Battery Options

harmanoff

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 29, 2006
Messages
133
DO NOT consider a lithium battery, while they are great and have their uses, if mis-used they can be a bomb. Never use the motors charging system to charge a lithium battery unless a professional sets up the system! Lithium batteries need special chargers and must be handled properly! Any mistakes can cause serious damage instantly.
Over the years, I have good sucess with Walley World batteries, getting warranty claims have never been an issue, in most cases they never check it, just swap it for a new one. Also had good sucess with Menards batteries, there to warranty claims were easy. Most marine/ motor home type batteries have a poor warranty because most folks do not maintain there batteries properly and the mfgr knows that. I keep up on my maintenence regularly and use a battery maintainer over winter storage and my batteries normally last much longer than average. I have a small wheel chair battery that I bought almost 7 years back, cost 38 bucks shipped to my door, I use it for my lawn sprayer and to run my electric trolling motor in my pond and other misc uses. Good as new today as was new, but has been taken care of !!
What kind of maintainer do you use over the winter? Is there one that i can plug more then 1 battery into? I used a solor maintainer over the summer and never had an issue till i left the damn key on for about 3 months lol
 

matt167

Rear Admiral
Joined
Sep 27, 2012
Messages
4,149
What kind of maintainer do you use over the winter? Is there one that i can plug more then 1 battery into? I used a solor maintainer over the summer and never had an issue till i left the damn key on for about 3 months lol
All you have to do is jumper the batteries together in parallel ( NOT series ). Then you will maintain both batteries. Some maintainers have hookups for multiple batteries. But you don’t ‘need’ it
 

airshot

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Messages
5,080
All you have to do is jumper the batteries together in parallel ( NOT series ). Then you will maintain both batteries. Some maintainers have hookups for multiple batteries. But you don’t ‘need’ it
This option does work but batteries need to be same capacity and state of discharge, if not the lowest battery will bring down the better battery.
 

airshot

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Messages
5,080
What kind of maintainer do you use over the winter? Is there one that i can plug more then 1 battery into? I used a solor maintainer over the summer and never had an issue till i left the damn key on for about 3 months lol
I use the battery tender model of a maintainer, the maintainer is suppised to cycle the battery to keep deposits from forming on the plates during storage. I have almost doubled my typical battery life and I use cheaper walmart batteries. The last one lasted almost 6 years, most folks get mabey 3 years. My little cheap mighty max 12v agm is over 7 years old, normally they last a couple years but they only cost 38 bucks shipped to my door. Seven years has to be due to it being on a maintainer when not in use.
 

alldodge

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
42,054
Agree don't use Lithium Ion can be a bomb, but Lithium Iron Phosphate LiFePO4 is ok and not an issue
 

airshot

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Messages
5,080
Agree don't use Lithium Ion can be a bomb, but Lithium Iron Phosphate LiFePO4 is ok and not an issue
I agree but can they be charged off his outboard motor charge system?? The poster didn't sound to knowlegeable about batteries so I tried to use caution.
When it comes time to replace my group 31 agm batteries, the lifep04 are what I am considering...
 

airshot

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Messages
5,080
What kind of maintainer do you use over the winter? Is there one that i can plug more then 1 battery into? I used a solor maintainer over the summer and never had an issue till i left the damn key on for about 3 months lol
Trickle charger and a battery maintainer are not the same. Trickle chargers just keeps the battery topped of with a low charge. A true battery maintainer runs cycles thru the battery to keep deposits from building up on the plates, if left to build up, the deposits will shorten the battery life.... The " Battery Tender" brand makes a number of trickle chargers and battery maintainer units. I also have a Harbor Freight battery maintainer that has worked well for three years, so far....my battery tender units are over 10 years and still work great.
 

