Batteries… AGM?

xplorer wrote:

So obviously I’ve gotten my years worth out of those 27’s. I do several 5-7 day camping trips up on Rainy and Namakan every summer. Nowhere to charge batt’s out on the islands, so I’ve always had to be mindfull how much I use the TM. I’ve never run out, but came close.

If I were to replace the 27’s with a pair of 31 AGM’s, what kind of run time improvement should I see over my current wet cell 27’s??
I was looking at the Duracell 31’s at Sams that Matt referenced above.

It’s going to be really hard to say. The fact that you’ve gotten that many years out of them tells me you don’t discharge them very deeply. Meaning you don’t drain them much at all.

With that said, there isn’t a solid case for going to 31s. You’ll definitely get a longer run time and but I don’t think you’ll get a longer life. Based on your experience you may not benefit much.

Hard to say but it definitely would hurt to upgrade.

Let me add that a new matched pair of 27s will have a longer charge and better battery life than your unmatched pair.

With the lead acid 27’s I have previously I could never run all day the way I did without having to charge them at some point in the day. I switched to 31 size AGM’s and I easily get all day, wouldn’t surprise me if I could squeak 2 days out of them.

I did go the durations from farm and fleet, they are an East Penn battery just like Deka, Duracell, whatever the fleet farm brand is and a whole bunch of other brands.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>xplorer wrote:</div>

It’s going to be really hard to say. The fact that you’ve gotten that many years out of them tells me you don’t discharge them very deeply. Meaning you don’t drain them much at all.

Actually, when I use them, I drain them down quite a ways. Its just that I dont use them alot.

The 4-5 trips to Voyageurs those 27’s are used for 4-5 days without charging, and are mostly discharged by the time I get home. I do recharge them via onboard charger as soon as I get home every time. But that is the only time I run them down below 75% during the year.

I had planned to replace both 27’s in 2015 when the one went bad. I took them both to Interstate in Superior to replace, and when they tested them, they told me the one was still perfect and to just replace the one that was bad.

The cost of the AGM 31’s isnt really that much more than new 27 Interstates, and if I can get a longer run time, that is what I am looking for. I certainly dont expect to get 10 years out of a deep cycle, but I dont think that 5-6 is unreasonable. And I do take good care of the batt’s and have always gotten about 7 years out of them.

If you can get a good price it isn’t going to hurt. Interstate is pretty good at negotiating prices. I use our companies discount every time I buy batteries there even though I don’t use the company account. I usually get about 20% off.

Matt M wrote:

Fyi, in case anyone is looking for batteries…… I just bought 3 Duracell agm 31’s for 160.00 each at Sam’s.

Sale goes for a few more weeks I believe.

Matt

Thanks for the heads up on this Matt as that is a great price for group 31 agms. Picked up 3 this evening also.

Can anyone tell me if it is better to let AGM batteries drain way down before each charging or should I charge them back up after each use no matter what?

Slipbobbin wrote:

Can anyone tell me if it is better to let AGM batteries drain way down before each charging or should I charge them back up after each use no matter what?

My understanding is to charge after every use. The sooner the better.
Interstate makes an AGM battery supposedly with virgin lead not recycled lead. That is supposed to be better. Is it, I dont know.