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Another Battery Question!


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Alright team! I have a few questions regarding battery's and their setup. I currently have the two stock POS batteries that came with the boat (you would thinking spending 60k+ for a malibu boat you would get a bad a** battery with it?). Anyways i am going to be constructing a battery table for the main storage compartment of my 07 VTX. I am thinking I am going to use 3-4 Optima blue tops. I had mentioned this to my mechanic at the malibu dealership and he was worried I may have purchased the wrong blue tops. I was unaware there were different voltages for different blue tops? If this is true how do i tell which one I have and which on i need. I believe my boat runs the same or close voltages than the other malibu models? I think my vtx runs around 14.1 Volts when on the go. I purchased my blue top at costco, Fyi...

My next question is, if i go with the 3 blue tops. I was going to hook 1 up to battery 1 on the perko and then daisy chain battery 2 and 3 to #2 on the perko switch? Does this sound like a solid setup? What Does everyone recommend? Also if you have any pictures of your battery setup please post them! I am looking to get some inspiration. Should i worry about the batterys not being in a "SPILL PROOF CONTAINER"? It seems not needed If i am using blue tops... let me know!

Thanks Team!

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Alright team! I have a few questions regarding battery's and their setup. I currently have the two stock POS batteries that came with the boat (you would thinking spending 60k+ for a malibu boat you would get a bad a** battery with it?). Anyways i am going to be constructing a battery table for the main storage compartment of my 07 VTX. I am thinking I am going to use 3-4 Optima blue tops. I had mentioned this to my mechanic at the malibu dealership and he was worried I may have purchased the wrong blue tops. I was unaware there were different voltages for different blue tops? If this is true how do i tell which one I have and which on i need. I believe my boat runs the same or close voltages than the other malibu models? I think my vtx runs around 14.1 Volts when on the go. I purchased my blue top at costco, Fyi...

My next question is, if i go with the 3 blue tops. I was going to hook 1 up to battery 1 on the perko and then daisy chain battery 2 and 3 to #2 on the perko switch? Does this sound like a solid setup? What Does everyone recommend? Also if you have any pictures of your battery setup please post them! I am looking to get some inspiration. Should i worry about the batterys not being in a "SPILL PROOF CONTAINER"? It seems not needed If i am using blue tops... let me know!

Thanks Team!

Blue tops are a waste of money IMO. Been there done that. You would hook the batteries up the way you describe. If you do go blue tops they are spill proof so don't need a battery box.

I would recommend Interstate SRM-29. One of these batteries has the AH capacity of 2.5 blue tops and is only 3" longer, not to mention it's almost half the price. You would need a battery box for the Interstate SRM-29, stick it in a group 27 battery box.

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SRM29 eh? Im going to look into these. I like the idea of more power and less money =)! What about the voltage question? Do i have to be careful what kind of battery im dropping in my boat? I wouldn't think that it would be an issue.

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I had mentioned this to my mechanic at the malibu dealership and he was worried I may have purchased the wrong blue tops. I was unaware there were different voltages for different blue tops? If this is true how do i tell which one I have and which on i need.

Thanks Team!

The blue top with the dark gray case is Optimas marine starting battery with more cranking amps( a Red Top). The light gray case blue top is the marine deep cycle, it's a Yellow top with the marine terminals.

Maybe thats what your mechanic was referring to.

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SRM29 eh? Im going to look into these. I like the idea of more power and less money =)! What about the voltage question? Do i have to be careful what kind of battery im dropping in my boat? I wouldn't think that it would be an issue.

With the AGM battery you have to be carefull on charging voltage, you don't have to worry about the charge in your boat with the wet cell batteries. This is not to say you don't have to have a good charging routine ontop of the charge from your alternator. Think of the alternator as a maintainer and not a chager. You need to charge them with a charger that does 3 stage charging and has settings for wet cell batteries. This will protect your battery investment and be your best bet against battery sulfation leading to failure.

Edited by 06vlx
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Using a three battery setup, You might want to look into a relay that will isolate you start battery for you based on the status of the alternator, instead of always having to turn on/off the perco. The relay was mentioned on the site a few months ago but I didn't save the link to where it is found. One of the big name marine providers I think. Otherwise the set up sounds great.

REW

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Using a three battery setup, You might want to look into a relay that will isolate you start battery for you based on the status of the alternator, instead of always having to turn on/off the perco. The relay was mentioned on the site a few months ago but I didn't save the link to where it is found. One of the big name marine providers I think. Otherwise the set up sounds great.

REW

Blue Seas Add-a-Battery

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You know ive been doing some research here, and I am learning that these 6volt Deep cycle batteries normally meant for golf carts and fork lifts for exmample, have the longest RESERVE CAPACITY on them. It seems the battery with the longest reserve capacity on it seems to be the best battery for running electronics. I understand these 6volts will not be good for starting the boat but everything else it seems to be the way to go?! Any comments on 6volts?

