What battery do you all like?

[RussGW270]

I have a possible dead battery. I think they are Interstate... so I know where to get those, but which batteries do you all prefer? Not looking for an expensive one right now. I can replace them later.. I just need to take them all out, have them checked, and replace whichever is bad, if they are bad. So, low cost right now.

I need to recover from boat expenses for a couple months before I upgrade.. so looking for what will "do" not what will be best.

Thanks

R

 

[Bloodweiser]

Russ

it’s probably a cranking battery. Look for cold cranking amp CCA rating and go to Walmart , sams club or Costco and get one.

 

[Flot]

If you happen to be a member - the Sam's Club Marine AGM batteries are some of the best deals out there for an allegedly "good" battery - they do a sale once or twice a year that knocks $20-30 off, but even without that it's pretty good. And have heard they are good about swapping out bad ones under warranty (18 month) too, so that's a win-win.

Right now the prices are
Group 34 - $119 (775 CCA/890 MCA, 20 amp hour rate 55, Reserve Cap 120)
Group 27 - $158 (580 CCA/900 MCA, 20 amp hour rate 92, Reserve Cap 175)
Group 31 - $179 (800 CCA/1000 MCA, 20 amp hour rate 105, Reserve Cap 200)

It's tough to justify replacing a battery twice. BTW you can pick up a resistance load tester on amazon for $20 and figure out which of yours is bad pretty easily. (Edit: Nevermind, the Schumacker tester I paid $20 for a year and a half ago is now $36 - but harbor freight still has em for $20) https://www.harborfreight.com/100a-612v-battery-load-tester-61747.html

As for starting vs combo deep cycle/starting - Since I switched to modern four strokes 15 years ago, I can't remember the last time I had to crank an outboard more than a few seconds. YMMV on that.

 

[Sdfish]

I've had good luck with costco marine batteries. I believe they are Interstate.

 

[seasick]

You should go to someplace like Autozone and have your battery load tested. Batteries usually get weak before going completely dead and if yours is really dead as a door nail
it may be due to a drain on it and not necessarily a bad battery. Weak is another story. Determine what is connected to the bad battery and see if anything is drawing a load, especially when the battery switch is OFF. Things like bilge pumps, stereo memory circuits and chargers may be issues)
I don't remember if you have twin motors or not but if twins, then each battery ( if you have two) is charged by different motors. To an extent the charge state depends on a few factors like whether you run each motor on a single battery or use the BOTH switch setting.
In general, if you run and or charge on BOTH, it is best to have the same battery model for both and they should be the same age. If you run and charge separately and only use BOTH in a pinch, different ages and models is OK as long as the batteries are the same chemistry (e.g. lead acid)

 

[RussGW270]

I plan to pull all 3 batteries and have them tested. Seems strange that one is bad, been charging them ever since I got the boat and they have been fine.

The 30-amp was tripped, so... they went low and have not re-charged.

I ordered a new 30-amp shore power for 85 bucks with shipping from Paneltronics directly. Everywhere else was ridiculous prices or out of stock.

The switch on the one I have is broken off, so not easy to turn back on. I will keep it as an emergency spare, just in case. So, going to pull the batteries this week when the family is out of town, then have them all tested.

Also does not make sense that the engine would not crank since I had both knobs turned to "Both".. even if one was bad, it should have cranked on the other two.

Need to get in there and get a closer look tonight.

R

 

[RussGW270]

Ok, I put a multimeter on all three multiple times.

If your head is down in that battery well, you see the charger on the far left, three batteries.

Going right to left with the show power ON, thus charging...

Battery 1 - 9.8-ish
Battery 2 - 9.8-ish
Battery 3 - 12.5-ish

If I unplug the shore power, all three hover around 9.7-ish.

So, either 2 batteries just up and died, or there is an issue with the wiring, even though I cleaned them all today with a wire brush and nothing has been disconnected since I got it... but, that is the initial check. Will still be looking at cleaning all of them further and even swapping positions to see if is the wiring. If I swap #2 and #3, if the wiring is bad, I wilol get the same results. If not, I will see the same, but with the middle battery doing fine, supposedly. We will see.

Will also take them to the auto store, hopefully they can test them at the car vs me lugging in three of them lol

R

 

[Parthery]

As others have said, the auto parts stores will load test them.

I don’t know whether you have 24s or 27s, but the Duracell branded batteries at Sams are made by Deka. Their stuff is high quality. You can also find them at Batteries and Bulbs, and West Marine’s batteries are Deka as well.

Nothing was disconnected, was it?

 

[seasick]

11.5 volts is essentially totally discharged. 9.8 volts is as I mentioned, dead as a door nail.
The 12.5 volt batter is probably fine.
Something is going on. You need to find out what before buying batteries that may not be the problem

 

[RussGW270]

They all read the 9.whatever so they are dead, but the likelyhood of all three being dead at the same time is slim to none.
Will know more after I have them all tested. Who knows, could have had 2 dead and been on the one left all this time, that is possible. If so, I am not going to buy three in one month, so down for the next few months.

