I had trouble all season with my batteries. I didn't get out much this year but did spent time on board. I found the batteries dead on more than one occasion. Tried charging them with the on board charger with no luck. Used a portable charger and all was ok for a while. One battery is a starting battery and one is a deep cycle. Both are a few years old and I will be replacing them. I am thinking about gel cell batteries and a new on board charger. Any opinions on what type/brand of on board charger I should get? Any ideas on the batteries. Thanks
I upgraded my battery/charging setup 2 years ago, and I went with 2 Optima blue tops, Perco battery switch, and a Pro Sport 12amp built in charger. The optimas are expensive, but I have been very satisfied with them. There is even a nice dual battery tray that optima sells if you want new battery trays too. They are hybrid starting/deep cycle batteries, and seem to do well with regular discharging. Since gas is so expensive, I have been sitting alot with the engine off and electronics running, so having the charger is nice. Usually I can get a good 8 hours on one battery running a 15" LCD on an inverter, Fish Finder, Running Lights, Cabin lights, and Stereo/AMP. I always only run off one battery so there is always a full spare if needed, and alternate batteries thru the season. The Pro Sport 12 is a dual bank charger that will split the amps to whichever battery needs the most.
Whatever way you go, make sure that your new charger is capable of charging the new batteries. Gel cell batteries take a special charging cycle, and most old style chargers are not capable of handling this.
Agm (advanced glass mat) is the way i would go. They are double the price, but last 5 or more years. Chargers that handle lead acid will work. Optima batteries are one brand of agm. Deca makes them also.
Xantrex has a neat little feature on their chargers. They offer a remote panel that constantly displays the batteries voltage and condition. It wires with a standard telephone cord. Can be mounted inside cabin or anywhere.
As far as the kind of battery, it depends on how your boat is wired. If you use only one battery to start engines, than a small group 27 starting battery would work just fine. It will always be charged by the charger and the engines.
The house battery is different. It is the battery that needs to discharge and recharge all the time. Size it big enough to handle the load. I have two wired in parallel to give double the capacity.
Isolators are important also. They are not used very much today, but have been replaced with battery combiners. Blue seas is one manufacturer i really like. They have the modern technology incorperated in all their products. Good luck and let us know how you make out.
Thanks for the info. I've been thinking about the agm and gel cell. I think I'll start with the charging system and work backwards letting cost dictate which way to go. If chargers arn't too expensive I don't mind taking the high road, so to speak. Thanks again. I let you knowwhat I decided.
Whatever route you take with the batteries and charger, I would make sure that the charger is a "smart" charger so to speak that will know when the battery is charged and switch cycles to tend to the batteries, so they are not overcharged. With a boat, there is a lot of sitting around on the charger and then when you're out and about there is a high demand on the batteries then back to sitting for a few days... Some boats more than others
Battery Charger
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