I am in the process of buying two Marine Batteries

Serra Moz

Sealiner
I am in the process of buying two Marine Batteries, due to the nature of work my boat will be parked for +/- 5 weeks at the time (3 weeks operational - 5 weeks parked).

I intend taking good care of this batteries and want them to last as long as possible. (Unlike in the past:fbash      ....lol)  I have read various pointers on charging/stowing/caring and general tips on preserving your batteries.

In the past I have used a "normal" charger, not an el cheapo, but without the functions I believe is required for my application. Normal conventional car/camping cut off charger.

I will be running 2 x Radios (vhf + 29mhz switched off) mainly or only using VHF when at sea - 29mhz only for inter ship chatter - not a Moz requirement - but keeping it to chat to SA boats in Moz, 1 x Fish Finder, 1 x GPS/Fish Finder, 1 x GPS, elect start x 2 30hps Yama, Normal Nav lights (never or seldom used/required) + live well pump (have at home, might add)

Below - batteries + charger available from Deltec Power Distributors in Pinetown - still deciding on which battery x 2....

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The BD-54-105N which is a 105A/H    at R1240.00 +VAT
> The US-27DCXC which is a 105A/H  at R1872.00 +VAT
> The BV-LFD75     which is a 75A/H   at R1507.00 +VAT

Herewith charger's details:

 CTEK MXS 7.0 at R1306.00+Vat

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I require input or a rating on the best selection of batteries and charger in question. Any tips on taking care of batteries when I am not at home will be appreciated as I will have to explain and make an instruction chart to one of my workers back home - to take care fo batteries.

 

Now your answers and input please!

Tnx
 

Fishton

Sealiner
You really need to get hold of us here at FishTec for decent advice and prices as we sell both U.S Battery and CTEK.

We don't stock anything we don't actually use ourselves! :)
 

Fishton

Sealiner
Here is part of a recent review I did ...

In the past I used a constant load of around 5 Amps, but I was told that it is too low to really put the batteries to the test, so I got the load to around 8 to 9 Amps using a 1000w inverter, two fans and an outdoor floodlight.

U.S Battery and OPTIMA are without a doubt the best batteries available today, but unfortunately the OPTIMA is usually out of reach because it costs twice as much as the U.S Battery.

US270C:  105Ah  R1899.00
At the higher load I was surprised how well this battery performed by dropping to 11.4V only 25 minutes shorter than the much bigger and heavier 310C (130Ah).

us270xc.jpg


US310C:  130Ah       R2099.00
The higher load did not do this battery any favours, but its performance is still very impressive when compared to everything else we have had available to us to date in SA.

us310xc.jpg
 

Fishton

Sealiner
And as far as chargers go ....

No matter how good the charger is, even CTEK, if you don't use the right charger you will eventually destroy your batteries and you might as well have gone for an 'AutoZone special'.

The Golden Rule of Thumb is to try stick as close to 10% of the battery capacity when selecting the charge rate of a charger.

For example:

For a normal cranking battery of 75Ah you will be looking at the CTEK MXS 7 (7Amp)
R1999.00
mxs7.0a.jpg


And for a typical Deep Cycle battery of 105Ah, you would need the MXS 10 (10Amp)
R2399
media.nl


And for a 130Ah battery, the next available charger is the XS24000 (24Amp)
R3499.00
ctek-mxs-25-12v-8-stage-battery-charger-multi-xs25000--1624-p.jpg


And if you are running a 24V system with two 105 / 130Ah batteries in series, you will need the XT 14000 (14Amp)
R3499.00
C8610.jpg
 

Fishton

Sealiner
I just received your email, thanks.

Like I said in the mail - for your application you do not need extreme capacity batteries and chargers.

Any AutoZone Specials will serve you just fine. ;-)
 
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