Non AGM TM Battery options

[Cgolf]

I need help finding decent non AGM TM batteries. I am running a 24V Terrova on a 16 ft boat.

 

The set I have in there right now did ok on the opener, but are for sure missing some power and they definitely don’t last like they used too. They are over 6 years old though.

 

The stores we have in our area are Walmart, Costco, Farm and Fleet, Cabela’s, Batteries Plus, and many different auto shops. I would like to keep the cost under 200 total, but could go a bit more for a better battery that will last.

[cadman]

I have a 2007 Terrova on a 20 foot boat, with Walmart batteries, and so far I am very happy with the batteries. The batteries are on their 3rd year and so far both batteries are holding up. JMO

[Al Wolbach]

Costco should give you the most bang for your buck, and satisfication guaranteed. I believe they carry interstate batteries.

[Way2slow]

You can't meet your goal on getting two AGM's big enough to be worth while for under $200, it would be difficult to do it for $300 and $400 would be more realistic. 

For $200, you need to go to your local Wally world.

OOps, should have had my glasses on, I see you said NON AGM.  Still for $200 you need to be looking at Wally world.  Those batteries do pretty good for 18-24 months most of the time if you keep them maintained.

[Angry John]

Don't know if your looking for a set of 27s or 31s but most of the quality ones I see cost that much each.  I am a big fan of lead acid batteries due to the extra capacity but that is paid back in required care.  Interstate or trojan deep cycle would be first choice and will last a lot longer than a cheap version.  If the battery store gives back for core charge then you may get a better deal that way.

[Further North]

Depending on what will fit in your boat, the Farm and Fleet 27 or the 29 series batteries will work great.  Even the 31s will work great.

 

I run a 112, 36 volt Ulterra on three Farm and Fleet 29s, they work great.

[Cgolf]

Thanks for the replies. I am going to call Costco and Walmart tomorrow and may lean towards the likely more expensive interstate, will see depending on how much more expensive. Glad to hear about the farm and fleet battery, my only experience was seeing a guy return one that wouldn't hold a charge. 

 

Here are my current Batteries. How good were they?

 

Northern 27 EV

marine crank 870

cold crank 600

reserve capacity 160

manufactured in 2010

 

the first 3 years I made a week trip being on the water roughly 12 hours a day using the TM 70% of the time at varying speeds without having to recharge. I want this set again lol. I never did any maintanence on them other than keeping the boat in an insulated garage over the winter. What did I miss on the maintenance end with the batteries?

 

 

[Further North]

BTW, I bought the Farm and Fleet series 29s to replace Interstate 27s.

 

Nothing wrong with the Interstates...but no issues with the Farm and Fleet 29s either...and they run the TM longer....

[Cgolf]

3 minutes ago, Further North said:

BTW, I bought the Farm and Fleet series 29s to replace Interstate 27s.

 

Nothing wrong with the Interstates...but no issues with the Farm and Fleet 29s either...and they run the TM longer....

The tempting thing with the Farm and Fleet battaries is the 27s are 90, I didn't chech the specs on them, but that is a good deal. 

[WRB]

Everstart deep cycle marine battery, group 29DC is $99 right at your price point and a decent battery that you can return to Walmart anywhere.

Tom

[Way2slow]

For TM use, I would avoid using the Farm batteries, they are more of a cranking battery than a deep cycle.  The more a battery leans toward being designed for cranking, the lower the cycle count is going to be and the lower the reserve capacity (RC) is going to be.  For TM use these are the two things you want most.  You want the highest RC number you can find, and one designed to give you the max cycle count, which means avoiding the batteries with high CCA numbers.  Actually, true Deep Cycle batteries usually won't even have a CCA/MCA on them.  Understand though, at $100 each, you will not find a high capacity, true deep cycle battery.   To see what I'm talking about, look at the Trojan SSC225.  That's still one of the top deep cycle batteries available.  Not the only one, but there are not many, and you will not find them in your price range.  The reason being is the more a battery is designed for deep cycle use, the more lead in the plates.  True deep cycle will have solid lead plates to provide more cycle counts, cranking batteries have porous plate to provide more surface area to provide more CCA and start breaking down when each time they are discharged.  Then you have the lead alloy the batteries are made of, all are not the same.  Better batteries have better plates. 

With all that said, if you want a $100 battery, stick with the Wal-Mart battery.  While by no means the best and I don't usually buy them unless I'm wanting a cheaper battery for temporary use, they are still the best bang for the buck you are going to get in your price range. 

If you want the best, look at the Trojan SSC225, or one of the other  major brand names like Deka,  Interstate, Die Hard, etc designed only for deep cycle use.   

 

 

[Further North]

13 hours ago, cgolf said:

The tempting thing with the Farm and Fleet battaries is the 27s are 90, I didn't chech the specs on them, but that is a good deal. 

I can't recall who makes the Farm & Fleet batteries...but it's one of the reputable companies.

[Way2slow]

The quality of the battery or the manufacture has nothing to do with using a Farm/Commercial battery.  It the fact the battery is being used to do something it's not designed for and will not have the RC of a quality deep cycle or provide the service life it should when being discharge much deeper than designed.  They are basically a heavy duty cranking battery, not intended for deep cycle use. 

Yes, any battery can be used to run your TM, I've known a number of people who take the battery out of their vehicle when they get to a pond and use it for the TM, then put it back in to crank up and go home.  Doing this shortens the life of the battery but the average persons lack of battery knowledge would never know this.

[Cgolf]

11 minutes ago, Way2slow said:

The quality of the battery or the manufacture has nothing to do with using a Farm/Commercial battery.  It the fact the battery is being used to do something it's not designed for and will not have the RC of a quality deep cycle or provide the service life it should when being discharge much deeper than designed.  They are basically a heavy duty cranking battery, not intended for deep cycle use. 

