Quick Battery Question

[Birdanski]

My 2nd battery continues to give me some trouble going dead when listening to tunes and today it went dead after 30 min. Sooooo, Im just going to go buy two new batteries and be done with it. Is there a specific battery type that is better for amps/tunes that will last longer? Deep cycle, cranking? Im assuming with a good battery you should be able to listen to music most of the day without it going dead even with the AMPS? Figured I would check in with this forum first before running to buy two new batteries tomorrow

I hope everyone is having a great weekend on the water!

[Birdanski]

Sidenote, I am just running the stock premium sound system on the 2007 212....so its the two amps and six speakers

[AsLan7]

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We run a Trojan deep cycle for cranking tunes without engine power and a NAPA deep cycle/cranking battery for engine start.

[Birdanski]

THANK YOU so much for taking the time to respond. I have a Napa right down the street so I will go get those two. Right now there is just two cranking batteries in there, which I assume is my issue (along with them being old). So makes sense a deep cycle battery is the way to go with playing tunes!

[AsLan7]

Hey you’re welcome Bird. You’ll be good to go with those new batteries.

[Snowman8]

You my want to look into AGM batteries. When the two batteries tested low in my 2014 R5 I went to Napa, because its 4 miles away from my house and I know they sold the Interstate OEM batteries that my boat had in it and I was just going to buy the same. But when I got there they were running a special on Napa AGM batteries so I bought 2 of them for nearly the price of one Interstate. They also had a great warranty. I have been using them for 3 years now and most days we will sit at anchor for 5-6+ hours listening to the radio and I have never had to switch to battery #2 to start the boat.

[Birdanski]

Oh so awesome to know!! I will check out each tomorrow and see what the prices are, etc. I know I don't like worry about the battery dying because my kid boats a lot at night by himself....so I want to just get two good ones and have piece of mind. Thanks for suggestions both of you!

[xlint89]

What size battery are you running now?

The larger the better when it comes to reserve capacity.

Deep cycle is good for long, slow discharges like running the radio for hours. But they need to be topped off too. A short run back to land is not going to fully charge it up.

[bruceb58]

Size 31 Duracell AGM batteries from Sam's club are best for the price. They are made by Deka/East Penn. Napa has the Dekas as well but they are a little more expensive.

What is nice about the AGMs is that they has less self discharge than a typical flooded lead acid battery. I use them in both of my boats.

Just so everyone knows, an RV/Marine battery is not really a deep discharge battery even though it may say so on the side. They are a hybrid battery. The AGM RV/Marine are pretty close though but I would still try to not discharge them down below 12.0V which is their 50% discharge point very often.

[Mike in SC]

Something to consider - how is your electrical system set up to charge your batteries? Are you running a simple battery switch with Off-1-2-both? How do you make sure your "house" battery gets charged?
I have a group 24 cranking battery and a group 27 deep cycle, both Interstate.
After a stereo and battery upgrade I found that my amp would cut off and that my deep cycle battery was very low on voltage.
Although I'd used great cable and connections to power the amp (800 watt JL), I had neglected to provide a good common ground for the new deep cycle battery...so even though I was supposedly charging both batteries at once through my spiffy new ACR, the deep cycle battery wasn't getting charged, it was just hanging in there until I ran it down too far for the amp...
So...
You didn't say how old your batteries are, or what kind of switch you're using...
Buying two new batteries will certainly get you through the weekend and maybe the next one too.
But make sure both are getting charged when the engine is running, or mount an on-board charger and plug it in at the dock.
Good luck, have fun!

[jhnmdahl]

Just so everyone knows, an RV/Marine battery is not really a deep discharge battery even though it may say so on the side. They are a hybrid battery. The AGM RV/Marine are pretty close though but I would still try to not discharge them down below 12.0V which is their 50% discharge point very often.

I simply bought a hybrid battery at Costco (Interstate) as my second battery, and my first Interstate hybrid (the other battery of two now installed) is going strong after seven years of Minnesota winters.

[AsLan7]

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Remember if you decide on AGM batteries to be careful not to fully discharge them accidentally. You may not get them to take a charge again unless you have some backup means. That is their one major weakness.
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[bruceb58]

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Remember if you decide on AGM batteries to be careful not to fully discharge them accidentally. You may not get them to take a charge again unless you have some backup means. That is their one major weakness.

That's actually a problem with any battery with certain chargers. If the charger doesn't see at least 10V or so, it won't allow charging to start. An AGM is just a lead acid battery just like a flooded battery. It just has a different construction technique but the chemistry is identical. With many batteries and the charger I have, I always have to do the jump method on a severely discharged battery to get them to start charging and it doesn't matter if they are AGM or flooded. Thankfully, those occasions are rare and typically means, time to get a new battery when that happens.

The BlueSea ACRS also have that safety feature so that it doesn't allow the battery to connect if it sees one battery below a set voltage. In the case of BlueSea, that voltage is 9.5V.

Letting any lead acid battery be it flooded or AGM is incredibly bad for the battery. A lead acid battery is permanently damaged when they are allowed to go dead. Major sulfation occurs that coats the lead plates and you lose a LOT of capacity.