Battery

[plztellme]

Newbie here!!!! I purchased a 1990 Starcraft with a 50 horse ob. I installed a 1000 Amp battery. Will one battery be sufficeint? I'm not running any accessories, except for the bilge pump and fishfinder.

 

[Fed]

Re: Battery

One battery is fine & it looks like you've got a big one.
Sooner or later the battery will die & if it happens unexpectedly on the water you may be stuck unless can pull start your engine or you carry a powerpack.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Battery

just a FYI, but you are talking about cranking amps. 1000 amps has nothing to do with storage capacity. an average boat battery will be around 60 amp/hours, meaning it can supply 1 amp for 60 hours.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Battery

Once your boat has more than a finder and bilge, and it will, maybe look into a starting and a house battery.

I run 2 house bats and a starter now, I hate running out of power, my boat has a livewell pump in/out, recirculator pump. 160 watt stereo, lighted storage baysd and livewells, a 55 lb trolling motor ect ect so I need the extra power.

Some time when you are out check the voltage with the engine off then start the engine and run it up to a high idle and see if the voltage is higher, leave everything hooked up to do this, removing cables wiht engine running can cause damage.

This will tell you if it is charging or if you need to charge the battery your self.

 

[fucawi]

Re: Battery

60 AH means it can supply 1 A for 60 hrs

Not so SmokingCrater ....if its 60 AH at the 10 hr rate it can suppy 6A for 10 hrs and will then be 10.8v
The "RATE" is important can be 5 10 or 20 hrs so the same battery can have 3 different AH capacities....

So if its 60AH at the 20 hr rate it will in fact supply 1 A for approx 70 hrs because the slower you discharge it the more out get out of it .

Much better to use the reserve capacity when comparing batteries as the makers cannot fix that ....RC is how long it will supply 25A before dropping to 10.8v ......50 -80 min is typical