Battery brands - Maxum Boat Owners Club

biggerseagar · 05-07-2012, 03:37 AM

Will folks I have been gainfully employed for the last 6 weeks. I work at an Interstate battery store. Your typical counter help. This will get me to retirement and I am thankful for that.

My question is what do you think of the Interstate battery brand? I have bought them before and had good luck. The dealer was a jerk. I think the manager said they have stores in all 50 states.

They have introduced a new line of marine deep cycle batteries called the 'Pro Series' , better warranty (18 month free replacement) but it is pricey.

What battery brand is in your boat?

Roger

Smithbrother · 05-07-2012, 11:43 AM

Hi Roger,
I have a Advanced Auto Parts Marine Battery. Guess it's their name brand. Not too pleased with them.

MCM · 05-07-2012, 01:28 PM

My mechanic (May Mobile Marine Tech) will only sell Interstate Batteries. No science behind it. He just says they have always been good batteries and that he has never had a problem with one he has sold, unlike some of his other brands he used to sell.

I told him I wanted a pair of Optima Blue Tops; he talked me out of it.

biggerseagar · 05-07-2012, 02:00 PM

I did the same to my son.The optima line unless you have something that rolls over is kind of a waste of $$.You can get twice as much CCA with the regular line of batteries for half the cost than agm's optima.

Roger

mcoffey · 05-07-2012, 09:28 PM

I run Interstate in everything I have, always have. I have heard they are not as good as they once were but in my opinion they are still the best around.

tjwieseler · 05-07-2012, 10:33 PM

Interstate Batteries for me. I tried Wally World once and will never go back. I had to replace the battery every year. Did it twice yanked it out, and replaced it with Interstate. Never had another problem

Someone told me that there were only two battery manufacturers in the US. Not sure if that is true or not. But all manufactures can build different grade of products and put someone else's name on it.

biggerseagar · 05-08-2012, 12:07 AM

Yes that is for the most part, Johnson Controls makes most of the batteries in the US.

Roger

CountryME · 05-08-2012, 12:08 AM

I have a Duralast battery and a no-name that came with the boat. Interstate has always been a good brand, just more expensive typically and harder to find a dealer around me. I also like the Auto zone warranty (3 years on some) and availability if I need to return.

Also, who makes interstate batteries? http://bestbatterytips.com/tags/who-...ate-batteries/

Best of luck in your "until retirement" job. Remember, sometimes those are the best ones and you keep it part time after you're officially retired.

-JP

Phillbo · 05-08-2012, 03:46 AM

Here's a secret.. COSTCO (at least in my area) carries Interstate Batts and the best part is , they don't test them when you return them. So, I consider them a maintenance item in my Diesel truck and boat and just return them just before the free replacement period expires.

CountryME · 05-08-2012, 11:54 AM

I wish we had COSTCO out here!

shrew · 05-08-2012, 01:57 PM

I use Lifeline AGM Deep Cycle Batteries. Very expensive, but I like what I've read about them.

biggerseagar · 05-08-2012, 01:59 PM

We will have a costco being built this summer. I wonder how that will work?

dronthelake · 05-09-2012, 11:44 PM

Over the years I have gone at least 4 years on a wet Die-Hard deep cycle batteries. In October 2010 I installed three Interstate group 29 wet batteries ($115 each) on the house side and one on the port engine & generator. I have no experience with Interstate but they have a large store 5 minutes from the house and stock deep cycle. Even though Sears is also 5 minutes from the house it always takes a day to get a Group 29 deep cycle. After a year and a half I have noticed that after being on the hook overnight (18 hours no genny or engines) that the voltage is typically around 11.2 volts. For the first 6 to 8 months the voltage would be around 11.8 the next morning. Time will tell.

biggerseagar · 05-10-2012, 03:00 AM

It is nice to hear some great stories about the brand. With the high price of any battery now-a-days you certainly want to get as much bang for your buck as you can!

Phillbo · 05-10-2012, 04:22 AM

Just bought a group 29 Interstate from COSTCO for 90.00. I'll be returning it in 35 months and 12 days

dronthelake · 05-24-2012, 12:00 AM

Spent last Friday and Saturday on the hook. Ran the genny about an hour Friday evening (7:00 - 8:00) to cook dinner. The rest of the night was powered by the 3 SRM 29 house batteries.

I run a 400 watt pure sine wave inverter to power the TIVO DVR and Blue Ray DVD. This inverter is in the back of the TV cabinet and nevers goes off. That way the TIVO and DVD never have to restart due to loss of power when switching power source (shore power / genny / inverter).

I feed the AC's A-Panel with a 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter. This powers the port receptacles which feed the 32" LCD TV, Verizon WiFi and laptop chargers.

I feed the AC's B-Panel with a 3000 watt modified sine wave inverter. This takes care of the starboard receptacles and the microwave.

Back to last weekend - We were done watching TV around 1:00 am Saturday morning (5 hours after running the genny) so I shut down both large inverters. The only things left on was the small inverter with the TIVO, the 3 mile (3) LED anchor light, (2) 12v iPhone chargers, (2) stereo memories, GPS (forgot it was on) and the fridge.

We slept in until 9:00 at which time I went up and checked the voltage on the GPS as it is tied to the house batteries. It was at 12.00v. I ran the genny for 2 hours to make coffee and juice the batteries back up to 12.6v. I shut it down at 11:00 and by 6:00 the voltage was down to 11.8. I did watch a little TV that afternoon and the stereo was on all day.

Saturday night was a repeat of Friday and when I got up Sunday morning the voltage was at 11.3v. By the time we left Sunday afternoon the voltage was at 11.1.

Today I picked up two more SRM 29 batteries to give me 5 house batteries. I know, everyone is going to ask why I didn't switch to golf cart or 8D batteries. I already had 3 good house batteries and it was cheaper just to buy 2 more.

I will post the results after this long weekend.

shrew · 05-25-2012, 04:10 PM

Look at the total amp hour capacity of the batteries, and look at the amp hour consumpotion over time. Look at how much you're pushing to the battery charger when the genny is running and how much the charger is actually pushing to the batteries. I would say that if you're running 3 inverters and have them running all the time, I suspect the inverters are still burning amp hours. I would try turning all the enverters off and compare the difference.

At the end of the day, you either increase capacity, decrease usage, or a combination of each.

GlennW · 05-26-2012, 11:59 PM

I'm running Exide Nautilus deep cycle, great price, cca's and reserve. I can't remember exact specs but I think they have about 800 cca's and will run a 10 amp draw for 12 -14 hrs +-.
I have 3 of these and a Blue Top optima hooked up and never worry. My calculations are I can run 15 amps for about 60 hrs without needing to worry much......although I have never tried.
they sell them at Academy Sports down here in Big D.

biggerseagar · 05-27-2012, 12:12 AM

An easy way to figure out your AH for your CCA battery is take the Reserve Cap times .6 to get your Amp Hour rating. Example if a your battery has a resrve cap of 120 X's .6 = 72 AH......

Roger

M & M · 05-30-2012, 04:29 AM

We have two Optima Blue Top deep cycle batteries that we use. They are pricey, but well worth it! We have had them for going on 4 years now, we use one of them for 8+ house every day, each day on the weekends blaring our stereo (that draws a lot of power) and at the end of the day, we can still turn the key and the boat starts. We have the second battery as a backup if needed. One thing I always say, there are two things not to skimp on.... Batteries and big fenders! LOL!