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I have a '86 f250 6.9 diesel ... It has 2 12-volt batteries ... Would there be any advantage to replacing them with 4 6-volt golf cart batteries wired series-parallel ? ... I have heard of doing this to rv's with 2 6-volts ...
series parallel would still leave you at 12v, but I am not sure how much current those batteries could deliver and their Ah rating. I think you'd be better off using two automotive and possibly deep cycle batteries.
Golf cart batteries are not starting batteries. They are made for long term drains, and are made to be drained down very low and then recharged with little damage.
A regular automotive battery is a starting battery. It is designed for very large short term current bursts as required by the starter to turn the engine over. But they are not made to be drained very low and then recharged all the time.
You will find golf cart batteries in RV's, because they are used to power the devices in the camper, not to start the engine of the rv. You can run a TV in the RV a very long time on the deep cycle golf cart batteries, and when they die, recharge them and do it over again. A regular car battery would be ruined after doing this a few times.
As mentioned by the other poster, a deep cycle battery does not have the large current capability of a starting battery. So it's not well suited for that purpose.
Automotive deep cycle batteries can handle starting for many years. I've used Optima yellow and blue tops batteries for the last 10 years without a hiccup. The still only last about 5 years, but put up with more discharges.