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all right hi everyone Jeff Cote here with another boating Tech talk we've got a question from Othello Boulder named Patrick Patrick has a 31 foot boat with two group 24 AGM which stands for absorb glass mat batteries each is at 79 amp hours so two of them he says his total capacity is 158 amp hours so let's make the numbers sort of easier Patrick's got two batteries on a 31 foot boat they're grouped 24 agms they're about 80 amp hours each for a total of 160. okay so all right so that's the current setup and by the way for you for those of you who are wondering the reason we added the amp hours was to increase capacity so we're assuming here although Patrick didn't say it that a 31 foot boat most likely is 12 volts so the two batteries are wired in parallel for a larger capacity so then Patrick goes on and asks and that's a question that many of us are going to ask is like I would like to increase my capacity welcome to the club and would like your opinion in the following would it be better too and then he goes around Patrick gives us three little options should I go with three group 24 AGM batteries so that would go from 160 to 240 3 times 80 equals 240. should I do two group 31 batteries that are about 105 amp hours each or should I do six volts and then wire two pairs of six volts in series to make it a 12. well so the one thing Patrick didn't talk about in his questions was is he using this as a starter or a deep cycle application but based on the fact that it's AGM and he's putting two of them and there's no mention of marine cracking amps or cold cranking amps let's assume it's a deep cycle question and if you're going to go with deep cycle and you're going to stay with a flooded lead acid or an AGM lead acid battery then I think it's worthwhile for all of us voters to think about what's a battery built for and if you're thinking about a deep cycle battery and you have the physical space to put a golf cart battery and it's going to work for your setting without too much changes then I would suggest to consider two golf card batteries wired in series two six volts as probably the best suitable choice for a deep cycle application nothing wrong with the group 31 or 27 but the golf cart is probably a better deep cycle battery and so that's what I would welcome now the one distinction is when you add two six volt batteries in series the voltage adds but this is important it's not a miracle you can't win both on voltage and app hours so if you've got two six volt batteries that are let's say 260 amp hours each and you're going to wire them in series well then it's going to become a 12 volt battery at 260 amp hours not a 12 volt at 520 amp hours because that would be a win-win and there's no such thing everything's a trade-off so yeah think about it when you're adding batteries always ask yourself what's the application you know am I going to be doing a deep cycle application or starter and then think about the physical space and if it's a truly deep cycle battery then it might make sense to go with a golf cart if you're using it for Dual Purpose both as a starter battery and as a deep cycle battery then start looking at the cold cranking amps or Marine cranking amps for the rate of battery so to make sure that your starter gets doesn't get a voltage sag under starter loads so that would be my advice to Patrick so great question Patrick and thanks for watching and for all of you out there keep your questions coming and be safe loading thanks for watching so if you're curious again go on our website and find out more answers and solutions with this sort of setup and thanks for asking and thanks for all of you for listening and tuning in English (auto-generated)