What type of battery?

[mherndon]

I have an 82' Galaxy with a 115hp Johnson. I have one battery for all of my electronics and I was gonna have one for my cranking battery. I kow nothing about batteries though. I know that I need a 12v marine but how many cranking amp/cold starting amps, depp cycle/non deep cycle... ect should it have? I don't really want to drop $300 on a battery. I was hoping for around $50.

Any thoughts?

 

[U.S.S. Too Tall]

Re: What type of battery?

I dont know how many cranking amps that you would need for that engine, but I do know that the more the better. You will want to get a marine battery, which I believe makes it deep cycle.
As for not spending that much on a battery, you let me know where your getting your battery for $50, cause I want a few!! I got a Interstate marine battery and it was $90 something easy. The Optmia Blue top(marine) that I want is $210. :facepalm:

Good luck friend!

 

[NYBo]

Re: What type of battery?

Any marine cranking battery will do the job as long as your motor, starter, and wiring are in good shape. But I would choose the largest you can fit into the battery compartment.

You will want to get a marine battery, which I believe makes it deep cycle.

Not true. There are marine deep cycle, cranking, and dual purpose batteries. Never seen any that were $50, though.

 

[am_dew]

Re: What type of battery?

I bought a dual purpose marine battery at Costo last August for $68 out the door. I understand they are made by JCI. It has served me very well.

700 MCA
550 CCA
85 Amp Hours

 

[bassman284]

Re: What type of battery?

Whew, deep breath here.

You need a marine cranking battery for the motor, deep cycle for the electronics. You said Galaxy so I'm assuming no trolling motor so unless you have the stereo from hell, you aren't going to need a giant deep cycle. A 115 Johnson is not really going to require a huge level of cold crankng amps (yes, I know I'll get beat up for that), and most marine cranking batteries will be adequate.

I have a Walmart Everstart starting battery for my 60hp Merc 4st that I bought in 2008 and is doing the job fine. My deep cycle is a Diehard, also bought in 2008 and doing fine. I would have bought a Walmart deep cycle but when I killed my old dc battery (batteries don't die, they are killed by their owners), the local Wally world had no deep cycles in stock.

I haven't priced batteries since 2008 so I'm not sure where they are right now. As near as I can remember, The Walmart battery was around 70 bucks and the Sears around 90. You most definitely do not need a $300 battery.

FWIW, most of the batteries out there, whatever brand, are made by JCI or Exide. They both know how to make batteries.

Just to add, when I bought my boat new, it had Interstate batteries, cranking and deep cycle. The cranking battery lasted 7 years. It was actually still starting the motor easily, but was only getting to 12.1 volts fully charged so I got paranoid and swapped it out. I killed the deep cycle 2 years in, long story.

 

[5oldjohnsons]

Re: What type of battery?

A 500 to 600 CCA (cold cranking amp) battery should do just fine, non deep cycle. Depending on how many accessories your running for how long determines your deep cycle battery. For the deep cycle batteries the only thing you need to worry about is amp hour rating (how long the battery can support a certain amperage draw). Almost all electronics have the max amp draw on the same sticker as all the fcc rules so it shouldn't be too tough to figure out what your highest draw on that battery could be.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: What type of battery?

Buy a green top Interstate battery and you will be fine wether cranking the motor or running everything off of it. Will cost more than $50 but there good batteries. No reason to try and buy a $200 battery that is no better than the $100.00 battery. Invest that extra $100.00 on a on board charger so you can keep your batteries fully charged and ready to go.