Best Deep Cell Battery Brand?

[LuvBoating]

Putting a battery tender on a battery will take forever to charge it. You only put them on fully charged batteries typically. When you take the tender or charger off and let it sit for 30 minutes, what voltage do you read? Should be 12.6 or 12.7V for a fully charged battery once the surface charge wears off.

See my reply to "ondarvr".above.

 

[ondarvr]

This is what the website for Deltran says about the Deltran Battery Tender Plus, that we have.

"The Battery Tender? Plus is a 1.25 amp battery charger designed to fully charge a battery and maintain it at proper storage voltage without the damaging effects caused by trickle chargers."

So, from what this says, what we have is a charger and maintainer. Correct?

No, you have maintainer, it would take a very long time to even recharge a somewhat discharged battery at 1.25 amps. Again, you do not have a charger, it makes no difference what they call it.

 

[bruceb58]

In my opinion 1.25A is too slow to charge a deep discharge battery. Most battery manufacturers describe a slow charge as 10% of the battery capacity so if you have a 100A battery, a slow charge is 10A.

If you have a 100A battery that is discharged 50% and you charge it at 1.25A, it will take over 50 hours to charge it assuming a 25% loss.

 

[NYBo]

Anyone else notice the start date of this thread? :redface:

 

[bruceb58]

Anyone else notice the start date of this thread? :redface:

The OP started it back up today.

 

[LuvBoating]

Gentlemen, believe me, I know how long it takes to get to a full charge, from a partial charge, on a Starting battery. It took around 48 hrs. plus, to get the old NAPA Starting battery we had back to a full charge, after it was sitting in an outside storage closet for a few months, after we took it out of our boat for winter a couple of years ago.

This is our first Deep Cell and we didn't have a clue about charging time on it. All I know, is that I read on an online boating forum, that it is highly recommended to put a newly purchased boat battery on a charger (even the kind we have) before putting it into the boat........to "top off" the charge. That's what I did with both of these new batteries and it worked fine on the new NAPA Starting battery, but apparently we didn't leave the Deep Cell on long enough.

Like I've said, I will contact Deltran to see what they say, but I'm sure they will tell me to leave it on much longer.

 

[LuvBoating]

I have found that both of these (what we have) are very slow at charging a boat battery, especially a Deep Cell, due to only having 1.25 amps. I'm now looking at buying this for $69 on sale. Can't show a picture of it and post (to big). Anyway, it would do the trick........right?

[FONT=&quot]This 12V and 24V charger is for deep-cycle batteries and features a 10 amp manual deep-cycle charger to meet your everyday charging needs. The Schumacher Charger can charge a deep-cycle battery in a matter of seven hours. Unlike other battery chargers, the Schumacher Automatic Charger Fully 10 Amp will not overcharge your batteries. This manual deep-cycle charger is ideal for those who need their battery-dependent devices to be readily available [/FONT]

 

[ondarvr]

Why does the description call it a manual charger in two places, but automatic in one place? Which is it?

I have a Schumacher charger similar to this description, it has both automatic and manual settings, plus 6 or 12v, with deep cycle and starting battery options. It works OK. It doesn't charge the batteries as well as my onboard charger through.

 

[LuvBoating]

Why does the description call it a manual charger in two places, but automatic in one place? Which is it?

I have a Schumacher charger similar to this description, it has both automatic and manual settings, plus 6 or 12v, with deep cycle and starting battery options. It works OK. It doesn't charge the batteries as well as my onboard charger through.

It is both, automatic and a manual.
We have a Dual Battery Switch set-up, but don't think we'd have room for an onboard charger. Boat is on a trailer, sitting in a spot at a Boat/RV storage facility down the street from us. No electricity is provided. Besides that, doubt we our boat that much to have one of those onboard. We are "fair-weather" boaters.

 

[bruceb58]

I would by a 3 stage portable charger. Do a google search on them.

 

[LuvBoating]

E-mailed Deltran today and got a reply back that, because the Deltran that we have is a 1.25am, it could take up to 80 hours to charge a Deep Cell, depending on how low the existing charge is. So, will keep the Deltran Battery Tender Plus/1.25amp for the new Starting Battery and buy the Schumacher Charger that specifies it is used for charging Deep Cell and Starting batteries at 10amps.

Sorry, but I was really lost with charging this Deep Cell. Like I had already said that this is our first Deep Cell battery.
Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[bruceb58]

Which model Schumacher are you considering? Have a link? Some are better than others.

 

[LuvBoating]

The one I talked about in yesterday's reply. It specifically states in its description that it's for both Deep Cell and Starting batteries. It produces 10amps of charging power. It will fully charge a Deep Cell in 8 hours.

Which model Schumacher are you considering? Have a link? Some are better than others.

 

[bruceb58]

Yes but what is the model number?

 

[LuvBoating]

Appears to be S.E. 70 MA on the front.

Yes but what is the model number?

 

[bruceb58]

Appears to be S.E. 70 MA on the front.

That is a pretty old style charger. Schumacher has a bunch that are newer technology that may even be less money than that one.

I did a quick search and came up with model SS-120A-PE.

SC-10030A is another.

 

[Cdubb2010]

Best battery Ive ever had was a NAPA brand deep cell. Date was from 8/2001, came out of a work van that got totaled, ran it in a truck for awhile, then a 25' pontoon when the battery went bad until it was replaced then it went into a racecar. What finally killed it was when it was in my circle track car and I ate wall head on it broke the positive complely off but this was in 2014! 13 years off a battery though Michigan winters with fairly heavy use is amazing, that made me a fan of theirs. Had I not got into a losing fight with that wall I have no doubt it would still be going

 

[LuvBoating]

The SC10030A has to many bad reviews for me. Don't need a charger/starter combo.

The SS-120A PE doesn't sound bad and has
very good reviews. Don't know how much better two extra amps will be though.

The one I was originally looking at has a meter reading, whereas the SS-120A PE is LED lights, like I have now. Guess it's just a "preference" type thing between the meter and the LED lights. Which do you like better?

That is a pretty old style charger. Schumacher has a bunch that are newer technology that may even be less money than that one.

I did a quick search and came up with model SS-120A-PE.

SC-10030A is another.

 

[ondarvr]

The reason they are better options is their technology, not 2 amps or the starting feature, but of those are pluses.

 

[bruceb58]

You want a charger that is a smart charger. I am just putting 2 of the Schumacher ones up. There are many portable smart chargers on the market out there.