Type of battery information

[Victor]

My battery charger is telling me that one of my batteries has a bad cell or a short in a cell. It will not hold a charge. I am going to buy a new battery in the morning. Can someone explane to me the difference between a regular battery and an deep cycle battery so I can purchase the best battery for by boat?

Also if someone could recommend a reliable brand that they might or might not prefer.

Boat information: I have a 2008 23 sport with one Honda 225 and two batteries.

[231CALIFORNIA]

unless you have a lot of engine off time  starting batteries are fine-lots of cranking power, there are also "dual purpose" compromise batteries, deep cycle do best when there is a long slow drain with engines off like at anchor. they will all do all jobs ,just not as well.
construction is similar. Brand is "almost" irelevant if it is "marine", only about half a dozen companies make all the batteries you are likely to see. deep cycle will cost a bit more and last a bit longer if you drain deeply and recharge. Cranking amps--ca/cca/mca   +reserve campacity/amp hour rating are what matters for you.
discount batteries are likely to be a bit less durable and powerful  but price doesnt always relate to ability. weight and size usually does.
if you need one on weekend or at night a costco or walmart might be you only choices and you can get an ok battery at a decent price   but  alternatives and variants  like agm/gel/spiral may not be available. deep cycle has thicker plates less Crank power, more reserve capacity size for size .
all will start your hondas.

[Victor]

I reconditioned my battery last night with my charger and it seems to be holding a charge now. I'm going boating in the morning.

I noticed that the battery that always needs the most charging (the one mentioned above) is the one I use at the sandbar to listen to the radio without the motor running. That battery is #1 on my battery switch. I put the switch on ALL to start the motor and while we are running the motor, but when I get to the sand bar I switch to the #1 battery out of fear of running out of juice with both batteries and not being able to start the motor when I need to get home.

Here comes the questions. If this battery keeps giving me problems, can I replace it with a deep cycle battery and keep the #2 battery as a starting battery or should they both be the same kind of battery?

 I read in the West Marine catalog that you shouldn't mix different batteries in the Same battery bank. I don't even know what a battery bank is. I only have one motor, is a battery bank something that only larger boats have with multiple motors?

[231CALIFORNIA]

A BANK is a group of batteries primarily assigned to one load group like cabin use,or staring use. your "banks" are just 1 battery each, you can mix batteries if they are about the same age , same type chemistry and same useage.  you may want to avoid mixing agms with gel cels or gel cels with flooded cells, flooded cels and agms normally like each other.(provided condition similar)
deep cycle and staring also get along if their chemistry type etc is in these groupings..
With a single engine, start it up on one, switch it to both to charge all, then after charge go back to one, its ok if the stereo runs off of that one, if you need the boost, switch back .

be leery of a battery that seems to be ok "voltage wise" but doesent seem to have cranking power, weak cell can hold a small "surface charge" and fool the voltmeter, but not pass a load check, sometimes a battery that is getting weak will cause the voltmeter to read a bit high when engine is running (and bit low when off) as the voltage regulator is trying to bring the system back up. this can also be seen in a low electrolyte situation sometimes.
load check is important if any trouble signs repeat.

if your battery switch is in the both position when engine is off especially, a bad battery can draw down the good one.
voltage trys to "equalize" by flowing to lower potential  area of circuit, that  sort of why/how electricity works.

if stereo is high powered, most marine units are not you ,might want to increase battery size, but a big culprit on   some stereos is the system memory wire, that keeps the pre sets and clock ,draws the battery down over the winter and weakens it by storing it undercharged, if you have this,it bypasses the switch like the bilge pump wire so you dont loose presets -switch off.

make sure all negative connections are tight and clean also as this can make a good battery seem weak.

[Victor]

Thank you for the information I found it very helpfull. I went out yesterday and we had a great time. No battery issues what so ever.

I have one more question. My batteries are over 3 years old. You said that I shouldn't mix a new deep cycle with my old starting battery. Why is that, I thought that they are on two different banks?

[a7ewizard]

I'll chime in.....

I recently replaced both my 251 batteries with Costco marine deep cycle batteries (700 MCA). I don't know how well the Costco brand holds up but time will tell.

My best experience with batteries over the years was (2) ACDelco marine deep cycle maintenance free (650MCA). One battery was 8-9 years old before it had trouble cranking and needed replacing. I then replaced both with Interstate cranking batteries since my use of the boat had changed and I didn't think a deep cycle was really needed. As I recall (I usually log this info  ), these were installed mid-2007. These are the batteries I just replaced since one failed to re-start me after I had been on the anchor for a couple of hours. 4years old and why take a chance getting stuck??

I ALWAYS run with a single battery selected and alternate batteries on subsequent outings. Rarely do I use the battery charger. I operate year round and average more than 200 hours a year so the batteries stay charged by use. This method keeps the other battery in reserve. Suppose the alternator fails with the "BOTH" selected and you fail to notice? Or one battery fails internally and screws up the other?? Or your electronics and pumps draw down both batteries and won't crank the engine???

[231CALIFORNIA]

the costco/kirkland ones are johson controls I think, the ones ive uses were flooded cel and needed toping off about once every 6 months, price and availability were good and i uses some as long as 4.5years and some only made 2 , but i dont keep them if they wont strongly crank a 350 v8 after running the blower. the cabin lights and the nav lights at 4am at anchor before a run offshore.
I
 had one delco 27 in reserve service give almost 8 years and one die in 18months. go figure?

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