Let's talk batteries....

[Diybrad]

Sorry if I am beating a dead horse but I couldn't find exactly what I needed. I have a 2020 242x that I bought new 6 months ago. The dealer put pretty low grade batteries (Autocraft 24DC-2 House and Autocraft M24-1 Start) in the boat and I can only get about a 30-60 minutes out of the house battery at anchor now. It discharged once the first week now it won't hold a good charge. Start battery is fine so I am not worried about that one plus i have a Lithium Ion jump pack.

Short term (this weekend):
I want to add a really good battery for the house. What does everyone recommend?

Long term:
I want to have the start battery and two house batteries. Similar to the one I purchase above but not sure how it needs to be wired and if it need any other components to make it work. What is the proper way to wire the second battery into the house configuration? If its not too complicated, I may do both batteries at the same time.

Other problem I have, the boat is stored in a high and dry marina here in Dunedin Florida so my solar panel never really gets used and I am not able to connect to a charger for any length of time. How do I maintain the charge on the batteries? Do I just need to do a long wake/surf session or do I need to remove the batteries and take them home with me every so often for a deep charge?

Hopefully these are to dumb of questions.

Brad

 

[mrcleanr6]

Brad, best batteries going are odyssey. Expensive but you prob wont need 2 house batteries if you go with them and will last twice as ling or more than regular auto parts store batteries.

 

[ripler]

Why do dealers put start batteries on these boats, makes zero sense, you don't need the cranking amps on a PWC engine. I've been running deep cycle batteries for years and haven't had an issue.

 

[Diybrad]

Why do dealers put start batteries on these boats, makes zero sense, you don't need the cranking amps on a PWC engine. I've been running deep cycle batteries for years and haven't had an issue.

Not sure but unfortunately I didn't know I would get garbage batteries initially or I would have payed extra for better batteries from the beginning.

 

[Dean P]

I replaced mine with 2 AGM deep cycle batteries. No issues. I also installed a dual bank battery charger to keep them fully charged.

 

[WildCatFan54]

Like @Dean P , I too am a fan of AGM batteries. Being in the automotive aftermarket business I could pretty much have my pick of type and group. I went with 2) Group 27 Optima Blue tops and a Mariner 2 bank , 12amp smart onboard charger. This is my 4th full season with them and good as new.

 

[Diybrad]

I replaced mine with 2 AGM deep cycle batteries. No issues. I also installed a dual bank battery charger to keep them fully charged.

I would love to have a charger but it won’t do me any good since my boat stays in a high and dry with no access to power plug for charging.

 

[Theryan]

Sorry if I am beating a dead horse but I couldn't find exactly what I needed. I have a 2020 242x that I bought new 6 months ago. The dealer put pretty low grade batteries (Autocraft 24DC-2 House and Autocraft M24-1 Start) in the boat and I can only get about a 30-60 minutes out of the house battery at anchor now. It discharged once the first week now it won't hold a good charge. Start battery is fine so I am not worried about that one plus i have a Lithium Ion jump pack.

Short term (this weekend):
I want to add a really good battery for the house. What does everyone recommend?

Long term:
I want to have the start battery and two house batteries. Similar to the one I purchase above but not sure how it needs to be wired and if it need any other components to make it work. What is the proper way to wire the second battery into the house configuration? If its not too complicated, I may do both batteries at the same time.

Other problem I have, the boat is stored in a high and dry marina here in Dunedin Florida so my solar panel never really gets used and I am not able to connect to a charger for any length of time. How do I maintain the charge on the batteries? Do I just need to do a long wake/surf session or do I need to remove the batteries and take them home with me every so often for a deep charge?

Hopefully these are to dumb of questions.

Brad

From what I understand about our motors the stator really maintains your charge on your batteries, but doesn't really recharge them, especially if you're using them to the point of depletion, unless you run the engine for a long time... But even then it doesn't seem to recharge them really.

I saw that you can't plug in while you're in storage, but have you talked to the marina about it? Ask if maybe when they launch your boat if maybe they can plug it in for you at the dock and get a higher power on board charger.

Beyond that, I'm not totally sure as I store mine in my garage and plugged in. Others can probably shares a better strategy or correct me if I'm wrong on our engines ability to recharge.

