What type of battery?

[4x15mph]

My battery is still only charging to 25% since trying to recover it after leaving the lights on.

Currently, I have an optima bluetop 35m which is a starting battery and not a deep cycle. This is a single battery setup on a 2001 ls2000.

Any recommendation on the type of battery I should consider when replacing?

Any ideas on what else I can try to get this battery recharged. The battery is dated 2012 and I hate to think that one rundown has damaged it completely.

 

[Bruce]

My wife is a teacher and her car often sits for long periods over the summer. Her last car, a VW Jetta, seemed to have a load that continued when parked. After destroying several batteries I upgraded it to an Optima Yellow Top. It ran down and was recharged several times. It was still working fine when we sold it five years later.

I believe your Optima Blue will still be under warranty and have some trade in.

I have two Diehard Platinum batteries in out boat. I only have a few months experience with them but they are made by Odyssey and are supposed to be better than Optima. They are extremely heavy which is a good sign.

The best thing that you could do for battery life is to add an onboard charger, even a small one, and keep your boat plugged in when not in use.

 

[steined]

I'll second the die hard platinum, and charger suggestion. The single bank noco Gen 1 was $67 the other day on their website. Great deal.

 

[txav8r]

x3 on battery maintenance...keeping them charged is imperative to longevity. But also, a start battery just can't take the deep drains that a deep cycle can. An AGM is more capable, but the plate configuration is different in a deep cycle and they are designed to be drained more deeply and restored over and over. But all batteries resist this "deep" depletion state and it does limit their life. So the less you can discharge them the better. A single battery needs to be at least a dual purpose battery, but in our boats with the smaller and easily turned engines, a deep cycle will work as a starting battery too. If your going to drain your battery deeper, consider either a larger battery capacity by increasing size or adding a battery...and keep them topped after use.

 

[Glassman]

Save some money...go to Costco, buy one of these.



Make sure to charge it between use, should it fail, return it. They are very accommodating at Costco.

 

[Zarrella]

@Glassman How much are the Costco batteries?

 

[Glassman]

If my brain is working correctly, I think it was around $87.
24 series around $67.

 

[KXCam22]

Thats the one I put in this year. Upgraded from the stock 24DC to a 27DC. Cam.

 

[David Analog]

Don't return to a group 34 battery. It's smaller/shorter/lighter and has less capacity than a standard group 24. You most likely have a group 24 battery tray/bracket or case/lid. A group 34 has some great applications but not for this one.

If you add a battery On/Off switch the parasitic drains should be a thing of the past.

 

[davel501]

Blue Top Optimas are marine deep cycle. The boats come with group 24s and that is probably more than enough for a trailer boat without any stereo mods.

 

[cwoav8r]

I still have the original Interstate battery that came with my boat as the start battery (2008), and my Optima Blue Top house battery is a little over five years old. I do not have a shore charger, so the only charging the batteries get is when I am on the water. I got my first indications a few weekends ago that the Interstate is due for replacement... the engines both cranked great, but it took over 30 minutes for the ACR to switch and charge the house battery. I think I still have a while longer on the Blue Top... time will tell, but I will definitely buy another Optima when it goes.

@4x15mph , like @Bruce I would try to replace the Blue Top after checking to see what the trade in value is. If it is not economical, I defer to the other experts on the forum for their recommendations.

My .02

 

[David Analog]

I still have the original Interstate battery that came with my boat as the start battery (2008), and my Optima Blue Top house battery is a little over five years old. I do not have a shore charger, so the only charging the batteries get is when I am on the water. I got my first indications a few weekends ago that the Interstate is due for replacement... the engines both cranked great, but it took over 30 minutes for the ACR to switch and charge the house battery. I think I still have a while longer on the Blue Top... time will tell, but I will definitely buy another Optima when it goes.

You know the state of the Optima Blue Top could easily have as much to do with the ACR being slow to combine. Once the voltage on the starting battery side (battery summed with stators) is above the combine threshold, the ACR will attempt to combine. However, if the state of charge on the Optima is low this will immediately cause the voltage to sag and the ACR cannot remain combined. So either battery or both batteries plus the collective current load can be the culprit that retards the ACR combining. Your assessment may be 100% correct but I would take a few voltage measurements at select times to get an accurate picture of what is driving the ACR behavior.

 

[David Analog]

You know the state of the Optima Blue Top could easily have as much to do with the ACR being slow to combine. Once the voltage on the starting battery side (battery summed with stators) is above the combine threshold, the ACR will attempt to combine. However, if the state of charge on the Optima is low this will immediately cause the voltage to sag and the ACR cannot remain combined. So either battery or both batteries plus the collective current load can be the culprit that retards the ACR combining. Your assessment may be 100% correct but I would take a few voltage measurements at select times to get an accurate picture of what is driving the ACR behavior.

 

[jawsf16]

Anyone ever considered using a jet ski battery as the starter battery? I have every accessory in the boat hooked up to a deep cycle, only starters hooked up to starter. Its just two jet ski motors right? I do have a combine switch capability for emergency uses. Thoughts?

 

[davel501]

Anyone ever considered using a jet ski battery as the starter battery? I have every accessory in the boat hooked up to a deep cycle, only starters hooked up to starter. Its just two jet ski motors right? I do have a combine switch capability for emergency uses. Thoughts?

The batteries should be equally sized when using a DVSR or ACR otherwise if the house battery is larger and depleted it will drop the voltage of the start battery too far when they combine.

 

[jawsf16]

True but I don't use either. I have a separated system with a manual combine option on the switch. Charger is dual bank and separate too. Just thinking out loud here...

 

[cwoav8r]

You know the state of the Optima Blue Top could easily have as much to do with the ACR being slow to combine. Once the voltage on the starting battery side (battery summed with stators) is above the combine threshold, the ACR will attempt to combine. However, if the state of charge on the Optima is low this will immediately cause the voltage to sag and the ACR cannot remain combined. So either battery or both batteries plus the collective current load can be the culprit that retards the ACR combining. Your assessment may be 100% correct but I would take a few voltage measurements at select times to get an accurate picture of what is driving the ACR behavior.

Now that you mention it, when I noticed that the ACR was not switching, I checked the voltage (via the GPS) and the voltage was around 12. when I switched to both the voltage increased to around 12.4. The voltage is measured off the house battery, so it may be the Blue Top that is failing.... hmmm... boating this weekend after some maintenance, we shall see how it goes.

 

[David Analog]

Now that you mention it, when I noticed that the ACR was not switching, I checked the voltage (via the GPS) and the voltage was around 12. when I switched to both the voltage increased to around 12.4. The voltage is measured off the house battery, so it may be the Blue Top that is failing.... hmmm... boating this weekend after some maintenance, we shall see how it goes.

Maybe. And certainly 28 collective amps or so from stators won't raise the voltage under load like a 90 amp alternator will.

 

[David Analog]

The batteries should be equally sized when using a DVSR or ACR otherwise if the house battery is larger and depleted it will drop the voltage of the start battery too far when they combine.

Wouldn't the separation voltage threshold of the ACR/VSR keep this from happening?

 

[davel501]

Wouldn't the separation voltage threshold of the ACR/VSR keep this from happening?

No, the manual for the VSR and DVSR specifically talk about this scenario. The DVSR has a circuit to prevent chatter / popping in and out from this by waiting a little bit for the voltage to come back up but a big depleted battery will not work with a small charged battery.

The ACRs may be different but my understanding is they have the same time delay circuitry.