www.iFourWinns.com

I had one battery crap out on me a few weeks ago. It's barely holding a charge for very long. So I figured on replacing it with an AGM optima. Now it looks like the other battery is having trouble too. What fun. So I'm just going to replace all three of them. Mainly because, apparently, it's a bad idea to mix AGM with lead acid batteries. The onboard charger can do lead acid, agm and gel but only as single setting for all three of the banks. Not per-bank. Grrrr. So I'd either have to return the Optima, change the charger setup (by adding another) or get all three as AGMs.

Today was the last day for the $25 off rebate on them and Amazon ship's em for free. At 60# each that's a pretty good deal, and no core charge hit.

Ah, the joys of boat maintenance.... another $600 into this hole in the water we call a boat.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I spoke with Optima tech support and they said the charging characteristics of the battery charger that comes on the Vista's is sufficient that you can use a bank of Optima's along with a bank(s) of normal, lead acid.

However, your best performance would obviously be to change them all out.

I decided not to - and for less than the price of 1 Optima, I picked up 2 group 29's at Walmart, a battery tray, screws, and battery cables to run a dual setup on my house bank. I figured I would try that before dropping 600+.

So far, it's 90+% of what I was hoping for... it's just getting that last 10% required spending 300% of what I spent.

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

As I've said, they have served me well this season, although four months is hardly enough time to fully judge. You may want to replace your trays as the footprint is probably smaller than the batteries you have. The Group 31 Optimas fit a group 27 tray. I shimmed my Group 31 trays for the existing batteries I replaced but for the one I added the tech used the Seachoice 22041 ($6) which works perfectly.

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Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Yes, now I know the batteries aren't the same size. Cripes, what's the point of being a type 31 if it's not the same size as others? Grrrr. I'll shim them and add a second strap. Don't want 60# of battery popping loose, especially not near the seacock.

Interesting to note the mixing comment. I wonder what setting should be used on the charger? AGM or lead acid? Eh, not like it'll matter much once the other two optima batteries get here. Yeah, I could've gone the cheaper route with lead acids but I've had decent luck with AGM batteries in vehicles. But no bargain is worth EVER buying from Walmart. It'll be a cold day in Hell before I give those rat bastards ANY of my money. No savings is worth the wreckage they've caused in the manufacturing and retail sectors. Make a note, don't mention Walmart to Bill. EVER.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Just something to note about the Optima battery (and this probably applies to the Excide Spiral Cell as well) as they are discharged the internal resistance shoots through the roof, if you discharge them far enough, they can smoke alternators in the process of recharging.

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Brett DiMichele

Note taken.

Optima said if you mix AGM and Lead Acid, to use the Lead Acid charging profile. Because our chargers are 'intelligent' chargers - thats why they work. Per bank, they'll kick down the charging voltage to maintain rather than overcharge.

Bill - did you go with all SC-31's? You are using one for each motor and going to a single house battery? What about the GC batteries you had wired up?

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

Good to know. The starting batteries never get drained far enough to be much of a risk. If they did it'd be due to a bilge pump running amok or something and that'd likely only happen when also on shore power. So it's not like I'd risking the alternators. But never say never, I'll keep it in mind.

I'm going with the 31's for the factory 3 batteries and leaving the GCs in place. They're not acting up. But since the two starting batteries crapped out, and they're the same vintage and type as the ship system then it seems a reasonable preventative measure to just swap them all out at once. Last thing I need is dealing with one battery after another failing. I'd rather take the hit now, all at once, rather than one after the other. Granted, nothing says the brand new ones won't crap out prematurely either. I'll keep the 'not broken' D31 for a while just in case.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Well I'm thrilled with the performance of my dual sc31's. The add'l one fit like a glove in the 338.. hell I could have put 6 more in with all of the room there is. I'll post pics in the 338 thread when I can get them off of my phone. Pretty damn sweet that I can now run my UW lights without the genset, before there wasn't enough juice to kick over the ballasts. I showered, kept the chart up with the sirius doppler on and lights & music (w/ sub pounding, thanks Coug!!) and overslept after get checking out the tiki bar at solomons island - and didn't have to wake up to the damn CO detectors LV alarms! This is the way it should have been from the factory but it seems standard with other mfg's too, to only have 1 house battery.

Bill - thought I saw you about a mile north of the bay bridge on sunday afternoon but as I got closer it was a 288 or 278. Pretty good chop kicked up and he was really bouncing, with following seas. I was taking them at about 30 degrees and didn't get a drop of spray. I would have been drenched in the 248. I really love this boat!! Not even a drop of spray during the 8 hr run.

Also, I didn't have any shims available so I put that anti slip matting under the batteries and it seems to have worked well. There's nothing that indicates the batteries moved around at all. I'm going to most likely still add some shims anyway when I get a chance.

It wasn't us, this past weekend the wife was up in Buffalo with our boy visiting her parents. I had three days all by myself. Peace and quiet and a chance to catch up on various stuff around the house. We'll be back on the boat this coming weekend.

I'm thinking about putting a bracket for the outboard engine into the step area of the starboard transom. The inside of the step is a bit curved so I'll have to make some sort of filler panel. I'm thinking of using some Starboard for the job. If I do then I'll probably have a little left over to use as shims. Otherwise I'll do what I did for the GC batteries and use some outdoor PVC molding from the Home Depot as shim material. The base frame for the GC batteries has worked fine. I have no desire to use wood anywhere it's not absolutely necessary. I'll pay the extra it might cost to not have to deal with rot. Meanwhile though some non-skid fabric is a fine idea.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista