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jalichty's avatar
jalichty
Explorer
Apr 07, 2020

Batteries needed

I am probably reaching the end of the life of the batteries in my FW and boat. I currently have 2 size 24 dual purpose batteries in my FW and I have noticed the useful charge in them has diminished quite a bit. They are over 7 years old. Boat batteries are over 10 years old. Would love to go with lithium, but way too expensive so I'm looking at AGMs. Have been told by a dealer that my Jayco HT 26.5 RLS's convertor will handle this type of battery and I am looking mostly at full deep cycle ones. I would appreciate comments as I am not experienced with AGMs in the least.

As far as the boat, I'm thinking a dual purpose one would work great for the starting battery and perhaps just deep cycle for the electric trolling motor.

Again, any comments would be greatly appreciated.
  • I note in the Bass Pro Shops catalog that they have AGM deep cycle available$$$$$ yes, although they have a picture of a lake on them, they appear to be "true" deep cycle.

    bumpy
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Flooded wet cells are around a 2 bucks a watt hour
    Lithium about kilobuck a watt hour..... So no I'd not go with Litihum (Someone posted a "Sale price" a couple days ago.. After I changed undies from looking at the price I calced the cost of my Deka G-20s)

    Now.. there are many considerations.> Weight (Li's are light)is a biggie. Height in what I'm about to say.

    your G-24s are about 75 amp hours each and you have about a 20-25% usage limit so 150/4 or 37 amp hours (I truncated) is all you can use

    GC-2's run around 220 amp hours give or take a bit (My G-20 Dekas are 230) and you can use HALF.. when you put two 6 Volt in SERIES you add volts. not amp hours so you are left with 110 amp hours or about 3 times the power of your G-24s

    The GC-2 class is taller but about the same footprint and pricem, as the Group 24 so if you have the head room Give 'em a try

    L-16.. Taller still about 450 amp horus and again a TRUE DEEP CYCLE you can use half..

    Now I mentioned weight.. For all of the batteries I mentioned except LI.

    Watts/Pounds = Constant

    That is when you go from 150 amp hours of G-24 to 220 of GC-2 you gain weight. Go from GC-2 to L-16 it doubles.
  • Here is more about amps vs thrust. It also depends on whether using 12 or 24 volts, eg. Scroll to figure 1 table. Also some more in "How much power do I need?"

    This is related to running the trolling motor from a converter from a generator, but the amps vs thrust thing is still valid. With a battery you have to arrange enough discharge time at the needed amps and the right type of battery for doing that.

    https://powermaxconverters.com/bowfishing-gear/
  • # 1 don,t trust what the dealer says. better check this out. I know two guys who have used duracell agm in there boats and only lived one year. check out a google review on them.
  • “Have been told by a dealer that my Jayco HT 26.5 RLS's convertor will handle this type of battery”

    Verify this by reading the convertor’s manual and the proposed battery’s requirements.
  • ISTR something about boat batteries where you need certain amps draw for pounds of thrust for trolling. That determines whether a battery can do the job if it can do the amps for how long at how many amps.
    The boat starting battery is no good for that apparently. Not sure if it said you can use the trolling batt for starting. Perhaps you can find info in that from Google.
    EDIT
    Here is that article--scroll down to where he talks about trolling motors and lbs of thrust etc.

    https://www.deepcyclemarinebattery.com/reviews/upg-ub121000-deep-cycle-agm-battery.html
  • I had real good luck with AGM. No watering, they hold a charge for a very long time when sitting, and can be mounted on their sides if need be.

    Yes, they will cost you more, but like they say, you get what you pay for.

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