 

[tdonoughue]

I had el-cheapo dealer batteries (2 of them) for 5+ years with no issue. I think the issue much more is your inability to charge them and maintain them on a good charger more than it is that the batteries themselves are bad. If you get nice AGM's and drop a mint, they will still need to be properly charged and maintained or you will be buying new ones shortly. My cheapo batteries let me float for hours with no issues. Not an insane sound system, but I have an amp and a sub, so I think it is ok. Still, I can float for plenty with no isssues.

The magnito in our boats does not generate much to charge the battery. It will hold it where it is and slowly bring it up. But it will not maintain it and it will not (of course) be working while you are not at the boat. I think that is what you are going to need. I would look first into whether you can run an extension cord out to where you are. If not, investigate a solar option. I think if you can get a proper charge before you go out, you will find a) you have no present issue and b) you can float for hours.

 

[Diybrad]

I had el-cheapo dealer batteries (2 of them) for 5+ years with no issue. I think the issue much more is your inability to charge them and maintain them on a good charger more than it is that the batteries themselves are bad. If you get nice AGM's and drop a mint, they will still need to be properly charged and maintained or you will be buying new ones shortly. My cheapo batteries let me float for hours with no issues. Not an insane sound system, but I have an amp and a sub, so I think it is ok. Still, I can float for plenty with no isssues.

The magnito in our boats does not generate much to charge the battery. It will hold it where it is and slowly bring it up. But it will not maintain it and it will not (of course) be working while you are not at the boat. I think that is what you are going to need. I would look first into whether you can run an extension cord out to where you are. If not, investigate a solar option. I think if you can get a proper charge before you go out, you will find a) you have no present issue and b) you can float for hours.

I didn't realize the magnito on these boats don't really charge up quickly. You are very likely correct that the batteries may be sufficient but my charging ability isn't. Unfortunately running an extension cord and solar isn't possible since my boat sits 3 levels up on an indoor storage rack.
What I may need to do is add a charger and see if once a week I can sit in a service rack over night so i can at least top up once a week. If they will let me do that, then maybe add the charger and a second battery in parallel to the current house battery so I have enough capacity to make it through the weekend. I plan on some stereo upgrades this winter so extra battery wouldn't be a bad thing. The batteries are on the side I surf so bonus 70 lbs of extra ballast.

May get on the wait list for a water slip with a lift for next season. That would definitely solve this problem as well.

 

[Canuckjetboater]

Sorry if I am beating a dead horse but I couldn't find exactly what I needed. I have a 2020 242x that I bought new 6 months ago. The dealer put pretty low grade batteries (Autocraft 24DC-2 House and Autocraft M24-1 Start) in the boat and I can only get about a 30-60 minutes out of the house battery at anchor now. It discharged once the first week now it won't hold a good charge. Start battery is fine so I am not worried about that one plus i have a Lithium Ion jump pack.

Short term (this weekend):
I want to add a really good battery for the house. What does everyone recommend?

Long term:
I want to have the start battery and two house batteries. Similar to the one I purchase above but not sure how it needs to be wired and if it need any other components to make it work. What is the proper way to wire the second battery into the house configuration? If its not too complicated, I may do both batteries at the same time.

Other problem I have, the boat is stored in a high and dry marina here in Dunedin Florida so my solar panel never really gets used and I am not able to connect to a charger for any length of time. How do I maintain the charge on the batteries? Do I just need to do a long wake/surf session or do I need to remove the batteries and take them home with me every so often for a deep charge?

Hopefully these are to dumb of questions.

Brad

@Diybrad .....for 300% faster re-charging, super slow draw-down and massive reserve minutes and amp hours get AGM TPPL. Google them you'll be impressed. Northstar makes awesome ones. Probably get them at Sam's Club and marine stores. More expensive? Yes, but IMO worth it many times over. Dumped what came with my new 2020 SX195 and put in an AGM TPPL (absorbed glass mat - thin plate pure lead). Have written about them on another threat on this forum and other boating forums.

 

[212s]

I didn't realize the magnito on these boats don't really charge up quickly.

The magnetos can produce plenty of charging amps (about 25 each), and will typically maintain a stock system without issues.

The real problem is lead-acid batteries do not like sitting idle as they lose 4% charge per week with no drain on them, more if the switch is left on with items drawing current. This is why cars and boats that are parked for weeks or months have dead batteries when they are ready to be used. Typical cars are usually not an issue because you drive it daily or at least weekly and 15mins will charge it back up. Boats can sit for weeks unused, months over the winter in northern climates. This is what kills batteries if you don't have them on a charger.

