Tis A Battery Year

[Midnightsun]

I never like to get caught with my pants down so I swap all batteries every 5th season. Trying these Cummins batteries this time around. 4x group 31, 1000 CCA for starting and thrusters and a 925CCA for the generator. Have 2 L16's on order for the house bank for a total of 430AH @ 20hr rate. Around $1700 boat bucks for all 7.

[vtcats]

Any particular reason you chose Cummins?
My engine starters are Interstate 8D’s. I’m not particularly impressed with them and from what I see on Cummins site, they have more (of everything, CCA, CA, and RC), for $40-50 less. Just one issue...can only pick up in store and there is nothing remotely close to VT.
Montreal is much closer.
I don’t need any for hopefully another 3-4 years, but am a always interested in future options. Plus interstate reputation around here the last few years is NOT good.

[pepmyster]

I have, for the life of me, never seen you with you pants down. Just saying.

[Midnightsun]

I had a hard time finding 1000 CCA group 31 which is what my Volvo Diesels require and came with the boat. Cummins as you know is a very large diesel company and I assume their batteries are top notch and perfectly suited for diesel starting. No way could I find anything with those specs at those prices. Plus they offer a 24 month free replacement warranty. I actually drive by their Point Claire warehouse on the way to the boat so that was rather convenient.

The 925CCA battery set me back $95 and these are Canadian $. The 1000CCA units were $120 which includes the core charge I got for the old ones. Dirt cheap. A trip to Montreal with the exchange rate you get may well be worth the effort come the time if you need a few of them. https://shopcummins.ca/pages/search-res ... ng+battery

[Viper]

Wonder who makes their batteries. Their pricing seems a little worrisome to me. I mean a group 31 for less than $100!!! Even the 8D pricing is surprising. Don't get me wrong, low cost batteries are common, the question is how good are they? I replace cheap batteries all the time so I thought I'd chime in on that. Will be curious to see how long they last but at that price, even if they last only 3 years you're laughing.

[Midnightsun]

Batteries supplied to Cummins by MagnaCharge who also deal with Trojan, Odyssey, Magnavolt and MagnaSport. Still not sure who exactly manufactures them though. Excellent reputation on all of those. http://www.magnacharge.com

[vtcats]

I agree regarding worth a trip. Hopefully by then, the border and the rest of the world is open for business.
Pricing and specs on the 8D’s look excellent. Actually there are a few people at are marina who live near there as well I believe. I’m sure I could work something out. Please post any updates on their performance/longevity in the future.

[Tireless]

I have a friend that owns a solar company and he sells a lithium battery for the house. You can get a 3Kw and a 6 Kw. Lithium batteries. The 3Kw have 240 A.H. and the 6 Kw are 480 A.H. at 20 hrs. They don't take up the foot print that conventional batteries would. They are pricey however, they charge faster and last longer.

Some folks are nervous of Lithium batteries, however, these have built in safety features should some thing so wrong.

I currently have a 4D AGM for a house that came with the boat. If it goes, I plan on going to (4) 6 Volt, deep cycle golf cart batteries. I am also considering going to solar panels on my fly bridge hard top. 4 Panels will give out 110 watts each for a total of 440 watts that will generate 35 - 40 amps of charging power for the house. You really don't need the generator unless you are cooking are cooling the boat down in the evening.

My current starters are Fleet Manager Commercial Batteries, Group 31's, and they have 1375 Cracking Amp. Never had an issue with them.

Lots of options out there.

Greg

[tomschauer]

The newer lithium batteries seem to be very good. However, a good one with the built in protection and roughly equivalent power to a good group 31 is about $900.00 US. so they would need to last at least 20 years for payback.
There may be other advantages for those who use a lot of house battery power when on the hook, but that's still a lot of $.

[pepmyster]

Hans, your batteries are probably made by Eastpenn. I talked to the rep once at our dealership, and he stated that they are the largest manufacture of batteries in North America. They produce all the batteries for all the car brands and Canadian Tire ,Walmarts.........