I would contact the guys at Boat Electric in Seattle. The have batteries for sale, but more importantly they will educate you on the how and why. They are good guys!
http://boatelectric.com/ Tell them Troy from www.cruisingnw.com sent you please! I bought my charging system and all that I needed to install it from them. Good luck! On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 12:11 AM, waterguy <[email protected]>wrote: > I second Mike's recommendation that you review West Marine's discussion > about batteries. It's in the West Advisor (under the Advice & Articles > tab, look under "Electrical" and then the article titled "Selecting a > Marine Storage Battery." URL here: > http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/WestAdvisorView?langId=-1&storeId=11151&catalogId=10001&page=Selecting-a-Marine-Storage-Battery > > I don't know from your post exactly what you need - you said you need to > replace your starting batteries. What you don't say is whether you have a > separate deep-cycle battery bank for house use when your engines are off > and you're not hooked up to shore power (lights, refrigeration, etc.) If > you do, then for your starting bank all you need is a standard > automotive-style starting battery, the kind you can get at Costco, Sam's > Club or Sears. These batteries are designed to deliver a short burst of > high power. You'll kill them if you run them down, like using them for > house loads over a weekend at anchor. They're not built for deep > discharges. You don't need a "marine" battery for pure starting loads. > > If you have a separate bank that you use only for house loads, you need > dedicated deep-cycle batteries. These are designed to be drawn down > substantially and recharged repeatedly - which is treatment that will kill > an automotive (e.g., starting) battery. Best price around Seattle that > I've found on these is the Dyno brand at Fisheries. > > If you use your batteries for both starting and house loads, then you need > a dual-purpose battery, like the "marine" battery at Costco or other > discounters. West Marine sells dual-purpose batteries, too. So does > Fisheries Supply - and they might be more competitive than West. > > On the battery chemistry debate, I weigh in heavily on the side of > old-school flooded batteries. Yes, AGM and gel-cel batteries are great and > don't leak (although they do outgas and need to be vented like flooded > batteries), but the cost difference is (to me) not worth their added > benefits. The only benefit I can see that I would like about AGM batteries > is that they will accept a higher rate of charge acceptance (which > translates to shorter charging - e.g., engine-running - times). > > A flooded deep cycle battery will accept a charge of approximately 25% of > the amp-hour rating versus the AGM charge acceptance of about 40% - but > this doesn't matter to me because I have a house bank of 2 8D batteries, > which have an amp-hour rating of 255 each (510 both). This means that my > flooded batteries will accept up to 127.5 amps of charge versus an AGM > acceptance of 204 amps. I have a 40-amp fixed AC charger and 60-amp > alternators on my twin engines - meaning that I can't charge my flooded > batteries as fast as they will accept a charge. Having AGM batteries would > be even more underkill as far as my charging system goes, so I wouldn't > save any charging time. > > Price comparison: 8D flooded deep-cycle batteries at Fisheries Supply: > $374.49. 8D AGM batteries at Fisheries Supply: $814.36. I can't > justify more than 2x the price for the no-spill convenience. Plus, flooded > batteries will tolerate overcharging better than AGM or gel-cells will. > > My advice is worth what you paid for it :^) > > > > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "UnifliteWorld" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/unifliteworld/-/E9lNzAuq4-kJ. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/unifliteworld?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/unifliteworld?hl=en.
