Battery Questions
 

I'v got a few issues i need help with. First one is a battery for my stereo. I have 8 6.5" speakers and 2 10" subs. I have a 800 watt amp and a 1000 watt amp. What is a decent battery that is not gonna cost me an arm and a leg. If possible i would like to get a group 31 battery for around 175-200. Second concern is that i just rented a slip at a marina for a year. The slip is new and they do not have electric yet. What is a way I could keep these batteries charged. I've thought of maybe a quiet generator or possibly a solar charger. Anybody had luck with these? Thanks

thousand amp Deka is a great battery, stick with a good lead acid. i have never had any luck with gel cells, every one i have ever had took a schit long before any standard battery would and when they go they dont give ya much warning. If you use the boat on weekends i would think a good sized solar charger should be able to maintain it and for a backup maybe even one of those hundred dollar small gas generators from harbor freight. Heck you can even get a 45 watt panel from HF, not sure what that translates to charging power but i would think that would keep it up.

Deka make a marine AGM battery that works great. i have really good luck with the optima's blue tops. got 6 over yrs on the set in my cat before any issues. the deka's will fit in generic battery boxes vs the optimas cause of their radius corners.

solar chargers seem to be the answer or your going to have to pull the batteries. last company i worked for started to install solar chargers on their bobtail tractors. saved the mechanic from running around and having to jump start tractors on monday.

I have been running an Interstate 29M Deep cycle for my stereo for several years. No problems at all and my stereo is similar to yours.

I ran two Optima blue tops for years with a huge stereo,,,,,I would also suggest a capacitor.

Solar wont do it,,,,,get a small Honda portable that will handle your on board charger

I, and many friends have also not had good luck with any AGM battery (optima) in an abusive boat environment. A good old lead acid will handle any abuse, at the worst it will boil and you can just add distilled water. They also come with a much better warranty than an AGM. An AGM batt just adds one more thing to worry about, they are best for cars that need them in quick bursts and are always left fully charged.

Pros to AGM is they are lighter and smaller for the same amount of amps. Can be mounted anywhere, even upside down. Zero maintenance. Better vibration handling

Cons to AGM is overloading or overcharging will blow the caps and let the gas escape, ruining the battery. The require a true auto agm charger to stop charging at capacity, or at least you should have one.

I run two 1000 amp lead acid Napa batteries, they cost about $100 each and one will run my rather loud stereo most of the day, sometimes needing to switch to the other late. Have never had to use my jump pack, and I had a problem with one after a winter and napa replaced them both at no charge without a receipt. Hard to beat that IMO

Another vote for INterstate Deep cycles.

100 bucks at some places, for a big group # and they last good, 3 year warranty.

here we go !!!!!!!!!!!!! put a toyota in there...... sorry had too

please go and ready your own post. first you say AGMs cant handle abuse, then in the next line you say their lighter, zero maintenance and handle vibration. ???????????????

the agms i have experience 800-1000 amps are pretty heavy. they are SEALED units, require zero maintenance other than i put them on trickle chargers. and there is no caps to "blow". and simple trickle chargers work fine as long as the battery has enough voltage to turn the charger, if not sometimes you can trick the charger by putting a good battery in front of it to get the charger working

as for abusive environments i've used both optimas and deka AGMS in offshore race boats and never had a battery failure. now i have had alternators go out and since the one boat ran electric fuel pumps we had issues there. i now have a OTC digital battery tester that can load test and constantly keep an eye on all my batteries.

now back to the original post,,,,,king are you looking for a way to charge the batteries when your not there or another way to use the stereo without killing the batteries since i guess the boat isn't running ?

And just like the other thread your thinkheadedness carries over to here :lolhit:

What I meant by abuse was battery use, charging and discharging the lead acid wins if you don't follow specific agm rules. Example, running an agm down to nothing with your stereo and attempting to start the boat "click click dead" can be enough to kill them, but that never happens on a boat right?

Another example is over charging, trickle is one thing, but even left on a 4 amp charge for an extended period is too much and can damage the battery. You need a agm votage sensing charger to truly be safe.

And lastly they must be stored charged, must!

I listed the pros as well, vibration resistance is the #1 pro, which is why race cars and bikes use them....however not many race cars are looking to put a sustained 100 amp load on them for 6 hours playing a stereo are they?

Man, I feel like I gotta talk slower on here lately

mine sit sometimes for 6+ months and had no issues until like i said i screwed one up with alternator crappin out.

just putting my experiences out here.

as for talking slower, maybe turn down your"rather loud" stereo, you might be causing brain damage.

as for lead acid batteries, who wants to deal with pouring acid and leaky caps and the possibility of spills. to me thats worth an extra 20-30 bucks.

I have let my boat sit with switchs off and no charger, for 5 months, and started first try before.

Has anyone tried an Odyssey battery in their boat ? I know they are pricey , but are they any good ? I've had a blue Optima in the cat for going on thirteen seasons with no problems . Yea , I'm on borrowed time .

Yellow top, red top blue top, I`ve had many in both cars and trucks(mostly not by choice) and they would die way before they should.
Interstate is the way to go.

Delphi, Exide and Johnson Controls Industries make virtually every battery in the USA under a number of labels.

7 year old Optima Blue tops, great batteries. I store the boat for 8 months with the batteries in the boat,spring time i put them on a charger for a couple hours and they work all summer long. I don`t have much of a sound system but do the job for me. If one of them takes a crap i would with out a doubt buy the same battery.

I have Odyssey batteries in my skater for going on 3yrs now. They have been perfect with no issues. I own an electronics company and we use them all the time. Also have used other AGM batteries with no issues.
Regarding the stereo system and charging the batteries there are a lot of varibles on what type of charger you will need depending on how you will play the stereo at anchor and at the dock. We have done numerous JL systems and you really need to do some load calculations to figure out how much battery power you will need for the amount time you plan to use it without a charger. Solar chargers do not produce near enough amperage to charge a system like that under use.

Just wondering if you have 2 Optima Blue tops and want to put a house battery for upgrading Stereo does it have to be Optima?

Die hard Deep Cycle Marine Battery for 110.

Wannabe

it is always best if you are adding battery capacity to an existing bank to use the same batteries. Does not necessarly have to be same brand but size and type is always good. Also if you are going to have a separate house battery you will need a means to charge it separately as well.

What he said. I have two 31 series AGM Deka batteries in my boat and run a lot of power all day long without issue. Throw it on a 30 amp charger at night and it is good to go by morning. One of them has been through 4 seasons of abuse and still going strong. The other is on its 3 rd year. These are tru "house, deep cycle" batteries. THey are not designed for engine cranking or to take a quick charge from an alternator. As a matter of fact I have them isolated on a switch and make sure when the boat is running the batteries are switched off. I have the two wired in parallel on #2 of my battery switch. I actually burned up an alternator because after a long day of radio play, both batteries were pretty low it was way too much load for the alternator. Leason learned... I charge them only with an Onboard charger.

2 deep cycle/cranking batterys that get charged from alternators, and 30 amp charger when genny or shore power on.