Stock Start Battery on last leg - Replacements?

[Farny]

Well looks like my stock DEKA marine starter battery is on its last leg. Will look to replace it this season. I have an AGM Deep cycle XS power for my house/sound system. Any thoughts on replacement for the start battery? I am assuming another AGM with maybe high cca?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Well looks like my stock interstate marine starter battery is on its last leg. Will look to replace it this season. I have an AGM Deep cycle XS power for my house/sound system. Any thoughts on replacement for the start battery? I am assuming another AGM with maybe high cca?

I have the interstate AGM group 24 dual purpose battery for my starter battery. Only have one season on it but so far it has worked flawlessly. I was at a fishing tournament last April with overnight temps in the teens, day 1 saw the biggest blizzard of the year with highs in the high 20’s. Day 2 was very cold and windy, the engines started up quickly.

When I pulled up this battery on their website I was surprised to see no cca rating but a ca of 940. ??‍ I did not see the lack of a cca rating when I bought these batteries.

24M-AGM-A battery | Interstate Batteries

www.interstatebatteries.com

Here’s Interstates dedicated Marine starting battery, 1 year warranty.

24M-XHD battery | Interstate Batteries

www.interstatebatteries.com

I’ve also had very good e experiences with Autozones Duralast batteries in my trucks. Here’s their marine dual purpose 1 year warranty.

https://www.autozone.com/batteries-starting-and-charging/battery/p/duralast-agm-24m-agm-group-size-24-dual-purpose-deep-cycle-marine-and-rv-battery-710-cca/1006723_0_0

I see you have a NOCO 5x2 battery charger…. I assume that you have that charger set up with the correct charging profile for the flooded and AGM batteries?

I went with an AGM start battery for two reasons, 1-to remove any possible battery acid / gassing issue, 2-to keep the same charge profile on my two bank MinnKota PC MK 220 charger for charging my LiFePO4 house battery and the start battery. I later learned from my research that flooded lead acid batteries are superior as starting batteries. If I was to do it over I can’t say for sure I’d go with the AGM start / deep cycle battery or not, but it has performed flawlessly so far.

 

[Seadeals]

The engines don’t take a much juice to crank. I have used two deep cycles for years with flawless performance and good battery life.

 

[Farny]

I see you have a NOCO 5x2 battery charger…. I assume that you have that charger set up with the correct charging profile for the flooded and AGM batteries?

yes one bank set AGM, one for flooded. Didn’t realize only a 1 year warranty on those stock batteries! ??. The start battery has lasted almost 3 years now in Texas heat, so my guess is the maintainer has worked well. It still starts the boat,but can tell it’s getting weaker, and voltage drops quickly when noton the charger.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

yes one bank set AGM, one for flooded. Didn’t realize only a 1 year warranty on those stock batteries! ??. The start battery has lasted almost 3 years now in Texas heat, so my guess is the maintainer has worked well. It still starts the boat,but can tell it’s getting weaker, and voltage drops quickly when noton the charger.

I do not mean to crumb on your charger, imho 5 amps of charging power is not enough to maintain a flooded lead acid battery properly. Typically manufacturers recommend 10-13% of the C20 (Ah rating at 20 A) rating of the battery for charging flooded acid batteries which in the case of the start battery is probably around 70Ah so 7 amps minimum. Having said that, get a hydrometer and check each cells specific gravity, all the cells should be closely matched, and check that the specific gravity is where it should be, my guess at this point is that the cells are not closely matched and the overall specific gravity is low. The other thing that happens with flooded acid batteries is electrolyte stratification.

Part of regular maintenance on a flooded acid batteries to maintain their peak performance is an equalizing charge, the equalizing charge is a higher voltage charge that will remove sulphate from the plates as well as stirring the electrolyte. Does the NOCO charger have a manual equalizing charge you can initiate? You will need to lift the ground wire for the DVSR to make the equalizing charge work properly. If it does not have an equalizing charge function, take the battery out and either have it charged or get a manual charger where you can push 10 A on the battery until the specific gravity is where it should be, and that the specific gravity amongst the cells is closely matched. You can probably get another a lot more service life out of that battery. When I was still running flooded lead acid batteries I ran an equalizing charge monthly during the season.

Do not perform an equalizing charge on AGM batteries.

Also, your AGM battery can probably be charged at 25 A as long as voltage does not exceed 14.4 VDC.

 

[biffdotorg]

The engines don’t take a much juice to crank. I have used two deep cycles for years with flawless performance and good battery life.

I was looking at my pair from my boat lift (Group 27 Duracell Deep cycle from Sams) last night and noticed the 2018 date on them! HA. I may be due to replace those. I bought two new ones for the lift and two new ones for the boat that spring. I just replaced the two in the boat. They go through way more charging cycles than the lift.

