How long should one expect a marine battery to last.?

[Scott Ashe]

Hi Gents,

I have been wondering lately how long should one expect a marine battery to last for before it needs replacing.?

I have had mine since July 2009, and rely on it to start my 30 Yam 4 stroke with ptt. I also use it to power my sounder and nav lights.

A guess the biggest problem may be that sometimes my boat with sit for 4-6 weeks in between trips, although I have never had an issues with this.

Cheers
Scott

[thelump]

Scott I have had one in my boat since I bought it in 07 and have not charged it once. It has outlasted the first motor and now fires up a 115 yammy. Dont know if this is normal and I am touching wood as I type.

[finga]

They'll last 4 times that period IF they used often and maintained correctly.

If you have any doubts just get it tested at a battery place

[Peter4]

Had a seamaster cranking battery in my rig since May 2007 and just replaced it. I reckon 5 1/2 years ain't too bad...

[PADDLES]

i'm with finga, if you treat them with love and maintain them properly they should last for a long time. my basic rules of thumb are:

- size them appropriately for your usage (stick to around a 50% discharge cycle for maximum life) this means if you work out you need 40Ah between charges, make sure you buy minimum 80Ah of capacity
- charge them back up as soon as possible after discharging them (ie. using the boat) base your charger size on a charging time of 10-12 hours if you can so for the 40Ah above, ideally you would want minimum 4A charger

personally i have a multi stage smart charger and simply leave mine on charge the whole time as i don't have the time to mess around with the old style chargers. the added benefit of these smart chargers is that they will charge up batteries completely by using their different charging stages and they will also maintain the battery better by then using a pulse maintenance cycle instead of the older style trickle charge which could end up boiling your battery if you didn't stay on top of it.

[LittleSkipper]

i'm with finga, if you treat them with love and maintain them properly they should last for a long time. my basic rules of thumb are:

- size them appropriately for your usage (stick to around a 50% discharge cycle for maximum life) this means if you work out you need 40Ah between charges, make sure you buy minimum 80Ah of capacity
- charge them back up as soon as possible after discharging them (ie. using the boat) base your charger size on a charging time of 10-12 hours if you can so for the 40Ah above, ideally you would want minimum 4A charger

personally i have a multi stage smart charger and simply leave mine on charge the whole time as i don't have the time to mess around with the old style chargers. the added benefit of these smart chargers is that they will charge up batteries completely by using their different charging stages and they will also maintain the battery better by then using a pulse maintenance cycle instead of the older style trickle charge which could end up boiling your battery if you didn't stay on top of it.

Is it one of those CTEK battery chargers Paddles? If so! What make & model do you have?

[Noelm]

like lots of things these days, it is a bit of a lucky dip, I have had them last years and years, and also had one fail at 4 months old, use it regularly and hope for the best, the biggest problem i have found now days is. ... they seem to just shit themselves and die completely, in the "old days" a battery seemed to be "dicky" for ages before it crapped out, just a few weeks ago, i started the 'cruiser, went to Bunnings, started it again and went to another shop, got back in and turned the key..... nothing, not a sausage, so I guessed a bad connection, opened the bonnet and fooled around with what tools I had in the kit that comes with the car (those silly slip joint pliers, and two tin spanners) rooted around for 30 mins, cleaning terminals and stuff, and ended up calling my mate to bring a battery out of the boat for me! hey presto, all good, the battery (maybe 4 years old) had just completely died!

[Feral]

All depends on the treatment. One season if you bash heck out the boat in a swell, your motor doesn't have a good quality charging system, you never charge it seperately.
Look after it and it can last many seasons, the risk is what happens when she fails on you? If it means you just pull start and go home, run it until it dies. If it means your calling VMR if the battery fails, I'd suggest replace every three years at most.

