Need new battery for boat accessories

[macka12]

Hi all,

I need to get a new battery for accessories on my 4.2m tinny with 40hp manual Merc motor. It does have a charging cable coming out from the motor to charge the battery but the old battery I have been running looks to be an old car battery and is not holding charge anymore despite charging before every trip.

I have a minnkota ipilot with a 130amp hour battery just for electric motor, but for the other battery I currently run nav lights, all round light, lowrance HDS5, LED lights, fusion am/fm ipod stereo and a 12v socket on the panel. I usually charge both batteries before every trip but need to get something that will power these accessories for at least a few days as sometimes when we go camping for a few days we might have the radio going for a fair bit of the time.

Any recommendations on a replacement battery for this need? I have never relied on the motor charging the battery but was also not sure if I'm better off running non-essentials like the stereo off the 130AH deep cycle so that I can get a smaller second battery for sounder/nav lights etc. Thoughts? I have heard running the sounder with the electric motor on the same battery is not the best idea as you can get interference supposedly.. I currently have the big deep cycle under the casting deck and the old battery up under the bow but was hoping to find something that might be slightly smaller that I could tuck away down under the casting deck as well (the car battery would fit with a bit of shuffling around just to give an idea of space).

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Dan

[Marlin_Mike]

I have always used Sea Master and never been let down.

[LittleSkipper]

Personally, I wouldn't recommend using a car battery for anything other than a car as they are simply not designed to withstand the marine environment. Stick with a marine battery and you can't go wrong.


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[grinner2]

Century batteries have a factory outlet at Carole Park ....Whilst their std warranteed batteries are no cheaper than what you can get from any of the other outlets .They also stock "blemished " stock of car / marine batteries . these have no warrantee but are normally $100 for a large marine type battery ( no problems with them other than the odd blemish in the outer casing . I have ran these in the past for years without failure , may be worth considering as a cheaper option ? They are on Cobalt Street .

[Moonlighter]

The supercharge "Allrounder" batteries would be worth a look. Kind of a hybrid between normal starting battery and a deep cycle. So would do the job nicely, but are a tad more expensive. I think I saw them on new years sale catalogue at autobarn recently, might still be available.

[2DKnBJ]

Depending on where you are located one of these would be worth it for the price.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TURBO-BAT...item46187adc69

Cheers Dazza

[netmaker]

as you are using a manual start motor and don't need cca's your needs are best met by using your deep cycle for all of your accessories. if you find the current 130ah battery inadequate (the minn kota will use loads more than anything else you are running), a second deep cycle would be best for what you are looking for.

[Triple]

Have a look at the caterpillar batteries, alot cheaper with a better warranty than most.
http://australia.cat.com/cda/files/3...ry%20Specs.pdf

[macka12]

thanks all. i guess the question is whether i need another battery or just move everything over to the deep cycle as netmaker said. The car battery came with the boat before i got the electric motor so have just used it as it was but have always accepted that it wasnt the best solution. I don't know what life i get out of the electric motor battery as have had it out at the dams for 3 days straight and never gone dead but with the addition of the sounder and lights especially the stereo i am not sure what extra load it would put on it. has anyone had problems with running their sounders on the same battery as the deep cycle? if not i might be best off giving it a try with the one battery for a while and work out consumption before investing in another battery as I could definitely do with some more space on the boat!

[netmaker]

i run all my electrics off the same 130ah as the minn kota. i have a second 130ah and a battery switch so plenty of power in reserve. all my electronics run at once including the stereo and with no problems.

[2DKnBJ]

I'm with netmaker . In my haines i run all acc off 1 battery and don't get any interference ie sounder,chartplotter,stereo 27 meg,vhf, bilge pumps,nav lights.
In the tinny i use on the dam i run the electric motors and sounder and GPS off the same battery and don't get any interference from the motor.

Cheers Dazza

[astro66]

I am running 100ah on the electric motor ...100ah century marine deep cycle for 40hp/led nav lights/3m strip led lights/simrad nss7 sounder/structure scan/fusion stereo/bait tank pump/bilge pump usually stay out all night and have never even come close to flattening the battery.....I recon I would get 2 or 3 trips to a charge ..takes a couple of mins to swap batteries if it did go flat anyway..