Sams has the non AGM for $99 but many times have a $20 off sale in the spring. Although Costco has the same Group 27 Interstate for $89 each on a daily basis. Ic annot complain about that life or performance at all. an onboard charger sure has helped maintain them and add life.

 

[212s]

Well looks like my stock interstate marine starter battery is on its last leg. Will look to replace it this season. I have an AGM Deep cycle XS power for my house/sound system. Any thoughts on replacement for the start battery? I am assuming another AGM with maybe high cca?

First question is why - why is your 3 year old starter battery shot?

If properly maintained with a smart charger, a starter battery should last 8-10 years easily because it's not under any serious stress, all it does it start the engines and then gets re-charged. If it's left sitting for weeks or months at a time without a charger, then it'll sulfate and weaken in a few years. I have a 2020 too and both my start and house batteries are doing great because they're on a Noco charger every week and all winter long. The original battery in our SUV will be 10 years old this July and it's still going strong because it's driven daily to keep it fully charged. It's a myth that flooded batteries only last a few years - if they're abused, then yeah they're done in a few years. But when properly maintained, they should last 10+ years unless they're defective. Our previous vehicle had an 8 year old battery and was still in great shape when we sold it. Regular charging and maintenance is key.

 

[Farny]

First question is why - why is your 3 year old starter battery shot?

If properly maintained with a smart charger, a starter battery should last 8-10 years easily because it's not under any serious stress, all it does it start the engines and then gets re-charged. If it's left sitting for weeks or months at a time without a charger, then it'll sulfate and weaken in a few years. I have a 2020 too and both my start and house batteries are doing great because they're on a Noco charger every week and all winter long. The original battery in our SUV will be 10 years old this July and it's still going strong because it's driven daily to keep it fully charged. It's a myth that flooded batteries only last a few years - if they're abused, then yeah they're done in a few years. But when properly maintained, they should last 10+ years unless they're defective. Our previous vehicle had an 8 year old battery and was still in great shape when we sold it. Regular charging and maintenance is key.

Good question… dealer told me it was going bad, 1 yr warranty & was at low voltage after sitting 3 days.. it has been on a NOCO genius onboard charger and maintainer for last 2 years. The charger doesn’t indicate a problem, think the dealer was just pulling me to get a new one from them? Do you recommend a testing method?

 

[AZMark]

The heat is super hard on batteries, especially if you’re parking in the sun. I would never expect to get 8 years from one here.

I’ve bought several of the autozone AGM batteries and they have lasted very well in vehicles. I have 2 in my boat like @FSH 210 Sport linked to, but they’re only a few months old now.
There might be better options out there but I’ve never replaced a battery before it dies and I can always get those locally and at a decent price for an AGM.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Good question… dealer told me it was going bad, 1 yr warranty & was at low voltage after sitting 3 days.. it has been on a NOCO genius onboard charger and maintainer for last 2 years. The charger doesn’t indicate a problem, think the dealer was just pulling me to get a new one from them? Do you recommend a testing method?

As I mentioned above get a hydrometer like this:

Amazon.com

I bought one just like this at my local ACE hardware store.

Here is a testing procedure:

Equalization charging:

Here is a screen shot of your owners manual. To use the repair mode you have to let the battery charge completely first until it enters stand by mode. Then you press and hold the repair button.



Before any testing using a voltage meter or a hydrometer let the battery sit disconnected for 24 hours. Remove any conductive jewelry, wear safety glasses, nitrile gloves (when testing the electrolyte) and an old cotton long sleeve shirt take readings of both voltage and hydrometer readings and temperature compensate the hydrometer readings from the chart in the first video, and write them down. Before you begin, make sure the plates in the battery are covered with electrolyte, do not add water to a battery before charging unless the plates are not covered.

Anytime you are making or breaking connections on a battery or using conductive tools on a battery wear safety glasses leather gloves and a long sleeve cotton shirt. The incident energy from a battery is tremendously dangerous! An arc flash in open air is 32,000°F, you read that correctly thirty two thousand degrees Fahrenheit, in a confined space that arc flash can climb to 65,000°F. At 32,000° F any material on this planet instantly turns to plasma at those temperatures. I’ve seen tools that were reduced to fraction of what they once were in an instant as most of the material was literally vaporized. If your bare skin is exposed to those temps there will be instant third degree burns. Keep in mind this all happens faster than your mind can comprehend. The leather gloves will keep your burns to second degree at the worst, gloves made of a synthetic material will melt into your skin, the safety glasses will save your eyes, and the cotton shirt will save your skin, and like the gloves, synthetic materials will melt into your skin. Don’t mean to sound “extra”, I worked in the electrical field for over 30 years and saw horrors I wish I could forget.