Will know more later. I am going to pull each one of them and take them in.

Thanks

 

[RussGW270]

Ok, pulled all 3. Taking them to O’Reillys later tonight.

 

[wspitler]

The only way to determine their state accurately is to disconnect all three. Make sure the acid covers the cells unless they are maintenance free. Then charge them up, if they will take a charge, and come up above 12V. Some smart chargers will not charge a fully dead battery, but the old type will. A trickle charger is probably not adequate. Look for at least a 10 -20 amp charger. If each one takes a charge and after the charger is removed holds between 12-13 VDC for 24 hours, then load test them. That will tell you whether they are worth saving. If you are looking for leakage in your electrical system, turn off all loads, including the stereo memory breaker and place a 12V light bulb between (in series with) one of the cables and a good battery terminal. The other cable should be connected to the other terminal. If the bulb burns brightly, you have a leak (load) on the system that you need to locate and fix.

 

[RussGW270]

not worried about leakage right now. I know the bilge float is working as it is new and the only thing that should be pulling atm. I think the red dials were turned on is all and so it went down.

I already pulled all three. Only charger I have is 6amps, not big but if they test good, will grab a larger one. Right now, just need to see how they test.

Worst case, I buy 3 brand new ones, at which point I will not get cheap ones.

Best case, all three are fine.

If I have to replace all three, I’ll just buy one nice one, hook it up to start them in the driveway, buy two more next month. Is what it is.

Thanks for the input guys.

R

 

[wspitler]

not worried about leakage right now. I know the bilge float is working as it is new and the only thing that should be pulling atm. I think the red dials were turned on is all and so it went down.

I already pulled all three. Only charger I have is 6amps, not big but if they test good, will grab a larger one. Right now, just need to see how they test.

Worst case, I buy 3 brand new ones, at which point I will not get cheap ones.

Best case, all three are fine.

If I have to replace all three, I’ll just buy one nice one, hook it up to start them in the driveway, buy two more next month. Is what it is.

Thanks for the input guys.

R

They won't be able to test them if they are discharged. They will fail the test for sure. I'd try the 6 amp charger for 24+ hours to see if you can save the good one.

 

[Lsquared]

not worried about leakage right now. I know the bilge float is working as it is new and the only thing that should be pulling atm. I think the red dials were turned on is all and so it went down.

I already pulled all three. Only charger I have is 6amps, not big but if they test good, will grab a larger one. Right now, just need to see how they test.

Worst case, I buy 3 brand new ones, at which point I will not get cheap ones.

Best case, all three are fine.

If I have to replace all three, I’ll just buy one nice one, hook it up to start them in the driveway, buy two more next month. Is what it is.

Thanks for the input guys.

R

i didnt have good luck with interstate. Deka has been really good so far.

 

[Bloodweiser]

That's interesting that you had issues with interstate. What were the issues ? Deca is a great battery I have good friend that is distributor and I run Deka on both my diesel trucks. I have interstates on my Grady with no issues.

 

[RussGW270]

Totally understand that. I have to go through all the steps before I waste money buying a new/larger charger. Right now, these new fancy chargers keep faulting on them. I have an old one that is pumping out a trickle charge to one while I spend the evening deciding to spend money on a high end charger or say to hell with it and buy three batteries...well, one now and two next month. I do not mind it, typical with this damn boat...but Two have dates of 2014 on them, the third no date...they outlived their usefulness imo....just one more reason to blow the summer fishing season.

So, leaning towards 3 new batteries.

 

[Blaugrana]

Unless you are in a rush, just wait as west marine typically has 50% their chargers rather often

 

[Bloodweiser]

I agree 2014 has served its life and lost its dependability . I use a pro marine charging system for an two bank system. But they come in 3 or 4 bank. Look into it.

 

[RussGW270]

I have a guest pro charger that came with the boat. I put a meter on it and it was kicking out a charge, the batteries were just not taking it.

Annoying, but eh.. par for the course so, the smart move is replace them.

My only guess is that there were bad batteries already and one or two were keeping it going and finally croaked.

So, going to find a happy medium between awesome and economical and find myself a solid battery replacement and buy 1 now and 1 or 2 in a month....that will mean no snapper season this year in fed waters, unless they extend it like they did last year, which they might with covid.. but, going cheap is not smart, when it is all 3.

I have 27 class batteries, so will stick with that and see about deca or whatever brand offers a solid warranty on a 800cca battery that is comparable to the Interstates I have, or better.

I only hope I can at LEAST crank one engine at a time so I can run the oil through and check the compression.. heh. I will not hook up the installed charger, just let the engine charge it... should be fine.

Oh, and forgot who mentioned it but I may install a solar trickle setup for if the breaker pops so they never go down like that again. Had that breaker not tripped, they would have stayed charged... now, too low.. so, not worth the risk on 6+yr old batteries.

R