280 SeaRay
New Member
thunderbird.... most of what I have learned about the optima’s is from Frank or from various publications on these batteries.... and a little bit of actual experience as I have had mine almost 5 months now.
As most of us are aware you can take what Frank says to the bank.... every time....
In my 220 I ran regular wet cell batts... 1 group 27 for starting and 2 golf cart batteries in series for the sound system. They worked fine... during the 4.5 years I had the boat I replaced the group 27 twice and the set of golf cart batts once. Water maint was always a pain especially with the golf cart batts as those puppies hold a ton of water. Turkey baster and gallon jug of distilled water, not that fun. We would pretty much discharge the GC bank most weekends and it had pretty high loads on it. The first starting batt installed by the dealership when boat was new was a poor quality battery and I shook it to death quickly. The second lasted for 2.5 years then would become very weak after sitting longer than a week.
When I got my 280 we had 2 of 3 of the new group 27's installed by the dealer (Interstate batts) die about half way through the first season. I also noticed that the batteries ate through water (both the originals and the replacements) just as I had experienced on the 220. I certainly would not call the water usage excessive... but I like to keep the batts full... and found that they needed various amounts each week when doing my pre-trip checks. I would make a guess that the discharge/recharge cycles that we subject them to on a cruiser coupled with high heat/very low humidity of CA and being on shore power with charger on 100% of the time when @ home on the trailer makes for good water usage.
It seemed the wet cell batts I had on the 220 and the 280 liked to make a mess... the battery tray always had a bit of stuff (not sure how it got there but batteries were removed and trays cleaned every time I saw this) and the terminals needed regular cleaning (never had a problem but I did not care for the discoloration and the little build up that happens on the terminals). With 66% of the batteries dead quick I saw a bunch of batt maint in my future... including 18 little holes to look down with a flashlight and fill with water. It was at this time I began to listen to what Frank had recommended all along.... optima’s...
Frank had really liked the optima’s and had posted his positive feedback many times on SRO... and now here on CSR. Well I finally listened.... (purchased 3 D31M blue top Optima batts) and I wish I had bought them long ago. No water, no weird sulfur smell, no mess in the battery tray, and the terminals are staying clean in the time I have had them. Also in the dry run I mentioned in Kevin's post I compared results I had taken on the Interstate SRM-27's that the boat came equipped with to my new optima setup (setup simply replaced the Interstate batts with the optimas in the same config). I noticed the voltage reading was between .4v to .8v higher on the optima setup through each checkpoint on the dry run.... I would guess this would mean that the optimas would run longer until they reach 10.5 (dead)? Not sure and did not take the test that far. The optima fully charged standing voltage reads at 13.0 to 13.1v which is higher than the 12.4 -12.2v (fully charged standing) readings I saw on the Interstates. I swear it seemed as though the Optimas recharged faster after the dry run test too... but I did not take timings on this so I cannot be sure.... but it seemed like they did.
Longevity is what I keep hearing the optimas are famous for... vibration resistance, etc. Time will tell on this one. I do think the vibration on the trailer beats the batteries up more as well so we should have a good test for longevity as we trailer the 280. So far so good... and I certainly do not miss the water maint that I no longer have to perform... or the battery removal to clean up the spew from the wet cell batts. I found the D31M's for under $200 each if you find the right sales, coupons, etc. I think the MSRP is $239.00
Another cool thing is that the D31M has 1125 MCA (Marine Cranking Amps) 900 CCA.... which is a ton.... I know the 4.3's I have do not take a bunch to start... but it is reassuring to think that one of these batteries could likely crank my 2, 4.3 MPI's and genset simultaneously :grin: Weight wise they are very similar to the group 27's which was important to me since the batts on the 280 are situated to the port side of the engine compartment.
My 2 cents thus far. I will commit to updating with my results over the next few years. Maybe Frank will drop some knowledge on us as well :smt001
As most of us are aware you can take what Frank says to the bank.... every time....
In my 220 I ran regular wet cell batts... 1 group 27 for starting and 2 golf cart batteries in series for the sound system. They worked fine... during the 4.5 years I had the boat I replaced the group 27 twice and the set of golf cart batts once. Water maint was always a pain especially with the golf cart batts as those puppies hold a ton of water. Turkey baster and gallon jug of distilled water, not that fun. We would pretty much discharge the GC bank most weekends and it had pretty high loads on it. The first starting batt installed by the dealership when boat was new was a poor quality battery and I shook it to death quickly. The second lasted for 2.5 years then would become very weak after sitting longer than a week.
When I got my 280 we had 2 of 3 of the new group 27's installed by the dealer (Interstate batts) die about half way through the first season. I also noticed that the batteries ate through water (both the originals and the replacements) just as I had experienced on the 220. I certainly would not call the water usage excessive... but I like to keep the batts full... and found that they needed various amounts each week when doing my pre-trip checks. I would make a guess that the discharge/recharge cycles that we subject them to on a cruiser coupled with high heat/very low humidity of CA and being on shore power with charger on 100% of the time when @ home on the trailer makes for good water usage.
It seemed the wet cell batts I had on the 220 and the 280 liked to make a mess... the battery tray always had a bit of stuff (not sure how it got there but batteries were removed and trays cleaned every time I saw this) and the terminals needed regular cleaning (never had a problem but I did not care for the discoloration and the little build up that happens on the terminals). With 66% of the batteries dead quick I saw a bunch of batt maint in my future... including 18 little holes to look down with a flashlight and fill with water. It was at this time I began to listen to what Frank had recommended all along.... optima’s...
Frank had really liked the optima’s and had posted his positive feedback many times on SRO... and now here on CSR. Well I finally listened.... (purchased 3 D31M blue top Optima batts) and I wish I had bought them long ago. No water, no weird sulfur smell, no mess in the battery tray, and the terminals are staying clean in the time I have had them. Also in the dry run I mentioned in Kevin's post I compared results I had taken on the Interstate SRM-27's that the boat came equipped with to my new optima setup (setup simply replaced the Interstate batts with the optimas in the same config). I noticed the voltage reading was between .4v to .8v higher on the optima setup through each checkpoint on the dry run.... I would guess this would mean that the optimas would run longer until they reach 10.5 (dead)? Not sure and did not take the test that far. The optima fully charged standing voltage reads at 13.0 to 13.1v which is higher than the 12.4 -12.2v (fully charged standing) readings I saw on the Interstates. I swear it seemed as though the Optimas recharged faster after the dry run test too... but I did not take timings on this so I cannot be sure.... but it seemed like they did.
Longevity is what I keep hearing the optimas are famous for... vibration resistance, etc. Time will tell on this one. I do think the vibration on the trailer beats the batteries up more as well so we should have a good test for longevity as we trailer the 280. So far so good... and I certainly do not miss the water maint that I no longer have to perform... or the battery removal to clean up the spew from the wet cell batts. I found the D31M's for under $200 each if you find the right sales, coupons, etc. I think the MSRP is $239.00
Another cool thing is that the D31M has 1125 MCA (Marine Cranking Amps) 900 CCA.... which is a ton.... I know the 4.3's I have do not take a bunch to start... but it is reassuring to think that one of these batteries could likely crank my 2, 4.3 MPI's and genset simultaneously :grin: Weight wise they are very similar to the group 27's which was important to me since the batts on the 280 are situated to the port side of the engine compartment.
My 2 cents thus far. I will commit to updating with my results over the next few years. Maybe Frank will drop some knowledge on us as well :smt001
