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Marine Battery

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:28 pm
by OldGrumpy
What brand of marine battery is the best?

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:53 pm
by lakerunner696
I use AutoZone Marine Starting/Deep Cycle. They run around $70.00 with core and carry a 2 year full replacement.

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 6:10 pm
by GregF
Are you looking for a starting battery or a "house"/trolling battery?

Pontoons are really not that tough on batteries (they don't pound like a V hull) I use a Wal-Mart car battery for starting my motor, the only reason I have one. You can take one back to Wal-Mart with a bullet hole in it and they will give you a new one within 2 years. I usually get 4 or 5 out of one.

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 6:51 pm
by Ron Burgundy
I would vote for Optima as being the best, but it's probably overpriced for most applications.

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:02 pm
by Bamaman
Deep cycle marine batteries are infamous for short life spans. A regular deep cycle battery is $80 at Autozone vs. $229 for an Optima deep cycle battery.

I use car batteries for my boat/motor, and they've been lasting 3-5 years. They're less expensive than deep cycle batteries.

It's best if batteries are removed in the Fall and brought inside until Spring. But, don't store them on a concrete floor (for some unknown reason.)

I keep a Battery Tender on my WaveRunner all Winter, and also use it on my other batteries to do a slow multi-day full charge.

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:17 pm
by GregF
I have heard the bad reputation about batteries on concrete floors went away when they stopped using the hard rubber case but I still put them on a block of wood.

It will not take much acid migrating down the side to "ring" the floor.

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:00 pm
by shadow-13x
Bamaman wrote: But, don't store them on a concrete floor (for some unknown reason.)
I had a friend tell me the same thing for my car battery I had on trickle charge. something about the ground having a different polarity and will cause the battery to discharge. he told me put it up on wood since it doesnt conduct electricity. he sounded like he was serious. IDK

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:21 pm
by GregF
I have heard a lot about the discharge thing but the problem with damaging the floor seemed a lot more plausible. These days with the plastic battery case any discharge issue sounds like urban legend even if it was true of the rubber cases.

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:39 pm
by chill'nthemost
GregF wrote:I have heard a lot about the discharge thing but the problem with damaging the floor seemed a lot more plausible. These days with the plastic battery case any discharge issue sounds like urban legend even if it was true of the rubber cases.
agreed

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 4:51 am
by BiXLL
why would rubber discharge on concrete but not plastic? Rubber is as good if not better insulator then plastic is???????

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 5:54 am
by Woody
GregF wrote:.....These days with the plastic battery case any discharge issue sounds like urban legend even if it was true of the rubber cases.

Yep. I keep my batteries on the concrete floor every winter, just as I have for many years. It will do NOTHING to harm the batteries these days.

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:01 pm
by OldGrumpy
Thanks for all the help. Today I was able to have the battery tested and it just needed charging so now I need to look for a jump start box.

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:04 pm
by tntooner
some jump start boxes need the battery that is being jumped to have enough voltage to pull in a relay on the jump box. I have an old one like this, so I have got one now that has a switch on it. :)

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 8:58 pm
by MH Hawker
I have tryed about ever brand made at one time or another and most just plain wont last more than 2 years car or marine, but with one exception, i bought a hybrid house/starting from K mart , a delco it was something like 125.00 10 years ago and lasted all most 8 years,was very heavy, i had gotten tired of running out of juce fishing at nightand bought thier top of the line ,, and like most things that work they stopped making it , i was in a bit of a huiire to get my boat up and running , so i got a interstate marine hybrid ,thier decent but around 4 years is all you will get out of one, i should of spent the time tracking down a delco , thier sealed and you never have to add water or worrie over a acid leak

Re: Marine Battery

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:10 pm
by Heatman
lakerunner696 wrote:I use AutoZone Marine Starting/Deep Cycle. They run around $70.00 with core and carry a 2 year full replacement.

I just bought one of those myself. The guy that rang me up said I really didn't have to worry about keeping the receipt, they can just look it up by my phone # if I have a problem.

Last summer I went to Walmart and bought their largest battery for my trolling motor. Took it home, put it on the charger and it said BAD BATTERY! Took it back and they tested it, bad cell. They didn't have another one and didn't want to give me a refund 2 days later! They wanted me to wait until they got another in! F-that! Didn't take long for me to convince them to give my money back! Man, I hate that place!