bad marine batteries

jon chapman

jon chapman

New member
I have had a run on bad batterys for my spray cart for over 18 months now that just doesnt seem to want to come to an end. I bought NAPA marine batteries for years. all of a sudden beginning in 2011, they started to crap out. sometimes 2-3 months, sometimes 1 month. I go to recharge them and get a "bad internal cell" warning. They finally said they werent going to exchange them anymore so I went to Sams club. The Duracell marine batteries seem to be no better and I need to exchange the 2nd one in 4 months.
Any one have similar problems?
Again this is on a spray cart so no charging system.
 
Do you know what your amp draw is?
sounds like your asking a little to much of those deep cycle batteries.
try finding one with a high cranking amp rate
and try not to draw them down past 12 volts, actually 12.5 before charging
 
I also have had problems with the newer type chargers.

I have an Interstate marine battery for my electric hose reel and it has been going strong for a couple years now at least, only charge it when it is low, maybe like once every 2 or 3 months more or less.

I have had problems with a lot of different battery brands out there so now I try to just stay with Interstate, those and the Sears DieHard were rated the best many years ago and I have never had problems with Interstate before. My Hotsy came with an Interstate battery and I got a little bit over 8 years out of that battery, it still works but the positive post broke so it does not make connection all the time but will start the machine but I think I might mess up the burner or something else using hot water with the batter that way.
 
I personally have it just in a battery box on my truck. I let my Vanguard 18HP charge the battery. Keep in mind though that even though my burner is 12 volts, propane uses less voltage than diesel to fire off.

The unit I'm selling on with a 13HP Honda uses a millivolt system. No battery required.
 
I too have a walmart marine battery, biggest one they sell (think its like 875 max cranking amps or something) to run my chem (roof style) pump. I charge it on a very low rate 1.5amp charger every couple days. Going on 3 years now with the same battery.
 
I had one marine battery with a bad cell but thats it in the past 2 years or so. I agree with Tim, I was having problems with my batterys not charging and I got a new old school simple charger and it fixed the issues I was having. It may be worth a try.
 
On another battery note.

Get the biggest battery that you can but not the biggest cranking amp number.

Usually, for a given case size, the higher the crank number, the lower the reserve amps. We want staying power for our low continuous draw use and the big crank number does not support that.

Higher crank number will also have more (but thinner) plates and be less robust.
 
I"ve bought good ones and I've bought cheap ones and they seem to get a max of 18 months before they are toast. Replaced one today as a matter of fact. It would start the machine and fire the burner but the inverter kept shutting down and doing weird stuff which in essence would kill the burner and just show over heat on the inverter. Weird things begin happening and the last thing you think of is the battery as things start just fine.
 
I would use the lowest setting for my Marine battery (2amp....I guess that would be like a trickle charger) and let it charge overnite, probably around 10 to 14 hours and it will work great for a long time but that is just rolling up the water supply hose (3/4" thick wall heavy duty contractor grade hose that is 225' long) after every job daily.
 
I have a few West Marine deep cycle for both my fishing boat and work trailer. I personally feel that the slow charge
(2 amps) over night works best, especially in this FL heat. My charger is an old school manual Sear's band.
 
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