[HighSide25]

what kind of battery(s) would you use to power a 55# troller, gps,vhf, bilge, livewell, nav lights?

motor does not have a starter, so the only recharge time will be at home.

im thinking a single optima blue top, but i wanted to check if there may be a better battery out there.

not all accerries are always on at the same time, but usually at least one is.

 

[DJ]

I just replaced mine with Odyssey batteries. The trolling motor batt. will now last all day for me. Nothing worse then it dying 1/2 way through a trip.

 

[cutrunner]

It would be my high suggestion not to buy optima, i have no idea how they became so popular.. I have never changed so many batteries from a single company that prematurely died. My best advice would be buy the biggest you can get #27 or even #31. Depending on your budget i would either buy a cheap ($70) walmart battery every 8ish months or spend big money on an oddysea. I have one in my boat and my car. I believe they have a 4 or 5 year warranty. Theyre great but when you think about how much money it costs you coulda just bought several new (cheaper) batteries. So it kinda evens out in the end... I know a guy that bought a walmart everstart battery and good or bad brings it back before the warranty is up and gets a new one for free. Stickin it to big corporate!

 

[joshuabward]

I agree with cut runner when I worked at car dealerships, I replaced optimas all the time and had a couple die on me personally, My best luck has been the walmart everstart.

 

[HighSide25]

okay, what about deka?  im just tired of returning things to wallymart every 6-8 months or go fishing and find out around noon that thebattery is dead. i want to be done with it.  looks like what i need to find is the highest reserve capacity, right?  gonna stick with a group 27, brand im unsure, agm will be a must

 

[aflatsnut]

I've had my Optima for 7 years, ya need the proper charger or you will kill it.

 

[brew1891]

I have an Odyssey troller battery. It works great BUT it requires a special charger. I found out the hard way. Luckily my dealer was kind enough to replace under warranty since I was not given any warning by the sales person. Charger must be Odyssey brand or on the approved list.

My house battery is the smallest West Marine/Deka AGM. The original one was in the boat forever. No special charger required. I have not used one for a troller but the house battery works great.

 

[HighSide25]

got the west marine/deka agm 27. its impressive so far. also got the correct charger, i hope. the charger is fully auto and has selections for 2/6/10amp and normal/gel/agm. it took 15 hrs for the battery to fully charge at a 2amp rate.....hopefully it lasts 5-7 years.

 

[backwaterbandits]

I've had my Optima for 7 years, ya need the proper charger or you will kill it.

X2...I think the Optima will give great service
IF charged properly.
Smart charger.
Charge promptly after use.
And
Top off before next use.

 

[draggingcanoe]

From Optima website:

OPTIMA Batteries does not officially endorse specific chargers—we simply don't have the time to test all of the excellent chargers on the market. There are a few that our customers and staff have tried and liked. You can contact OPTIMA Batteries Customer Service at 888-8-OPTIMA (888-867-8462) or via email at [email protected] for charger recommendations based on different applications.

 

[cutrunner]

So basically what optima is saying is they dont know what chargers are good for their batteries or what chargers are bad.. Great selling point. Especially because Don Schumacher(us army top fuel car driver)(also one of my customers) owns the patent on the automatic battery charger, hence almost every charger is a schumacher brand. Told me they all work the same under his patented design, some just charge in smaller longer periods and some shorter stronger periods. But if you have a motor that is charging the battery while running its going to get whatever charge "said" motor outputs.

 

[btomas]

Got the Odessey Trolling battery for the first time in my new boat this past year.  best battery and performance I have ever had over the last 25 years.  Historically I could never justify the extra cost of any agm, but I am now a convert.  Using a good Guest intelligent charger that has a specific AGM cycle helps.  While there are different specs for different battery types, I suspect any of the chargers  that have a decent cycle that prevents overcharging will work reasonably well.