410 DA 2001 - Need new Battery...Any Recommendations

H

Hail Mary

New Member
Jun 18, 2007
16
Long Island, NY
Boat Info
boatless
Engines
boatless
Hi All,

The portside batteries are not holding a charge so I need the emergency crossover swith to start it. Water level in Battey is fine so I think it's time for a few new ones. Any recommendations of Brand and or model?

I presume they have to be deep cycle?

Do you keep your AC converter (Battery Charger) on when ever you're connected to shore power? I have heard conflicting info.

Thanks,
Sean
 
I switched to AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries about 5 years ago and absolutly love them for several reasons. The AGM is a dry battery and is permanently sealed so they are truly no maintenance. Since they are sealed, they do not vent corrosive or explosive fumes into the battery area, which is usually near some sensitive stuff that does not need corrosive fumes nearby. The AGM's also free me from routine battery maintenance and in the Florida heat it is a constant challenge to properly maintain a lead acid battery.

I'm on my second set of regular starting batteries made by Excide.......Red-Top Optima. They offer a deep cycle, but honestly, the way I use a boat, I don't need deep cycles since I don't ever discharge the batteries. In the summer or winter we run the generator for heat or air conditioning so if we are anchored for an extended time, I just switch on the converter. In more moderate times of the year, we can anchor for 10-12 hjours without worrying about the battery state. Beyond about 10 hours, I get nervous and start the generator to recharge.

The starting batteries have about 1000 CCA each so 2 in parallel are plenty to spin the Caterpillars.

The Optimas cost more at about $125 ea. but for me that last 3-4X longer since they never run oput of electrlyte.
 
Frank - your comments on AGM have got me interested in knowing more. We are in our third season and have never run the batteries down. How do you determine when to replace them? Do you wait until there is an incident or do you just replace them at a predetermined interval? Did you have to replaced any charging equipment to go to the AGMs?

The idea of maintenance free batteries sure appeal to me.
 
Batteries

In my 460 there are 2 X 8D for engine starting and house, oplus there are 2 X 12V Car size bats in series for the Bowthruster and Windlass a 12V for Generator starting.

I had all wet cells and they were very problematic here in Florida. With higher ambient temps and super hot engine rooms the batteries would loos more than expected water all year long. The boat originally had Bats from a firm that was bought by Delta and Istill had some warranatee left when theu began to get "Iffy". I called the local Delta shop, they were out in 2 hours and brought me all new maintenance free bats (not AGM) removed the old ones and installed the new. They were neat, clean and fast. The bats come with 24 month guarantees and have the power you need to crank up those 6C's.

On the whole, I'm very pleased with these Delta's and their service and prices were very fair. I could have gone for the AGM but the cost difference for those 8D's was substaintial.

I did not have to undertake any charger changes to go maintenance free. I was told that AGM requires a higher initial voltage during bulk charge.
 
Unless I'm about to leave on a trip, I don't fix things that aren't broke, as the saying goes.

On batteries, I know now that I get 40-42 months out of AGMS, but I don't replace them until I get to the point that I have to cross feed the battery banks to crank the engines....then its time. I have plenty of warning since you can also tell when the crankiing speed of the engines begins to slow......it is a subtle change, but you can hear the slower cranking speed when the batteries are about used up.

When I replace them, I replace all 4 at the same time. I"m getting 5+ years out of the AGM in the generator.

My boat came with 4 group 27 deep cycle marine batteries, not 8D's.

Changing to AGM's reguires no change to anything on the boat if you have a charger that trickles down to 0 volts and most Sea Rays made in the last 10 years do.
 
I'm with Frank and Chad. My yard recomended maintenance free batteries a few years ago when I changed them. They are great and I like that they don't leak all over the place.

As far as leaving the charger on all the time, mine is always on when I'm plugged into shorepower. These "smart" chargers know what to do and how much to do it. My yard also advises to NOT use the charger with the engines running (like under generator power or warming up the mains while disconnecting shore water and shore power). They said it can cause damage to the alternators, charger, or both. The one time forgot and left it on with the generator, I couldn't figure out why my tachs kept pegging and bouncing all over the place. As soon as I shut the charger off, the tachs went back to normal.
 
Hail Mary said:
Hi All,

The portside batteries are not holding a charge so I need the emergency crossover swith to start it. Water level in Battey is fine so I think it's time for a few new ones. Any recommendations of Brand and or model?

