Battery Replacements

[KINGAIR350]

Have 2 SAFT batteries , wanting to replace them with 2 ea of the Optima Bluetop Group 27 , Optima 's low maintenance is the primary reason to change out any thoughts on other type of batteries ?
Regards,
Kevin

[AT Phillips]

Kevin,
Great batteries!!!  I had Optima batteries for years..on my power boat.  However, I didn't find the benefits to be worth the $s.  I went the golf cart battery route.   v/r Adam

[mainesail]

Have 2 SAFT batteries , wanting to replace them with 2 ea of the Optima Bluetop Group 27 , Optima 's low maintenance is the primary reason to change out any thoughts on other type of batteries ?
Regards,
Kevin

If you want a TPPL battery I would suggest Odyssey NOT Optima... Enersys invented both Odyssey and Optima. They sold off the Optima technology.. Which of the two technologies do you suppose Enersys kept? The superior technology or the lesser technology......? Optima's are okay starting batteries but make rather poor house batteries. The Odyssey technology is better all the way around.... There are only two "premium" AGM lines out there Lifeline and Odyssey..... If you must have AGM then I would stick to Lifeline or Odyssey..

[Stu Jackson]

The Catalina 34 has probably the very BEST battery access known on most cruising boats of its size.

Low maintenance?  Heck, it takes all of five minutes to check/service my batteries every few months.

There are also some serious charging issues required to keep AGMs healthy.  The "Electrical 101" topic includes these:

AGM Battery Issues (from Maine Sail) 
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=124973

AGM Battery Issues and the Blue Seas Dual Circuit Switch (from Maine Sail) "DARN AGM Batteries"
http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=848465&highlight=darn%20agm

Before you spend that kind of $$, consider if they are right for you, or even "required."

[lazybone]

Stu's correct, maintenance on standard golf cart batteries is easy.  I keep a turkey baster in the same battery compartment and add distilled water once a year at the end of the season.

It takes nothing to pull off the caps and squirt some water in there.

[Ken Juul]

I thought I had a huge battery problem.  Folks on the board were talking about 2-3 days at anchor without recharging.  I was lucky to make an overnight.  Finally traced it down to a failing refrigerator.  Replaced it and my battery draw dropped dramatically.  If you have the money to spend to buy the expensive stuff, go for it.  But now that I have sorted out the reason's for my short battery life, I don't think you  can't go wrong with 4 Sam's Club golf cart batteries as the house bank.  The factory didn't wire the boat very well for the way most of us use it.  I would suggest spending the money on changing the wiring layout, rather expensive batteries.  See the Jim Moe wiring diagram, that I think Stu gave the linked before.

There are a bunch of us here that are former aviators.  As pilots we tend to think let the maintenance folks worry about it.  Unless you have deep pockets, that doesn't work.  I won't say it is easier, but there are less expensive ways of dealing with batteries.   I'm retired now, but was working crazy hours the first couple time I needed new batteries.  I understand the situation, want the boat to work when you want to go out, because you don't have that many opportunities.  PM me if you would like to discuss.

[TonyP]

So Ken
What are your amp hours for your house bank now?
We have 2 x 95ah and with our original AB refrigerator, and we are lucky to get one day out of our batteries.
cheers
Tony

[Ron Hill]

Ken :

I agree with you when you had a flying crew chief or a flight engineer.  As former aviator and Maintenance Officer I found that when you were flying a single pilot aircraft your interest level in maintenance and preflights tended to be very thorough!!!

Tony : What you need to do is make your self a power-usage budget.  Then you size your battery bank on your usage.

A few thoughts

[KINGAIR350]

Ron,
Thanks for the input , ill have plenty of time while im in Bogata .
Thanks Again and Have A Safe Journey !!

[Clay Greene]

I also would suggest a digital voltmeter/ammeter so you have a better idea of your energy draw and the remaining capacity of your batteries.  You may find that your battery capacity is sufficient if you manage your power needs differently. 

[Ron Hill]

Clay : What most of us have is a mounted digital ammeter/volt meter which is call a "battery monitor". It displays accumulative amp usage and then counts back the other way when being charged.
 
Many posts on this very topic.

A thought

[Ken Juul]

As a house bank I have 4 golf cart batteries that have a 420 amp hour capacity.  We are energy hogs.  2 refrigerators, use lights as we need them, etc.  Have not converted to LED so that makes light draw worse.  The failing fridge was the real culprit.  I know all it needed was recharging with freon.  But it was the older crimp and solder style with no recharge ports.  Tony, if your AB has a recharge port, I would try that first.  I decided rather than spend a couple hundred on modifying a 20+ year old system to just replace it.  With the new unit we also now have a freezer box.  It makes all the difference, especially on the 6 month voyage we are undertaking.  The Admiral now shows it off instead of complaining about the cost :)

[Clay Greene]

Ron, that is exactly what I was trying to describe.  We have the Victron BMV-602.  It is a great tool, far better than the analog voltmeter that came with the boat, which I find to be pretty much worthless.