the optima d51r fits in the OEM spot too, same size... i'm going to head to pep boys here in a couple and have them check it out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BatuKing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Well theres why its taking a long time to charge.. you discharged it by letting it sit so I bet it got below the 10volt mark. Vehicle batteries have very short shelf lives they like to be charged and kept around the 12volt mark all the time so if you buy a battery do not leave it on the side for use later on, it will become useless fast.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah you have the write idea

Car batteries use very thin lead plates which have a large surface area to volume ratio, this means that the battery will have a very low internal resistance so the terminal voltage will not drop much when you draw an exceptionally large current (ie when starting the car). They are not designed to be used as a long term source of power, they are basically there to just supply a very large current for a short space of time everytime you start the car.

Deep discharging a lead acid battery results in the formation of crystalline regions of lead suplhate, these regions are insoluable and either stick to the plates or fall off and lie at the bottom of the cell. The deeper the cycle and the longer it stays discharged for both promote the formation of crystalline lead sulphate. Once formed it is hard to dissolve, the electrolyte will become less concentrated and you will lose plate surface area reducing the internal resistance and the capacity. With car batteries deep cycling will destroy them very quickly as the plates are so thin, this is why it is advisable to avoid discharging them.

Deep cycle batteries basically have thicker plates which means that they are more robust (can tolerate deep discharging more)but for the same size will have a reduced capacity and higher internal resistance.

Relating back to to your orginal question i can't really see a good reason for the deep cycle battery to take longer to charge, yes its internal resitance is higher but that shouldn't make much of a difference. Unless you want to power things off the battery when the engine is off then they are more of a downgrade...although i haven't seen the CCA specs (more CCAs = better startup).

 

its the d51r...

http://optimabattery.com/optima.cfm