Deep Cycle Battery

[Danny]

I have always used Interstate, and get 2-3 years out of each set.

The guy suggested Optima.. is that the gell batteries that will last like 3 or 4 days of fishing with no recharge?

If so, are they still around $500? And is it true that you can fish 3 or 4 long days and still have a full thrust on your TM?

Thanks,

Danny

[indylux]

I just got one of the Optima Gels this year. Yes, they are expensive but not near $500. If I'm not mistaken, I paid about $150 or so. Not sure about them lasting 3-4 days but I can run a full day and still have good charge and I'm running just that 12 volt battery.

[Classic11]

I bought three D34M Bluetops this year along with the troll fury kit. I've ran two solid 10 days on the water without charging and they did not slow down one bit. Best deal I found was through Advanced Autoparts, you have to special order them but they will be in the next day.

http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/...le_battery.asp

This site will give you a little info on the batteries.

[Richman]

Help me out...

I thought that the amp hours were the indicator of how long the battery lasted from a single charge? (100 amp hours would be discharged after 10 hours with a 10 amp draw.)

How can Optimas last twice as long as another 105 amp battery given that they have the same amp hours?

Rich

[Moose1am]

Well, they won't last twice as long if the amp/hour ratings stamped on the batteries are accurate and truthful and identical.

I have two of the blue top colored optima batteries on my bass boat. One is a dual starting/deepcycle and the other is purely deep cycle, 34M-1050. I use the former for starting my boat motor and running all the electronics. Electronic's includes the bildge pump, live well pump, and the depth sounder. The latter optima battery runs my Min-Kota 50 lb thrust All Terrrain Trolling motor only.

I can troll all day long with the one deep cycle trolling motor Optima Blue Top Battery. This is an D34M-950 Optima Blue Top Battery. The D34M-950 Battery is rated at 50 AH on the plate.

I use the D34M-950 at Blue Grass Fish&Wildlife Area. BGFWA is electric trolling motor only. Ie no gasoline powered engines allowed there. So I use the heck out of my Optima Deep Cycle all day long. I normally fish for 8 hours most times. I also don't like to anchor the boat. I have a hard time getting the anchor back up (too much work)LOL. So I prefer to hover over brush piles using the trolling motor. I may not use it on the high setting all day long. That setting is used to just move from spot to spot. But I do use the number 1 and 2 settings a log on calm days. And number 3 setting to hover on windy days. BGFWA has three larger pits that have concrete boat ramps that I can use to launch my Fishermarine Bass Boat. My boat is too heavy to get off my Hosclaw Boat Trailer at the Gravel Ramps. The gravel ramps are just too shallow to allow my heavy boat to float off the trailer unless I submerge my truck deep in the water. And the ramps are slippery with algae so I don't like to back the wheels down too far on the ramp. Once I lost traction due to the algae and could not pull the truck back out off the ramp. I had to have someone pull me out. My light weight truck is only two wheel drive and there was not enough weight on the back tires to get any traction. So I only launch at the three main lakes.

Blue Grass is the Northern Most of the three big lakes. It's about 190 acres in size. The concrete ramp is at the South end. There is a gravel ramp at the North end of Blue Gass Pit.

Loon Pit is just South of Blue Grass Pit and it's hydrologically Connected to Blue Grass via a 36" diameter culvert that runs under Boonville/NewHarmony Road. Loon is the largest of the three main pits at over 200 acres in size. Otter pit is the smallest at 90 acres and it's just south of Loon pit. Otter pit is hydrologically connected to Loon Pit also by another 36" culvert that runs under Kansas Road.

All these pits are electric trolling motor only. I fish all three of these pits a lot as they are only about 10 to 15 minutes drive from my home.

I have been using my Optima Batteries since 2003. They serve me well. I can fish all these pits at BGFWA all day long and then recharge my batteries with a MinKnot Automatic Battery Charger when I get back home. These batteries can be run down and recharged in just about 4 to 6 hours. They recharge in only a hour or so if they are not run all the way down.

The main thing about the Optima Batteries that I like is their design. They use the Spiral Cell technology that wraps the lead plates around in a circle. They sandwich a layer of fiberglass inbetween the lead plates to seperate the lead plates. This design prevent the lead plates from vibrating too much. Unlike the other older designes where the lead plates hang straigh up and down without any vibration protection

Also the fiberglass is impregnated with a gell acid solution which won't leak out of the battery even if you turn the battery upside down or sideways. Theses batterys are maintenance free so you don't have to worry about adding water or acid to them each year.

They are resistance to vibrations and we all know what it's like to bounce around in a bass boat at speed. That will kill a regular battery faster than the Optima Batteries.

I purchased mine at a Advanced Auto Store also. I paid about 100 for each of them give or take 20 bucks. They are expensive but I hope that they will last much longer than the last batteries that I used on my boat.

Time will tell as I get to use my Optimas for a few more years. If they last me six years then I will be more than happy I purchased them

Oh they do charge up faster than regular batteries without producing as much heat as the older style batteries due to the design and the fact that they use more pure lead in the plates. There is less internal resistance in the Optimas which allows them to charge up faster.


Regards,

Moose1am