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Batteries

spinzone

spinzone

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Marvin, NC
Any forum members have recommendations (based on experience) on new batteries? My two batteries are at the 3yr mark and I figure for piece of mind, I'm going to replace them both now.

These diehard marine 27s have been flawless thus far but I'm reading some not so positive reviews now. I thought about Optima marine but for 3 years of use, how can they out perform what I've experienced this far?
 
My new Bennington is outfitted with a Deka 24 starting/deep cycle for a house battery, and 2 Deka deep cycle 29's for the trolling motor. On my bass boat I have 2 Deka 29's for the trolling motor, 3 years old and great at holding a charge, and a Deka starting battery manufactured in May 2007. I can't believe it is still holding a charge, but it is. Obviously, I'm sold on the Deka brand. There are three manufacturers for all batteries in the US, and Deka/East Penn is one of them. They also private label quite a few brands, one of which I heard was Bass Pro. My Bennington dealer was cheaper than BPS if that is the case. The Deka distribution may be a problem, you can go to their site and check for dealers in your area.
 
Warm weather is like night and day on a battery.  My "house" battery failed three years ago in my SUV.  It wouldn't turn the motor over at 0 degrees.   But it works fine at 80 degrees in the boat (for house loads, I don't use it as a starting battery for the boat).

If you have separate house and starting batteries, and you never run them in parallel (under load, charging should be fine) I would just replace the one you use for starting.  If you run them in parallel under load, the weak one will drain the good one.

Then, after however many years you are comfortable with, move your starting battery over to the house position, then buy a new starting battery.  You should save half the money on batteries that way.

It's also good to have some cheap jumper cables.  Not necessarily to jump from another boat, but to jump your starting battery from your house battery (in an emergency). 

There are lots of ways to set up batteries (for example I have a charging relay with NO switches, thus the jumper cables), so the above may not work in all cases, but you get the idea.

You can have them load tested at a auto parts store...  That should help you decide what to do.
 
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I used to have Optima Blue's in all my boats and read a few very negative things on the Verado board about failures. I had one give me trouble but otherwise very good luck over many years. I switched to Die Hard Platinum 31's in this boat, which is the the identical battery to the very highly rated Odysseys. So far so good!
 
I have always used auto batteries in my boats, and have got ridiculous service out of them--10 years?  Truth is that 2 stroke outboards don't require much power to get started.

My dealer put a no name, piece of crap deep cycle battery in my new Bennie.  That's a no-no in an almost $40K boat--as far as I'm concerned.

Since I don't have sound power boosters or trolling motors on my boat, I'll be going back with another auto battery next time around.  They last longer than deep cycle, and are sound values if you don't need the deep cycle function.
 
Hi Spinzone, good to see you back.  Have things settled back to normal with the relocation?
 
Link said:
Hi Spinzone, good to see you back. Have things settled back to normal with the relocation?
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They have, Link. Thanks for asking!

We're headed out tomorrow and maybe going to check on our buddy cwag911.

Btw... I stopped by Sears today and picked up two new diehard platinum 31 agms on sale for $189 each. I figure for $400 it's pretty good insurance my 3 yr old batteries with 86 hours of boat time won't die on me!
 
There's a really big Interstate Marine battery in mine...can't remember the age but I remember looking at that last year and I know it's not exactly less than 3 years old but it isn't that old either....looks clean enough to eat off of.  I store it in indoor heated storage during the winter (never drops below 55 degrees) and I take the terminals off of it as well.  I'm honestly not planning on replacing it anytime soon and personally I think Interstate makes the best brand of battery but I'm not an actual expert of that either...just my opinion. 

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spinzone said:
They have, Link. Thanks for asking!

We're headed out tomorrow and maybe going to check on our buddy cwag911.

Btw... I stopped by Sears today and picked up two new diehard platinum 31 agms on sale for $189 each. I figure for $400 it's pretty good insurance my 3 yr old batteries with 86 hours of boat time won't die on me!
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Chas, what are you going to do with the old batteries?
 
Doh!!!

Carl beat me to the old batteries...
 
Clean motor...
 
You want them? They tested good just not sure I trust them for another year.
 
Stepson wants them for his trolling motor. I'll talk to you about them tomorrow.
 
Interstate doesn't make batteries, they just market them. They are made by Johnson Controls, and they also make Kirkland (Costco), Duralast (Autozone), Everstart (Walmart), Diehard (Sears), Autocraft, Energizer, Optima, Motorcraft, and Prostart. They also make a few lesser known brands.
 
I have a GM delco battery in my ski boat that's a 1999 vintage and is still going strong.
 
 I like my Northstar batteries, only had them for a year, but they claim you can leave a fully charged battery for the winter(up to 18 months actually)without any need to charge or maintain. Also because they are 99.99% pure lead they won't freeze and will still easily accept a charge even at -50C. They are pricey, but they serve my stereo use so far.

http://www.totalbattery.com/details.asp?id=1049

This is just a few details. Probably overkill for just normal boat usage. I was disappointed they didn't have a size to fit my Caddy or I would have ran it in there.
 
Do they just sell to/in  Canada ?
 
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keithkz said:
There's a really big Interstate Marine battery in mine...can't remember the age but I remember looking at that last year and I know it's not exactly less than 3 years old but it isn't that old either.There should be a sticker on the side of the battery with the build date. C-12 example. Built in March 2012
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Remediation said:
keithkz said:
There's a really big Interstate Marine battery in mine...can't remember the age but I remember looking at that last year and I know it's not exactly less than 3 years old but it isn't that old either.There should be a sticker on the side of the battery with the build date. C-12 example. Built in March 2012
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Oh yeah I know....that's what I was saying....I remember looking at that last year....just can't remember what it said and it' still in storage so I can't check it out again just yet.
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