marine battery or a regular auto battery??

[BASSKING]

I was wondering if i could use a regular battery to run my running lights and the livewell i constucted or would i need to buy a new deep cycle marine battry? thanks for any advice, Bassking

[DaveR]

you can use one, and it'll work, but not for quite as long. Deep Cycle are designed for numerous discharge/charge cycles, automotive for the most part are not.

But for lights and livewell only , it may work fine, depending upon how long you're running the lights and how much draw it takes. Some battery manufacturers may be able to provide discharge current graphs that show at a specified rate the time the battery will take to enter what is known as "deep discharge" below 11 volts, after which, battery will have a shorter life expectancy, one time won't kill it, but a hundred could on certain battery designs.
I run all my accessories from my outboard engine cranking battery, I very seldom have much reduced capacity at all when I put that battery on charge, probably cause the engine's charging system keeps it topped off while running.

[BASSKING]

thanks dave, i will more than likely go ahead and by a new marine battery i also want to run a hummingbird off of it. this is for my little jon boat with a trolling motor i would like to have a seperate battery for it. again thanks