Put your NOCO charger on the battery and let it complete a charging cycle, once the charger reaches stand by push and hold the repair button for three seconds and let it complete the repair cycle. Once finished, remove the charger and let the battery sit for three hours disconnected then re take your voltage and hydrometer readings. Hopefully you will see improvement.

This might seem like a bit of a pain, but it’s about 15-30 mins worth of effort to save yourself at least $150, so at best you are making $300 a hour .. if this procedure brings your battery back up to snuff, then you just saved yourself some dough, restored your battery to peak performance, and reduced some waste.

When talking about flooded deep cycle batteries, if people performed a manual equalization charge monthly they would find their lead acid batteries performed so much better than just letting the charger do it’s thing automatically.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

The heat is super hard on batteries, especially if you’re parking in the sun. I would never expect to get 8 years from one here.

I’ve bought several of the autozone AGM batteries and they have lasted very well in vehicles. I have 2 in my boat like @FSH 210 Sport linked to, but they’re only a few months old now.
There might be better options out there but I’ve never replaced a battery before it dies and I can always get those locally and at a decent price for an AGM.

Totally agree. Extreme heat will cause early death to batteries, of all chemistries. I’ve heard about batteries dying early deaths in the desert southwest. I’m pretty regimented about battery maintenance, and I’ve had my vehicle batteries die off in three years on a vehicle that was driven everyday when I lived in an area where the summers were long and relatively hot. I think colder climates are much easier on batteries.

 

[Farny]

As I mentioned above get a hydrometer like this:

Amazon.com

I bought one just like this at my local ACE hardware store.

Here is a testing procedure:

Equalization charging:

Here is a screen shot of your owners manual. To use the repair mode you have to let the battery charge completely first until it enters stand by mode. Then you press and hold the repair button.

View attachment 195986

Before any testing using a voltage meter or a hydrometer let the battery sit disconnected for 24 hours. Remove any conductive jewelry, wear safety glasses, nitrile gloves (when testing the electrolyte) and an old cotton long sleeve shirt take readings of both voltage and hydrometer readings and temperature compensate the hydrometer readings from the chart in the first video, and write them down. Before you begin, make sure the plates in the battery are covered with electrolyte, do not add water to a battery before charging unless the plates are not covered.

Anytime you are making or breaking connections on a battery or using conductive tools on a battery wear safety glasses leather gloves and a long sleeve cotton shirt. The incident energy from a battery is tremendously dangerous! An arc flash in open air is 32,000°F, you read that correctly thirty two thousand degrees Fahrenheit, in a confined space that arc flash can climb to 65,000°F. At 32,000° F any material on this planet instantly turns to plasma at those temperatures. I’ve seen tools that were reduced to fraction of what they once were in an instant as most of the material was literally vaporized. If your bare skin is exposed to those temps there will be instant third degree burns. Keep in mind this all happens faster than your mind can comprehend. The leather gloves will keep your burns to second degree at the worst, gloves made of a synthetic material will melt into your skin, the safety glasses will save your eyes, and the cotton shirt will save your skin, and like the gloves, synthetic materials will melt into your skin. Don’t mean to sound “extra”, I worked in the electrical field for over 30 years and saw horrors I wish I could forget.

Put your NOCO charger on the battery and let it complete a charging cycle, once the charger reaches stand by push and hold the repair button for three seconds and let it complete the repair cycle. Once finished, remove the charger and let the battery sit for three hours disconnected then re take your voltage and hydrometer readings. Hopefully you will see improvement.

This might seem like a bit of a pain, but it’s about 15-30 mins worth of effort to save yourself at least $150, so at best you are making $300 a hour .. if this procedure brings your battery back up to snuff, then you just saved yourself some dough, restored your battery to peak performance, and reduced some waste.

When talking about flooded deep cycle batteries, if people performed a manual equalization charge monthly they would find their lead acid batteries performed so much better than just letting the charger do it’s thing automatically.

So I went to check it out - not sure why I was thinking it was an interstate- I actually have this battery- maintenance free..so a hydrometer is out. Guessing I can’t run a repair cycle on a maintenance free battery?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Depends, is it flooded or not? If its flooded I would think you can. I just sent an email to Deka manufacturing, the folks who make that battery, to see if it is recommended or not. I want to know too.

I’ve never liked the maint free flooded acid batteries.. to me that makes them like a disposable lighter. I have been around a lot of lead acid batteries in my life. It used to be that the primary way to charge them was by a shop charger, set at a fixed amperage and they would let them charge and boil until the hydrometer readings were correct. Charging by watching the specific gravity is the best way to properly charge a FLA battery, not the most convenient, but the best.

