Replace battery or not?

[jonas grumby]

I have an '06 1801 with 300 hours on her. The low hours are not truly indicative of usage as 90% of my fishing/ crabbing trips consist of driving <5 mi to my honey holes and anchoring up or drifting. Most of her hours come pulling the kids on tubes! I pretty much use the boat from April through January and have been trickle-charging during the non-use months. Everything seems to be healthy but I am wondering if I should replace it just for GP?

 

[warthog5]

To answer your question you will need a tool.

It's called a Load tester.

http://www.harborfreight.com/100-amp-6- ... 69888.html


Caution: Never Ever use this tool to Load Test the battery [Don't hit the switch on the tool] while the motor is running. It will likely fry the alt. However....It is fine to hook it to the battery with the motor running and read the scale to see if the alt is putting out.

 

[Brent]

I would take to WalMart, Sams Club, Atozone, etc and ask for a free battery test
and a printout. It is fancy load tester and battery analyer showing various parameters.

m2cw if you battery is from 06, you have a good battery and money well spent and consider buying the same one

Who makes the battery?

 

[jonas grumby]

It is an Interstate Battery

 

[PressureRelief]

My point of view comes from growing up in a family business that worked on fire apparatus electrical systems. As Warthog said a load tester is great and the other thing I use is a calendar. I own a very nice system to charge, maintain , and test batteries but have learned that after a while even though they test well, just replace the battery. I date all of my batteries with a paint marker and replace any lead acid battery at 5 years no matter how it tests out. I have seen batteries test fine and two weeks later roll over dead. As a battery ages it begins to break down in it's internal structure and may test fine but when plates short two days later your batter is dead.

I have recently purchased some AGM batteries for my boat and a dump trailer. They are supposed to be the cat's meow and the up and coming tech. Supposedly less storage loss over time and a more stable internal structure. The trade off is price. I believe Megabyte switched over about a year ago and could give a better review due to owning the batteries long.

Hope this helps.

 

[warthog5]

I date all of my batteries

I do the same thing....But I also date Hot Water heaters,appliances,etc,etc. I just write on it. "In Service XYZ date] It makes a good quick referance to see how much time has passed on it.

 

[Lucky John]

The battery is 7 years old..........I would replace it. I no longer buy expensive marine batteries, I go to Walmart,BJ's or wherever and buy for less than 100 bucks. I replace every two years regardless.