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I'm starting my 4th year on a pair of Optima Blue tops and have never had any problems yet. Running three amps,1 12" sub, 6 interior speakers and 4 tower speakers. I usually keep Perko switch on both unless I am hanging in cove then I will switch to one or the other to save one for starting. I use a cheap Chicago electronics battery maintainer from Harbour Freight store to top off batteries in the garage after the weekend. Also leave it plugged in all winter that way. I know it's not all the fancy chargers and other equipment talked about on the Crew, but has worked great for me so far.Maybe it will only take me 5 years to kill my batts from cheap charger, if they make it that long I will replace them with 2 more of the same.DSC02113.jpgDSC02132.jpg

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I'm starting my 4th year on a pair of Optima Blue tops and have never had any problems yet. Running three amps,1 12" sub, 6 interior speakers and 4 tower speakers. I usually keep Perko switch on both unless I am hanging in cove then I will switch to one or the other to save one for starting. I use a cheap Chicago electronics battery maintainer from Harbour Freight store to top off batteries in the garage after the weekend. Also leave it plugged in all winter that way. I know it's not all the fancy chargers and other equipment talked about on the Crew, but has worked great for me so far.Maybe it will only take me 5 years to kill my batts from cheap charger, if they make it that long I will replace them with 2 more of the same.DSC02113.jpgDSC02132.jpg

Sweet looks great under seat ,I might do that too, Opens The other area up alot! :thumbup:

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You know ive been doing some research here, and I am learning that these 6volt Deep cycle batteries normally meant for golf carts and fork lifts for exmample, have the longest RESERVE CAPACITY on them. It seems the battery with the longest reserve capacity on it seems to be the best battery for running electronics. I understand these 6volts will not be good for starting the boat but everything else it seems to be the way to go?! Any comments on 6volts?

I've got 2 6v batteries on my boat and they are fine for starting, plus they do everything else better as well. Mine are 242 amp hour Interstate 6v. So I wire them in series and get 12v with 242 amp hours, voltage doubles but amp hours stays the same. If you went with two group 29 batteries I mentioned it would give you 230-250 amp hours, they are supposedly 125 amp hours each. If I was to do it over again I'd go the SRM-29 route, wiring is so much easier with regular 12v batteries. I got such a good deal on the 6v batteries I had to try them out. The nice thing about the golf cart batteries is that they actually hold a higher charge than most 12v batteries so you get anywhere from 10-20% extra play time out of them. Golf carts can take more abuse but need to be maintained properly as well. By abuse I mean they can be almost depleted fully and still come back time and time again.

Choice is yours can't really go wrong either way. Make sure you check the fluid levels in the wet cells regularly. I didn't want to mess with filling the batteries so I installed an automatic battery watering system on mine, works really nice. Don't even have to take the lid off the battery box.

This is what I installed - http://www.flow-rite.com/battery-watering/pro-fill-rv

An added benefit I didn't expect. The battery lids get replaced with this system and they fit much tighter so there is no way for spillage anymore.

Edited by 06vlx
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I don't think you want to be drilling down in that compartment. Below the floor is tanks & styrofoam. Not impossible to push wires, but would be difficult. There are a pair of holes already on the right side by the walk thru wall. They go into the center hatch area.

I lost a Blue Top last year. I wasn't the original owner of it (came with the boat), but it didn't last any longer than the Interstate that was next to it.

In my digging into what batteries to replace them with, I learned a little about AGMs, gell cells, 12v vs 6v, etc. 6v is the way to go if you know what your doing. Chargers can be spendy & you need to know what your doing when bridging them for 12v. AGM batteries are the way to go if you want to pack them on their side. Sears & Deka are big distributors in my area. Dekas are made by East Penn & distributed heavily for fork lifts & pallet jacks. I ended up going with a pair of 12v DieHards for warranty reasons.... a deep cycle & a marine starter. To back them up I installed a Guest onboard charger so they would always be excercised & charged.

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  • 2 weeks later...

P1050303.jpg

The workmanship here is impressive! I'm currently working on a similar upgrade on my boat.

Can you tell me who makes the battery terminals you're using? Also, where did you get those cool little clamps that hold the large power and ground wires?

  • Like 1
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P1050303.jpg

That is a sweet setup :thumbup: But it looks like you have terminals exposed, I was thinking about doing a similar setup but decided to use the boring plastic boxes because I was afraid of something metal getting thrown in there and arcing across a neg and pos terminal and then :blowup: Was I being too cautious..??

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That is a sweet setup :thumbup: But it looks like you have terminals exposed, I was thinking about doing a similar setup but decided to use the boring plastic boxes because I was afraid of something metal getting thrown in there and arcing across a neg and pos terminal and then :blowup: Was I being too cautious..??

I'm with you. Better safe than :blowup:

Although it is a sweet setup. Surely he can add something simple to cover the terminals.

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The battery terminal come from Stinger with a clear plastic cover. It's not apparent in the picture that they are installed but we should assume they are.

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