A lead-acid battery can be designed for different purposes. General use, starting, high power, stand-by and lastly Deep-Cycle. Element 82 has a large range of maintenance-free, sealed, AGM Deep Cycle batteries. It one of our specialties actually, matching up your battery needs with a suitably purposed battery. The are available in 2 volt, 6 volt & 12 volt depending on capacity and purpose for various applications.
A deep cycle battery charges in whats referred to a cyclic application at a voltage higher than a float charger or alternator. It's for that reason particular attention should be paid to the charger or charging devices so to enhance your batteries and operate as per the manufacturer's recommendations. If doing so you'll extend the usable life of the battery and therefore its service life and be on target to achieve the expected depth of discharge and cycles outlined and expected.
This means your battery will correctly maintained, be of more use to the users and perform as expected and offer real value for money as opposed to examples where start batteries which are cheaper upfront but cost much more in the bigger picture as they require replacement more often.
Deep cycle batteries, especially AGM batteries, have multiple uses they are primarily suited to cycling which is a discharge then a recharge. They are designed with thicker plates than a starting battery to be able to provide the reserve capacity required and also be able to perform this function for an extended number of cycles over starting batteries.
In-fact in Europe starting batteries have recently taken on the deep cycle classification as well but they are referred to as occasional or weekender deep cycle batteries (usually under another model or brand name to note effect the starting battery brand. What this really means is the typical start battery can perform cycles to approx 50% about 30-70 times (or cycles) so if you are only using your battery away from mains every other week for a period of time that discharges the batteries of approx 50% of its usable amp-hour. The smart people in marketing consider that occasional use. Either way, the 30+ cycles should see you pass the terms of the warranty, the reality is you'll still need to purchase a new battery but that's at your cost.
Euro batteries were only ever intended for use in starting applications which is why there are so few batteries that can deep cycle that are Euro or DIN batteries. If you need a DIN height Euro battery is the Euro Automotive tag from Odyssey Batteries.