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Duracell AGMs??


dcathey

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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?

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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.  

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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.  

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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.

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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

 

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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. 

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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 

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