Batteries

[Bent Loomis]

Has anybody tried the optimas ? Just curious if anybody has tried them and if they believe they are worth the extra dollars.

[Shellkat]

I totally agree on takeing care of batteries. I charge mine with on board charger as soon as i come home. I do not leave it plugged in,in a day or so after charging i will unplug unit. Now if i dont use them i will plug them up for a few minutes every month just till light goes off. I plug up the night before i go fishing. My wallys are 5 years old.

[Skeeterbob]

Thanks for all the information. I have used auto zone and optima batteries and had good luck with both. The auto zone batteries lasted 5 to 6 years. The optima i liked because they are jell and there is no water to be added. I only used them for 2 years because i sold my boat. They seem to charge a lot faster but the cost is the down fall. Was Mart batteries have got excellent reviews so i bought 4 of them yesterday. They were 99.00 each for that price and they last 3 years they will be well worth it. I agree i think the life of a battery is how well it is taking care of. Don't know if this is right but this is what i do. I charge them up as soon as i get home from the lake with my on board charger. Once that is done i plug my charger into a 5.00 timer and they charge 2 hours in the morning and 2 hrs in the evening. Another thing i believe you can do if your boat sits along time is put the batteries on a 2amp trickle charger. All this seems to work for me. WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK?

I also have a small boat with has 2 batteries that sit all year without charging them. I use the boat only in the winter and that is the only time they get charged. So what i'm saying is that the batteries si for 10 months without a charge and they last for several years. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

[Moveon]

I got tired of poor batteries dying on me when I needed them the most. So I went and replaced all two of my boat's batteries with the Blue Top Optima's. One was a starting/deep cycle combo and the other was just for deep cycle and I put that one on my 12V trolling motor 50lb thrust. My little Fishermarine Aluminum 16 ft boat would go all day long on a full charge of the deep cycle trolling battery. And I could recharge is within 4 hours usually.

I went with the optima as their shelf life is better and they are much more resistant to vibrations that regular batteries due to the way they are made. They also don't require any water and are maintenance free for the most part.

They have lead that's purer and this gives it less resistance to charging so they charge up faster and the design prevents them from fast discharging when sitting around on the shelf. They can hold a charge for a years according to the marketing guys.

I got 7 years out of the first set and then I got two new batteries. The old set is have inside my house and used them for emergency power. Both of them still accept a charge nicely.

The two newest ones are in the boat and they worked well the first few years and are still in my baot. But I've not used the boat much in the last two years. I just got tired of fishing from my boat and have it stored inside the garage. So I just charge the batteries up once ever few months. More like topping them off for a few minutes as they don't loose too much charge just sitting in the boat in the garage.

[R19]

Optima makes a good battery. Their cranking amps are close to what a wet cell battery is rated however they lack in reserve run time. If you run multiple GPS/Sonar units along with multiple aerator pumps, black lights and shallow water anchors then Optima's may not have enough reserve to crank your motor when its time to fire up if you have been sitting for a long time. If my memory is correct their reserve run time is 135 minutes whereas a wet cell battery typically has 185 and heavy duty well cell batteries have 215... Optima makes a good battery but they lack in reserve run time in my opinion.

[silvercreek]

I have had good luck with Duracell AGM from Sam's Club. A little pricey, the only down size is that it weighs a ton. Sealed and do not have to check the water level.

[12VoltMan]

I have had the same Optima batteries in my boat for five years and they're still going strong. I put them on a quality charger/maintainer as soon I put the boat in the garage and they're as strong as new.

[Tacklebag23]

I have the blue top optima batteries. Havent had any issues and have been happy so far. Cant say they are necessarily worth the extra money or not as I havent had them more than 2.5 yrs yet. Fishing buddy swears buy them.

[Bent Loomis]

Thanks for the input on the optima batteries. Most everything I've read and heard makes my decision a little easier. Blue top it is.

[Shellkat]

I think overcharging is just as bad as leaving batteries run down. Make sure your on board charger has a maintaining mode if your leaving it plugged up all the time.

[kydog]

I'm running 2 Trojan 225 i purchased from World Wide batteries, only had in about 1-1/2 yrs. i long line in Ky late in the spring and have never ran out of juice. size 31 . gave around $140 ea.

[GeoFisher]

Take a scale.......no kidding and weigh the batteries. Buy the heaviest one you can find.

GUARANTEED to be the best.........

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This is for standard lead acid and not AGM or maintenance free....