Starting battery options
Well, the theory behind "deep cycle" is that they get thicker plates that do not get killed as fast by deep discharges. As the drawback, they do not have as much wet surface as thin-plated starting batteries and thus do not give as high amps cranking as staring batteries.
If you have some time and a bit of money, do research racing batteries. You can get a small 20Ah battery with 800-1200 amps cranking that would be of a size of a brick or smaller. And light, too. Lithium-iron/ion technology also will last through 20K cycles, so you have a lot of cranking to do
. $300-400 bucks will buy you a battery with built-in charge controller.
On the downside (you knew it's coming, didn't you) this is the kind of battery that consistently burns Boeing 787s down
.
There was a manufacturer for marine use specifically (RaceCell) but they do not reply to the phone or email lately. Still, it turned out there is quite a marketplace for Li/ion batteries in a race car circuits. So, there is a ton of manufacturers and sellers out there. Quite a few of them sell "marinized" versions.
On a lighter side... While researching, I also found a high-end fuel cell solution intended for sailboats. Looks promising. The only issue is that they use methanol! I wrote to them with a common sense suggestion - what are you guys thinking? Where the hell do you expect sailors to find methanol? It's poisonous, and it is a controlled substance in many countries. If you used ethanol instead, one can get a bottle of cheap high alcohol content drink almost anywhere in the world... While I understand a bottle of rum would kill the catalyst, vodka or gin should do OK. And I'd much rather carry fuel that I can also consume
. Will also help with customs - it's no longer alcohol, it's fuel!
No reply so far
. And I do not think I'll ever get one.
Regards,
Stan