which battery

[PinHead]

I will be setting up the new tinny shortly.
Which battery would be most suitable to run the following:
Nav lights
Anchor light
Spotlight (used sparingly)
lighting inside the boat
Sounder/GPS combo
Bilge Pump
Cannot think of anything else at present

[finga]

What's the charging rate of the motor matey??
Easy answer is the biggest bugger that'll fit where you want to put it.

Personally I don't bother with marine batteries because I don't go out in rough stuff so I tend to use the old N70Z or N70 or NZ70 I think they are. I cannot remember exactly which one but they're truck batteries and I have not needed to look at them for years hence the not remembering bit :)

[Marlin_Mike]

Not remembering Scotty???? ::) Isnt that more likely from Old Farts Syndrome??????????????:D :) ;D

I use Sea Master batteries.

Mike

[Bear001]

I use the Supercharge allrounders. Cranking and deep cycle.

[Noelm]

except for the spotlight, all the others can be LED's and almost any battery will do the job, a sounder/GPS combo woll run for yonks on a motor bike style battery, that can be purchased as a sealed type and no problem if they tip over.

[PinHead]

no charging rate of the motor Scott..pull start and away I go..nothing electrical connected to the motor..back to the bare basics I go...bit of a change after the last 2 boats ..LOL

I should be taking delivery of the boat some time next week so I reckon some time towards the end of next month it should be on the water.

[finga]

They all say you need marine batteries for boats because they buck and bounce but what sort of batteries do they use in Bobcats and Drotts and stuff like that??
They buck and bounce like there's no tomorrow.

[Mister]

At least you can step off a Drott and walk home!

[gr hilly]

i just went through the same.not knowing to much so i got a good idea it works great to what iv'e done is baught a 12 volt 18 amp hr projecta jumpstarter it has two cig lighter plug in sockets and of course the main poss and neg clamps a big handle to carry it with and you can just plug it in a power point to charge one of the good points is you can check your charge level simply by pushing a button and you can put it under the deck or any where they also have a built in surge protector they can't short out so they are so safe lots of grunt starts my diesel cruiser easy check them out mate im wrapped
hilly

[honda900]

pinhead,

you going to need a reasonble size battery to run all that gear, I am no electrician, but have been doing some testing to size a battery for me to take just my sounder to swains.

what you really need to do is work out, how much power draw is required for each device i.e how many watts. An LMS 527IGPS uses 8 watts, this is properly measured and averaged using a proper watt meter.

/ = divide by.
* = multiply by.

The formula is watts / Vots = Amp Hours, then multiply by how many hours you will use each device, 8w / 12v = 0.66ah * 7 hours use per day = 4.66ah. so if I use my sounder only for 7 hours on a 7.0ah battery, I would be drawing more than 50% of the battery power, = kill my battery.

this linke has some examples of working it out, there is a solar calculator down the bottom, worth a read. http://www.batteryworld.com.au/asp/index.asp?pgid=11206&cid=5923&id=653

I apologise in advance if my maths is bad.. but hopefully you will get the picture.

Regards
HOnda.

[snodger 08]

Hi Pinhead,
I am running 140AH marine batteries. A bit expensive, but they haven't let me down yet and I have at times squeezed most of the energy out of the one for the electric. I have also recently bought a ctek xs 25000 batery charger for around the $380 mark, and its been awesome. Charges the battery to pretty near its maximum charge, and it seems to hold the charge longer than it used to.
Cheers
Steve

[bugman]

Greg,

I meant to ask the other day when I read this post but forgot. I'm guessing a motor of that size would still have some sort of rectifier in it putting out a small charge ????? I could be wrong. If it has what's wrong with running it back to the battery.

As the others have asked - are you running all LED lights. Heaps brighter and draw less amps in IMHO.

Brett