Yes, any battery can be used to run your TM, I've known a number of people who take the battery out of their vehicle when they get to a pond and use it for the TM, then put it back in to crank up and go home.  Doing this shortens the life of the battery but the average persons lack of battery knowledge would never know this.

The batteries we are talking about at Farm and Fleet for 90 are a marine deep cycle battery.

[WRB]

Deep cycle marine batteries have thicker and deeper lead plates, stainless steel stud hardware and heavier wall cases to take multiple recharges operate in a marine environmemt. The Everstart marine battery is made for trolling motors and has a 1 year warranty, return it and get a new battery.

Wet cell batteries must be maintained by keeping the distilled water levels up over the plates, they outgas creating corrosion by design so the terminals must be sealed or cleaned. AGM's are maintenance free, no Corrosion from out gas, no water to add and 2X the price and usually last over 5 years. You get what you pay for.

Regarding Trojan SC225, I use these for 20 years between 1985-2005 until Trojan stopped developing deep cycle marine batteries and focus their business on golf cart batteries. I switch to VMax AGM in 2005 and have had no battery issues the past 12 years!

Tom

[Angry John]

Lots of good information here and covered better in some areas what i was trying to say.  How you search for batteries to buy is important also.  A lot of effort is going into batteries for solar and storage.  Might be worth it to do some research and see if there is a 24v deep cycle to meet your needs at an overall reduced price from two separate batteries. 

[Cgolf]

On June 6, 2017 at 11:23 PM, WRB said:

Everstart deep cycle marine battery, group 29DC is $99 right at your price point and a decent battery that you can return to Walmart anywhere.

Tom

 

My local Walmart has the 27 DC which had a CC of 750 but they don't have any other specs for 81.67

 

Menards has an Exide with a CC of 550, MC of 675, RC of 182 at 25 amps 81.67

 

an interstate store has a 27m with a CC of 600 MC of 750 RC of 160 no idea on price yet or availability, but specs are close to my current batteries. 

 

Any thoughts on the above?

 

thanks

[Jeff H]

On 6/7/2017 at 3:15 PM, WRB said:

Regarding Trojan SC225, I use these for 20 years between 1985-2005 until Trojan stopped developing deep cycle marine batteries and focus their business on golf cart batteries. I switch to VMax AGM in 2005 and have had no battery issues the past 12 years!

Tom

So, what are you saying about the SCS225's, that they're junk now?  They were good in 2005 but now they're not even though they are the same thing?

[WRB]

36 minutes ago, Jeff H said:

So, what are you saying about the SCS225's, that they're junk now?  They were good in 2005 but now they're not even though they are the same thing?

The SC225 is 30 year old technology but still one of the best wet cell designs around. For the same price today you can get a top quality AGM.

Tom

[Cgolf]

13 hours ago, cgolf said:

 

Menards has an Exide with a CC of 550, MC of 675, RC of 182 at 25 amps 81.67

 

an interstate store has a 27m with a CC of 600 MC of 750 RC of 160 no idea on price yet or availability, but specs are close to my current batteries. 

 

Any thoughts on the above?

 

thanks

 

Alright since I don't know jack about batteries, The interstates would be 250 for the 2 of them and the Exide would be 170 for the 2 of them. Would the interstates be worth 70 bucks more than the Exides?

 

It would feel weird though to buy a boat battery from menards lol

 

[Way2slow]

The main numbers in all those specs is the RC number.   The higher the RC number, the more run time you will get out of it.  Just try to make sure both are rated the same.  The standard load for rating is 25 amps, but some use 23 amps and I've seen a coupe that used 20 amps.   CCA/MCA mean nothing to a trolling motor.

Now, that has nothing to do with the quality of the battery, only that a new battery should be able to produce those numbers. 

 

[Cgolf]

8 minutes ago, Way2slow said:

The main numbers in all those specs is the RC number.   The higher the RC number, the more run time you will get out of it.  Just try to make sure both are rated the same.  The standard load for rating is 25 amps, but some use 23 amps and I've seen a coupe that used 20 amps.   CCA/MCA mean nothing to a trolling motor.

Now, that has nothing to do with the quality of the battery, only that a new battery should be able to produce those numbers. 

 

 

Actually that makes it easy, the cheaper Exide has a higher reserve capacity as long as their website is correct. Since both stores are close, I can bail on menards if the website mistyped the spec. Thanks I did find the exide battery on other sites for a price that matches the interstate, so maybe menards is just passing a bulk buy price on to us which is sweet.

[Al Wolbach]

47 minutes ago, cgolf said:

 

Actually that makes it easy, the cheaper Exide has a higher reserve capacity as long as their website is correct. Since both stores are close, I can bail on menards if the website mistyped the spec. Thanks I did find the exide battery on other sites for a price that matches the interstate, so maybe menards is just passing a bulk buy price on to us which is sweet.

I bought a group 27 interstate at Costco about a month ago for one of my boats for just over $100. Can't remember exact

price and their website is no help. You may want to check there before you pull the trigger.

[Cgolf]

Hoping I am at the end of the battery saga. The Exide 27s did not fit as they were just to tall and the posts were spaced different from my previous batteries. Some how I got one in and the second no go. Took four hours to get the right angle to get the first one out. The downsides of a narrow beamed 16 foot boat. 

 

Picked up a pair of 24s that still have a reserve capacity of 140 which is better than many 27s I was looking at. These better work or is quit lol. 

 

The onboard battery chargers don't care about the battery size do they? Couldn't imagine why they would. 

 

Thanks again