deep cycle battery for starting a metro?

[skewbe]

I left my ignition on recently and ran the battery all the way down recently, and my battery is showing signs of distress (car wouldn't start at one intersection).

I would like to utilize a deep cycle battery in it's place (not the $170 variety) since I spend a lot of time running electrical stuff without the engine running, and wondered if they have enough oomph to start a metro sized car.

Is anyone else using a deep cycle battery for starting a small car with success?

[ffvben]

I was just on a site for solar power . it had a bunch of info on batteries , ill have to search my history to find it. but mainly car batteries are for high voltage starts only, they may deep cycle just a few times. but the deep cycle batteries are for longevity low voltage no spikes, a car may screw this up i guess. ill post the web site if i can find it.

blaa can't find it . they listed reg car battery last 1-2yrs for solar charging (adding water when needed) maintenance free batteries last 3-5yrs, deep cycle lasts 6-9yrs. and the author of the info had a deep cycle forklift battery that was still good after 31yrs of solar charging.
he said also 77 degrees is the perfect temp. get down to 20 degrees and the battery looses about 20% power and also above 90 degrees it looses efficiency. so it might be good to keep your battery wrapped up in insulation. most new cars come with battery covers/blankets

[skewbe]

Well, I got the wally world $48 battery that said trolling/rv/deep cycle and nothing about starting and hooked it up for a test start and the thing has never turned over so fast since I owned it. Given the tiny battery that was on my gs1000, it should be just fine.

It doesn't quite fit though, had to flex the hood a little just for the first latch, so maybe I'll have to get some copper and do the battery in the trunk weight distribution thingy. Worst case I have a battery for other EV projects (oh the possibilities).

[88HF]

careful not to short the terminals when closing the hood on it.

[skewbe]

FYI, I moved the battery to the right rear, junkyard wars style of course.

The local Ace had a reel of 4 gauge welding cable for 5 bucks,
Ran the cable along the passenger wall/floor and out the firewall.
Grabbed a couple bolt together battery clamps
Made a battery ground strap out of an old jumper cable
Jammed the front battery cable together into the old battery clamp with a sacrificial 1/4" drive socket.
Tied the battery to the strut tower with a piece of nylon.

Good to go.

[jwxr7]

Originally Posted by skewbe

The local Ace had a reel of 4 gauge welding cable for 5 bucks,

Wow, that's a good deal. How is your socket connection holding up? Does it crank over as fast with the extra added resistence from the longer cable?

We have a 2.0L Diesel generator here at work that uses a deep cycle battery. It does very well cranking even when the thing doesn't wanna start.

[skewbe]

It is holding up good, knock on wood, the wire is pretty tight between the clamp and the socket. It turns over just fine, even with the ground connected via a skinnier lead.

I guess I will have to try no alternator some day Maybe bring the old battery along for good luck. Certainly will keep an eye on the voltage.

[MetroMPG]

I was away, but I would have given you the thumbs-up for using the deep cycle for starting the Metro.

I'm sure you thought of this already, but if you went through the hole in the firewall I'm thinking of, you removed a plug to do it. Might want to fashion a rubber grommet as added insurance against a short should the insulation on the wire/cable ever wear through.

Of course I didn't do that in the ForkenSwift when all the batts were inside the car with cables going through the firewall...

But I thought about it often!

[skewbe]

There was an unused plug in the firewall behind the glovebox, I punched a hole in the center of it with a screwdriver and pulled the cable through that and reinstalled it. Grommet=good, means you don't have to think about it so much after you do it

[skewbe]

One other part of the story, the guy behind me driving a taxi van had a big old solid black plastic bumper and I had a big old solid black plastic bumper, and he gave me a short push and off I went with hardly three words between us. I couldn't tell his accent, but he knew exactly what to do

I could have pushed the car and jumped in and bumped it with more time/room , but it was like the busiest spot on my whole commute.