My boat has just a 500w digital amp and I can listen to tunes all day and loose about 10-25% charge in a group 24 starter battery depending on volume. Fully charged is 12.7v and 75% is 12.4v which I see often. I can start the engines, get on plane, and be back to fully charged in 10-25mins roughly. If your drive back to the ramp or dock is only 5mins then they won't be fully charged and you need to put them on a smart battery charger to get them back to 100%.

If you have more speakers and amps, then you may need more batteries and definitely a charger if you have a short drive back to the dock. If you have a stock system, then you probably don't need anything but a 15min drive back to charge up.

 

[biffdotorg]

Here's an other opinion, very similar to those already posted. Don't waste any money on new batteries, unless you can add a way to charge them. Stators are not going to cut it. Read any thread by the battery experts, (not me, I only know what I have experienced) There is no "quick charge" with a sprint across the bay. A depleted deep cycle needs a long recharge cycle.

And big expensive batteries are going to want to be fully charged. Or you buy a couple cheap deep cycles and you take one home with you each week, and leave one behind. Swap it each time you go out and charge at home. It sucks, but your options are limited.

When we picked up our boat in 2018, I bought 4 group 27 Duracell Deep Cycle batteries at Sam's club. Yup, the ones everyone bitches about. 2 for the lift and 2 for the boat. Been using a Noco 2 bank in the boat every other week, and my Schumacher on the lift twice a season. Still running strong with a 1000w system in the boat. Batteries like to be topped, and cared for during the cold winter up here.

Get a good charger and a source of power, otherwise, you will have the same dilemma with new batteries as well.

 

[FLJetBoater]

From what I understand about our motors the stator really maintains your charge on your batteries, but doesn't really recharge them, especially if you're using them to the point of depletion, unless you run the engine for a long time... But even then it doesn't seem to recharge them really.

I saw that you can't plug in while you're in storage, but have you talked to the marina about it? Ask if maybe when they launch your boat if maybe they can plug it in for you at the dock and get a higher power on board charger.

Beyond that, I'm not totally sure as I store mine in my garage and plugged in. Others can probably shares a better strategy or correct me if I'm wrong on our engines ability to recharge.

Do you think this is the case only for single engine boats? The 24 series with duals would have twice the amps available from the stators.

 

[Theryan]

Do you think this is the case only for single engine boats? The 24 series with duals would have twice the amps available from the stators.

My understanding is that even with the dual engines they still aren't really built to recharge fully, but anyone that knows for sure can correct me.

 

[Beachbummer]

Have that house battery tested. What are you doing for those 30-60 minutes? Sounds like the battery has lost capacity. If you run the boat long enough it will recharge any battery.

 

[FLJetBoater]

My understanding is that even with the dual engines they still aren't really built to recharge fully, but anyone that knows for sure can correct me.

If you turn the battery switches ON, and put the charger on the starter battery, will the DVSR click on and open and allow you to charge both batteries? I don't have a dual bank charger yet, wondering if this is a viable option in the meantime.

 

[Theryan]

If you turn the battery switches ON, and put the charger on the starter battery, will the DVSR click on and open and allow you to charge both batteries? I don't have a dual bank charger yet, wondering if this is a viable option in the meantime.

Yeah, that should work fine. You don't technically need a dual bank charger if you have a dvsr and switch as it would sense the charge and open to charge both.

 

[Theryan]

Have that house battery tested. What are you doing for those 30-60 minutes? Sounds like the battery has lost capacity. If you run the boat long enough it will recharge any battery.

I'm not sure on that one.

When I first bought my boat (single engine, though) and had all of the stock equipment in it and didn't listen to music unless the engine was running even after driving around a bunch it still never charged my battery (single at the time). I eventually started getting the low battery alarm and then realized that was the case and bought an on board charger.

Battery was nearly new. The stator just isn't really powerful enough beyond maintaining a charge and maybe a little charging capacity unless I'm really missing something.

 

[Beachbummer]

50 Amps per hour while running is not bad at all. Most batteries don't like going below 40%, so "normal" usage should stay above 40% capacity.That's somewhere between 40-80 Amp hours total you can normally use without harming the battery. You need to run the boat for 4 hours after drawing it down that far. (If you drew down two batteries) Once the battery reaches 80% charge, it can't take that much charge anyway, and charges slower, so once it reaches 80%, the engine output is less relevant than plain running time.