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Starting battery for Perkins 4-108

T

terry_thatcher

Terence Thatcher
my battery combiner died, so I am in The process of rewirng things in the battery compartment. For House I use 4 Trojan 6 volts. I have for years had a group 31 starting battery, which is big and sealed. I do not really like having a sealed battery, because I can’t check the water, although I have never had a problem. Would a group 27 starting battery be sufficient? Has 800 CCA. West Marine has one, but it is many dollar more than a standard starting battery of the same size. Suggestions?thanks.
 
Terry
I should think a gr. 27 would do. They are used to start much larger engines. Perhaps a deep cycle battery such as the Optima yellow top or something in a deep cycle flooded battery. Most boat starting systems are used irregularly and sit unused. The deep cycle batt. will hold its charge.
Forgive me if this is all common knowledge for you.
Mitchell
 
A group 24 or 27 marine starting flooded battery from Interstate has 1000 cranking amps at 32 deg F. Deep cycle batteries are not good for engine starting as they suffer from excessive voltage drop during the high current flow of engine cranking which can cause electronics to drop out and also can cause the starter solenoid to drop out before the engine starts. That's why it is best to have a dedicated starting battery isolated from the house battery. There are various combiner devices available to charge the starting battery however they seem prone to failure. A simpler way is to just put the battery switch in "both" position for a short time.
 
I have an interstate group 27 starting battery and have never had a problem starting. I rewired a few years ago so all my charge sources (dockside, solar, balmer from engine) are hardwired for charging through an automatic charging relay and my engine starter is wired only to the starting battery unless i manually switch over to the house. The original wiring had both the starter and the alternator in series. That meant I couldn't isolate the starter to just the starting battery.
 

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  • Sjokolade New Wiring.pdf
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Blue Seas battery combiner , I never had one fail ! i use a type 27 as a starting battery also .
 
I have owned and lived aboard SNO VIRGIN for 21 years and never installed a starting battery. Have house battery bank only (4 6 volt golf cart batteries)
 
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