alldodge

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
42,054
I agree but can they be charged off his outboard motor charge system?? The poster didn't sound to knowlegeable about batteries so I tried to use caution.
When it comes time to replace my group 31 agm batteries, the lifep04 are what I am considering...
Yes, my buddy put one in his seadoo and it has no issue charging it
 

harmanoff

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 29, 2006
Messages
133
Trickle charger and a battery maintainer are not the same. Trickle chargers just keeps the battery topped of with a low charge. A true battery maintainer runs cycles thru the battery to keep deposits from building up on the plates, if left to build up, the deposits will shorten the battery life.... The " Battery Tender" brand makes a number of trickle chargers and battery maintainer units. I also have a Harbor Freight battery maintainer that has worked well for three years, so far....my battery tender units are over 10 years and still work great.
Yea Im not a battery wiz by any means. just heard about the Lithum ones and was more curious then anything. I bought a new one already so im good there. This is what im thinking of getting for when the boat is put up for the winter. I have 1 battery in the boat and we have another battery we use to pump water into our campers. That one is going on 6 years old and works well. Never been on a maintainer or anything yet!. But this is what im found thinking it seems like a good price and good company as ive heard of them before.

 

airshot

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Messages
5,080
A battery that is used properly and regularly will last longer than one that typically just sits. If you use a lithium battery be SURE you have the charger set properly when charging one !! Having a lithium on the wrong charger or the wrong setting on a charger is the main reason for fires and explosions with them !!
 

RMClark

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Jul 19, 2020
Messages
94
I'm in Southwest Iowa, essentially same climate region as the original poster. I have a dual battery setup; one for starting and one for trolling motor and accessories.

The starting battery is a standard el cheapo AGM battery. I've had that battery for two full seasons. I can get away with a cheapo battery for starting since it's for a 20HP Merc that has pull start backup, which works great.

The troller and accessory battery is a 100AH LiFePO4 lithium.

For charging I use a NOCO 5X2 two bank charger as the on board charging system. It is switchable for the type of battery the particular bank is hooked to. The starting battery charging bank is set to AGM battery, and the troller/accessory battery is set to the lithium setting.

Never use the outboard's charging system to charge a deep cycle battery. As stated by others, that will hasten the demise of the battery.

I installed this setup last year, and at the end of the season, I pulled the batteries and the NOCO power bank and put all of it on a shelf in my heated shop building. The power bank is plugged into the wall and both batteries are on maintenance charging over the winter. I've checked both batteries periodically over the winter and voltages look great; they'll get a workout here in a few weeks when the ice is out.

For maintenance charging of lead acid batteries, you can get a cheapo trickle charger from Harbor Freight for less than $15. I have had one of those for 10 years and it has kept the mower and ATV batteries healthy for six years now.

I've ruined a couple of batteries on other machines over the years by not paying attention to how I put them away for the season; both were by leaving a master switch in the "ON" position and draining them past the point of no return. Both of these were lead acid batteries.
 

airshot

Vice Admiral
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Messages
5,080
Yep, when we do it the right way, things work great !! I will be looking at the LifeP04 batteries when my agm 31' give up.
 

FLATHEAD

Captain
Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
3,163
Keep in mind, East Penn and Johnson controls are the 2 companies who make all lead acid batteries. East Penn is Deka and interstate is Johnson Controls. Everstart batteries are either East Penn or Johnson Controls depending on region. Duracell is manufactured by East Penn
East Penn is 20 or so miles from me. The place is huge. I go there and buy blems or batteries that were pulled off the line for testing when I need a battery. Last time there they didn’t have many, but still can buy whatever you want right there. As far as brand names I see many different labels on the batteries when I go in there. IMHO for marine use you can’t beat quality AGM.
 

JustJason

Vice Admiral
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
5,320
Agree don't use Lithium Ion can be a bomb, but Lithium Iron Phosphate LiFePO4 is ok and not an issue
LiFePo4 is "safer" than Lithium Ion, but still not fool proof. They will still catch fire under the right circumstances. If they do catch fire, its a fire you can't put out. So if you go that route, either have a fire plan in place aboard the vessel or switch to lead acid or AGM.
 

harmanoff

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 29, 2006
Messages
133
I just kept with the standard marine deep cycle battery. no need to change up and have issues
 
Top