I presume they have to be deep cycle?

Do you keep your AC converter (Battery Charger) on when ever you're connected to shore power? I have heard conflicting info.

Thanks,
Sean
Click to expand...

yes, keep charger on and when you replace batteries, you should install same type batteries connected to same charger
 
I keep our ac converter on all the time, even when I run the genny as the genny is on when the boat is not at dock. This keeps the ice fresh/frozen, refridge cold, ac going etc. diesel genny like to run and they only burn less than one gal./per hour.
I had not heard that it should not be on when the genny is running??
 
Wait now..............the comment and concern was about running the generator powered convertor and the main engines at the same time.........not the generator and the convertor.

When you are running the main engines you don't need the convertor at all because the 2 alternators are outputting up to about 120amps, depending upon what engine and alternators you have. The engine regulators wil cut the output back based on voltage need so the batteries are not over charged.

There is nothing at all wrong with running the generator and convertor at the same time.
 
I followed Frank's advice when I elected to put all new batteries int eh 420. The previous owner had done zero maintenance on the factory supplied wet cells, and two failed the load test at survey. i went with 5 optima AGMs, though i opted for the blue top deep cycle models.
Love em. 2d season, zero maintenance, and plenty of oomph to crank the Cummins. About $180 each at a local battery distributor.

regards
Skip
 
fwebster said:
Unless I'm about to leave on a trip, I don't fix things that aren't broke, as the saying goes.

On batteries, I know now that I get 40-42 months out of AGMS, but I don't replace them until I get to the point that I have to cross feed the battery banks to crank the engines....then its time. I have plenty of warning since you can also tell when the crankiing speed of the engines begins to slow......it is a subtle change, but you can hear the slower cranking speed when the batteries are about used up.

When I replace them, I replace all 4 at the same time. I"m getting 5+ years out of the AGM in the generator.

My boat came with 4 group 27 deep cycle marine batteries, not 8D's.

Changing to AGM's reguires no change to anything on the boat if you have a charger that trickles down to 0 volts and most Sea Rays made in the last 10 years do.
Click to expand...

I have 3 Interstate 27M-XHD marine starting batteries and on 27 series deep cycle on the genny/stbd engine rack. The interstates are very good LA batts and I will use them again since I don't have the issues with water evaporation Frank has. They have 855 CCAs.
Frank ... what series AGMs do you have installed. Are they red tops or yellow tops?
 
If you can check out a Sam's Wholesale club...our local club has the AGM (blue top, I think) for in the $150 range....
 
I am not sure that this belongs here, but it is bttery related.

My amp meters read less than 10 amps while the engies are running if I have the cabin lights on. If I turn them all off, then it will go over 12 volts. This is with, or without the genny and the converter running. Does this mean the batteries are not holding a charge, or the alternator/converter can not keep up with the load of the cabin lights? Thanks.
 
Apples and Pears ...

Amp meters and Volt meters tell us different things about what is happening.

Your boat will have two sets of meters, one for AC services and One for DC services. I will assume we are talking about just the DC side of the system

The AMP meter is telling you what your total DC draw down is on the batterys or the rate of use, the voltage meter is telling you what the voltage state is in those Batteries where the theoretical max is 2.2 volts per cell.

On the DC side, with your engines running, your alternator should be kicking up to 60 to 80 amps depending on your alternator. Thus, your cabin lights consumption of less than 10 AMPS DC passing through the batteries is being completly provided by the Alternator feed. The volts being under 12.8 might cause me to want to look closer at battery condition as my alternator/converter is pumping as much as 13.8 volts in to the bats.

If your converter is off and you are getting less than 12.8 volts on the meter ... some concern for alternator voltage regulator might be called for.

Is your house bank giving trouble, Does you engine starting seem sluggish, have the batterys been a state of near total discharge lately?
 
Sorry for the typo, I was talking about the volt meter on the bridge. It does not matter if the converter is off or on, the volt meter still reads less than 12 (10 actually) when all the lights are on.

Yes, it is a little sluggish, but it is new to me, so I am not sure what is normal.

Yes, I killed the batteries the other day while boating for about 6-8 hours without a genny (different thread), and had to jump the house batteries with the genny battery (since it would not run anyways).

My house/starting batteries are the big D-8 batteries so I want to be sure they are really needing replaced. Do they make maintenance free batteries in this size?

briman
 
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