[LittleSkipper]

(just a few weeks ago, i started the 'cruiser, went to Bunnings, started it again and went to another shop, got back in and turned the key..... nothing, not a sausage)

Would have to strongly agree on that one Noelm. Battery's will SHITE themselves when you least expect them too. My vehicle battery had been in the car since bought new in 2009, then one day in 2011 when me & the family were out doing our shopping rounds we pulled into our local Woolies carpark.

Did our little shopping jaunt, returned to the car, key in ignition, turn to start........CLICK! CLICK!.....NOTHING! not even a little engine turnover. Contacted our breakdown service who dispatched MARSHALL BATTERIES and sure enough there was not enough juice left in it to even crank the engine.....In goes a new battery.

[thelump]

i'm with finga, if you treat them with love and maintain them properly they should last for a long time. my basic rules of thumb are:

- size them appropriately for your usage (stick to around a 50% discharge cycle for maximum life) this means if you work out you need 40Ah between charges, make sure you buy minimum 80Ah of capacity
- charge them back up as soon as possible after discharging them (ie. using the boat) base your charger size on a charging time of 10-12 hours if you can so for the 40Ah above, ideally you would want minimum 4A charger

personally i have a multi stage smart charger and simply leave mine on charge the whole time as i don't have the time to mess around with the old style chargers. the added benefit of these smart chargers is that they will charge up batteries completely by using their different charging stages and they will also maintain the battery better by then using a pulse maintenance cycle instead of the older style trickle charge which could end up boiling your battery if you didn't stay on top of it.

Is having to charge it between uses the norm? As stated I have never charged mine in over 5 years and it fires straight up. I seem to read a lot about people having to charge their battery before a trip. Always been curious about why they would flatten when not in use. I know they may leave something switched on etc but if everything is turned off and ignition is off should it not be ready to roll the next time you turn the key?

[Shawn 66]

They'll last 4 times that period IF they used often and maintained correctly.

If you have any doubts just get it tested at a battery place

i'm with finga, if you treat them with love and maintain them properly they should last for a long time. my basic rules of thumb are:

- size them appropriately for your usage (stick to around a 50% discharge cycle for maximum life) this means if you work out you need 40Ah between charges, make sure you buy minimum 80Ah of capacity
- charge them back up as soon as possible after discharging them (ie. using the boat) base your charger size on a charging time of 10-12 hours if you can so for the 40Ah above, ideally you would want minimum 4A charger

personally i have a multi stage smart charger and simply leave mine on charge the whole time as i don't have the time to mess around with the old style chargers. the added benefit of these smart chargers is that they will charge up batteries completely by using their different charging stages and they will also maintain the battery better by then using a pulse maintenance cycle instead of the older style trickle charge which could end up boiling your battery if you didn't stay on top of it.

Gents ,
I am confused . I have neber charged my battery only use the boat every weekend . It is running a 40 4 stroke yammie with PTT. The battery is 2 years old now and not missed a beat . The battery also runs , livewell , LED deck lights , LED spotlight , bilge pump, sounder and of course nav lights . My old boat had virtually the same setup and the battery was still going strong when I sold it after 4 years .
Now the big question am I just lucky with batteries .
Shawn

[Noelm]

I never charge my boat batteries either, no need to if they are OK, even if you leave the boat unused for a couple of months.

[Matthew Thompson]

I have been thinking about buying one of these for the just incase emergenices, great to take camping and could slot in the boat pretty easily.

http://arklive.customercommunity.com.../a3_arkpak.pdf

Any one tried one?

[Scott Ashe]

Thanks to everyone who replied. So I'm guessing if looked after properly, it should last for a while yet, which is good to hear.

It seems that I am not the only person, who has never charged their boat battery.

Cheers

[Feral]

Most charging systems on engines will consistently charge a battery to somewhere between 80 and 90% of full capacity, rarely higher. A lot of boat motor charging systems are closer to the 80% mark, as they are pretty agricultural.
Putting the battery on a multistage charger between trips not only ensures the battery is ready to go no matter how long it has sat, it means it gets fully charged then held at full charge. It does helps them last longer.