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I know this has been discussed before, but I'll be in the market for a new cranking battery this week and was wondering what brands everybody is having the best luck with....I'm thinking of going with a 32 series battery due to running all of my accessories and Hbird 900 and 700 series units
Don't get caught up in group size. A bigger battery group/dimension size does not necessarily mean the battery has more power and will last longer. I have a friend that works at a factory that makes batteries for marine, automotive,industrial and many other applications. He gave me some helpful information that changed the way I buy a battery. When looking for a cranking battery I buy the most cranking amps and highest reserve time I can find. I run a group 24 that is almost as powerful and has more reserve run time than a group 31 battery. Reserve time is what I need running 2 GPS units,a flasher and two pumps on the livewell. If you compare different brands of batteries you will find there is a big difference in how much power and reserve they have even if they are the same group size.
Superlex 24 M50 800 CCA 1000 MCA with 200 minutes reserve @ 25 amps
Compare to Optima
Optima SC31DM 900 CCA 1125 MCA with only 155 minutes reserve @ 25 amps
CCA is how many amps a battery can deliver for 30 seconds when the temperature is at 0*
MCA is how much amps a battery can deliver for 30 seconds when the temperature is above 32*
Reserve is how long a battery can run non stop before it is discharged...All the electronics on a boat loaded with electronics will not pull anything near 25 amps. A few amps at the most is all boat electronics will typically pull.
If your boat has a battery tray that is setup to run a group 31 battery I would get a Superlex 31 DP50 850 CCA 1060 MCA 215 Reserve @ 25 amps. I don't know if there is a Superlex dealer in C-ville or not. I drive to Russell Springs and get them at the Superlex outlet store located at the plant that makes them...take some of that $ you been getting that last few saturdays and buy one LOL. I will more that likely sit out the 6th one but I will be there for the 7th one.
The same applies to trolling motor batteries...buy the highest reserve time you can find.
I bought a used nitro boat, it's an 2005 year model. it had 17 hours of use on it when I bought it. I had to change the cranking battery last year. and the 2 trolling batteries are still good. they will troll me all night. but I up graded my trolling motor to a Minn Kota Terrova i-pilot 24v and thought I may as well get new trolling batteries. replaced them with 2 new wal-mart MAXX 29 series. hope they are half as good as the ones that came with the boat. they were Interstate brand. I gave them to a boy I work with, that don't get to fish as much as I do, so those two 7 year old Interstate batteries are still taking someone fishing.
just noticed, I posted this in wrong place.
Thanks Gene, I'd just always assumed the bigger the battery the better it would hold up....The past couple weeks my boat has barely started at the end of the tourny and thats with leaving the bigger Hbird turned off all day so it's time for a new one....I won't really ever get a chance to make it over to Russell Springs during the week because of work....I'm not real sure if I'll get to fish the one next week or not, but I think we might be leading the total weight thing so I may have to