dcathey Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 I’ve been considering battery replacement on my 4 year old dekas group 27. I don’t get very much time on my trolling motor even after adding a stealth charger. Another thing I saw after leaving boat plugged in was a little moisture leaking out of house/cranking battery. That has pushed me into just wanting to replace. I doubt the previous owner kept a charge on the batteries and they may be a bit weak. I currently run an 80 lb I pilot so I have 3 batteries. My thoughts were to replace with 3 Duracell group 31s(if they are same footprint) and fish it to see if I get significant improvement. Long term plan is to add a 4th battery and get a 112 ulterra. Will that be an issue if that’s a couple years down the road? Main question is @ $180 per battery , is there a better deal on an agm high quality battery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubble Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 I had several discussions with Danny Roberts at Stealth prior to upgrading to a 36V system for my Ulterra. I was in the process of having to replace my 3 batteries and add a 4th as well. He said based on the way the Stealth operates, one is just as well off to purchase the cheap marine batteries from walmart and just maintain condition of batteries by watching the voltage over time. Don't keep plugged in. Just plug in when it needs it. As I understood, it wasn't good to leave plugged in so that the chargers could drain the batteries and then run back up. Rather, he suggested to me to just keep an eye on the voltage. If you run the boat weekly, you may never need to plug in. If you run monthly or less, you may want to plug in for a day to top off the batteries and then check again in a week or two. Thus, the answer to your main question from what I have learned and trust is No. Forget the $180 battery. If you want to put a bunch of coin in your batteries and get the most out of it, go Lithium. Danny has those as well. $1500+/- for a 36v battery that is the size of a small single battery and weighs less and lasts 2 to 4 times as long (avg 10 years). If I fished a bunch, that would be my preferred option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCFD rtrd. Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 There is a big discussion on Fla. Sportsman forum right now about using Lithium batteries. Apparently they are not that easy to use and charge. Lithium batteries have very specific charging requirements that are not common on most boats/alternators/chargers. Might want to read the post before making a decision. The person on the forum with the most knowledge is an electrical engineer that works at Disney World. He installs, uses and charges Lithium batteries for the mouse. I have two AGM Duracell's for my trolling motor (group 24). I troll a lot and have never run them down. Also have one AGM Duracell (group 31) for starting and house and never had a problem. I do have a Powermania (20 amp. I think) charger for all three batteries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEM Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 Same here. Two AGM batteries for 24 V Ulterra, plus 2 wet cell starting batteries. I charge the 2 AGM’s plus 1 wet cell starting battery with a 3 bank, 20 amp Powermania. After two years, all are going strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 Have been using Duracell AGM's from Sam's for awhile now, they have been great. Just had to get a new battery for my jeep, it takes an AGM since its under the seat. Sam's has the best price. Duracell are made by Deka. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HPX FAN Posted January 8, 2018 Report Share Posted January 8, 2018 I have had good luck with the Sam's Duracells. Just make sure you check the date stamp and pick the newest ones. Most of them are current date due to volume they sale though. Had one go bad and I think it had an 18month warranty; they gave me a new one with no hassle. Bring them an old battery for the core or pay $15 extra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcathey Posted January 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2018 I appreciate it fellas. I’m going to go pick up some. My battery trays are just big enough to hold the 31s since they are almost an inch longer. Once I get the dekas out I will hopefully end those days of running out of trolling motor juice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted January 8, 2018 Report Share Posted January 8, 2018 On 1/7/2018 at 8:39 AM, dcathey said: Main question is @ $180 per battery , is there a better deal on an agm high quality battery? You'll do well....I had 4x31's in my pathy and never looked back.....I had a 112V which ran the 3x31's and the house was a 31 as well for my F150....needless to say....I never had a starting problem.... dc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted January 9, 2018 Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 I bought Duracell AGMs for my IPilot 24volt last year. Charge every few trips. So far, so good..but until I hit 4-5 years the jury is out. The warranty is best out there and at $180 each I thought worth a try. regarding Lithium ferrite: I think great potential. I have some experience using these with medical devices and I’ve been working about 3 months now with a retired guy from Philips (my company was bought by Philips) who has 20 years in medical equipment mfg. he is trying to get a factory in China to build me a 24 volt, 50 amp size of a standard battery, under 30lbs with 2000 recharges that we can retail under $900. These batteries have very different characteristics than lead acid and AGM. There is also a group in Alabama building LI cells for US govt, emergancy vehicles etc..they have a demo battery that fits my requirements..but nothing commercially available. I been learning. As the technologies advance I expect a marine power cell will become available at more reasonable cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.N Posted January 9, 2018 Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 Those batteries are Deka Intimidators basically with a different label. I bought the Deka's and paid too much, but they are doing great so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICH12 Posted January 9, 2018 Report Share Posted January 9, 2018 I think I read on this forum that Batteries Plus had some nice AGMs with longer warranties if @ competitive $ if I'm not mistaken. Might be worth a look for comparison. Jp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnd Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 13 hours ago, RICH12 said: I think I read on this forum that Batteries Plus had some nice AGMs with longer warranties if @ competitive $ if I'm not mistaken. Might be worth a look for comparison. Jp I bought the Duracell’s at Batteries Plus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcathey Posted January 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 A question for Those of you with Stealth Chargers, do y’all only run the ac charger leads to cranking battery and let the stealth divert the current or do you charge all 3 banks everytime you plug in? Danny at Stealth told me that you only need to charge the cranking but I have a 3 bank on the boat and I was thinking I could get back to full strength quicker on those weekend trips. I’ll probably call him again about it bc I don’t want to damage brand new batteries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bernieNC Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Best to call Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcathey Posted January 11, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 Spoke with Danny yesterday and said that with my Guest 3 bank ac charger I can put a lead on each battery. The other option is putting all 3 on the cranking and let the stealth handle it when the cranking is topped off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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