By the way those are excellent batteries! Made in The USA, in Pennsylvania I think. If you have to replace the battery then I’d get one of those,, can’t believe I forgot about them. I have three of the group 27‘s that I was using for my trolling motor batteries and are still on my shop floor. I‘m going to eventually do a post on proper charging of FLA batteries when I get a chance.

 

[Farny]

Depends, is it flooded or not? If its flooded I would think you can. I just sent an email to Deka manufacturing, the folks who make that battery, to see if it is recommended or not. I want to know too.

I’ve never liked the maint free flooded acid batteries.. to me that makes them like a disposable lighter. I have been around a lot of lead acid batteries in my life. It used to be that the primary way to charge them was by a shop charger, set at a fixed amperage and they would let them charge and boil until the hydrometer readings were correct. Charging by watching the specific gravity is the best way to properly charge a FLA battery, not the most convenient, but the best.

By the way those are excellent batteries! Made in The USA, in Pennsylvania I think. If you have to replace the battery then I’d get one of those,, can’t believe I forgot about them. I have three of the group 27‘s that I was using for my trolling motor batteries and are still on my shop floor. I‘m going to eventually do a post on proper charging of FLA batteries when I get a chance.

Thanks - let me know what you find out. Since I got the boat - that battery has never read over 12.1 on the connext screen, except when running the engine. It always drops below 12 after a short time. I have always chalked it up to the voltmeter in the connect screen.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Thanks - let me know what you find out. Since I got the boat - that battery has never read over 12.1 on the connext screen, except when running the engine. It always drops below 12 after a short time. I have always chalked it up to the voltmeter in the connect screen.

Alright l, heard back from Deka. What the rep said yes you can run the equalizing charge on the battery but be sure to do it outside in case it gasses a lot.

You mentioned earlier that your connext screen reads 12.1V. It has been my experience thus far that the screen reads .4 volts low. Suggestion check your battery with a good multi meter to check the veracity of your connext.

 

[Farny]

Alright l, heard back from Deka. What the rep said yes you can run the equalizing charge on the battery but be sure to do it outside in case it gasses a lot.

You mentioned earlier that your connext screen reads 12.1V. It has been my experience thus far that the screen reads .4 volts low. Suggestion check your battery with a good multi meter to check the veracity of your connext.

Thank you for your research and post - that’s good to know about the equalizing. I may try that

 

[Dixemon]

Ill never own another flooded wet acid battery for a boat. They are too fragile, corrode everything in the compartment and maintaining them in tight spaces sucks. My .02c

 

[Farny]

Thank you for your research and post - that’s good to know about the equalizing. I may try that

Alright l, heard back from Deka. What the rep said yes you can run the equalizing charge on the battery but be sure to do it outside in case it gasses a lot.

You mentioned earlier that your connext screen reads 12.1V. It has been my experience thus far that the screen reads .4 volts low. Suggestion check your battery with a good multi meter to check the veracity of your connext.

With good multi meter 12.9 on the XS power AGM and 12.1 on the Deca flood acid. Thoughts? @FSH 210 Sport that is at full charge from the onboard genius

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

With good multi meter 12.9 on the XS power AGM and 12.1 on the Deca flood acid. Thoughts? @FSH 210 Sport that is at full charge from the onboard genius

Its junk, don’t waste anymore time on it.

@Dixemon has a point about lead acid batteries causing corrosion with a maintenance type of FLA. The best way to avoid that with maintenance type flooded lead acid batteries is to not over water them. I learned this the hard way over the years, long story short, the electrolyte should be about 1/8th of an inch below the watering well bottom. For years I thought it should just touch the bottom to make a bit of a concave surface on the electrolyte but I was wrong.

So you can either get another one of the batteries you have now, a flooded maintainable type, or an AGM type. I had zero issues with my maintainable FLA battery that came with my boat, it never had any corrosion problems and always worked good. I put an AGM battery in when I was doing my LiFePO4 battery upgrade and it has worked flawlessly for the one year I had it in there. For my set up, I think the AGM battery works well since AGM batteries have a higher resting voltage. Since you have an AGM house battery, If it was me in your place I’d probably just get a marine AGM dual purpose start / deep cycle battery. With an AGM start battery and it’s higher resting voltage your blue sea acr will close sooner after your engine starts and start charging your house battery. I don’t know for certain what the close voltage is on your ACR but I’m going to assume it’s right around 13.2 volts. Depending on what the drop out voltage is on the ACR 12.7?, you could get some light cycling on the start battery as it will be paralleled with the house battery a bit longer than if it was just a FLA battery and its lower voltage.