How much longer do the Optima batteries last vs. a acid battery and I mean life span in years??  ( trolling motor batteries ).

I dont know the answer to that question but I have been looking for new batteries for my boat and 3 out of 4 places I have been to have told me the Optimas are not as good as they used to be since they moved their manufacturing.

A tremdous amount of what determines any battery lifes is the quality of the charger and how well you observe charging requirements.   With a high quality charger and proper charging, then it's going to be determined by charge cycles and how deeply the battery is discharged.  The deeper the discharge, the fewer cycles you will get.

Now, with all those things equal, and you are using a high quality charger on both, the AGM can give you as much as 25% more cycles than a good flooded cell and as much as twice as many over the cheaper flooded cell batteries like the Everstart Maxx.

The problem is, AGM batteries are more sensitive to charging conditions and without a high quality AGM charger, you will probably not get any more service life from the AGM than the flooded cell, any possibly won't get as much.

These cheap Wal-Mart and parts store chargers are designed for the farmer or person that needs to charge a battery every now and then.  They do not provide the best charge for the battery and not a good choice to repeatadly charge your boat batteries.  The Smart chargers are by far a better choice than the old automatic and manual chargers but nothing like the quality of a good onboard or commercial type charger.

I will say this as delicately as possible...Optima batteries SUCK!!!  I have not tried one for trolling motor needs but I have had 2 of them as cranking batteries and both have left me on the water.  Before everyone jumps in, yes I take proper care of my batteries.  I always check the charge before heading out and I keep them on a trickle charge between uses if it is more than 2-3 days between.  The first Optima lasted about 4 months before crapping out.  I returned it assuming I had gotten a bad battery and swapped it for another which lasted about 9 months.  On the second go 'round they didn't want to honor the warranty because it was the second battery to go bad.  I pitched a fit and Advance Auto Parts finally refunded my money to shut me up.  I went right down the road and bought a $59 cranking battery for a temporary battery from O'Reilly's and it has been taking good care of me for a year and a half now.   Hmmmmmmmm....Must have been crappy batteries.  I hope Optima NEVER sells another battery and will take every opportunity to make sure everyone knows it.

I guess I am on the opposite end of that. I have 3 optima's in my boat and have never had an ounce of problems. I may tommorrow but for now I love them and they seem to stay charged on the trolling motor longer than the Interstates I replaced.

Well, no battery is as bad as powerman's experience.  I'm not an Optima fan either but when I say they don't give the life span of a good stacked cell AGM, unless destroyed by improper charger, they usually last at least three years for the average user.

As mentioned though, they do have special charging requirements and can easily be destroyed by improper charging.  I know this comment will create fireworks but I would have to suspect improper charging as the cause of the failures over the batteries being junk.

I feel there are better choices for AGM batteries, but the Optima has been around way too long to and have way too many satisfied users to be junk.

If you are getting 3 years out of a trolling motor battery, I need to talk to you.  I generally replace trolling motor batteries about once a year.  I fish about 3 days a week and always charge them as soon as I get home from the water.  Interstate batteries have lasted the longest under these conditions and I did get 2 years out of one of them.  It is possible that improper charging might have been a culprit with my cranking battery but I don't see how.  In my experience, a cranking battery rarely needs charging since the charging system in the motor tends to keep it charged up.  The only time I have had to hook a cranking battery to a charger is when I don't fish for a couple of weeks and that is rare.  When I do, I usually just hook it up to a 2 amp trickle charge.  I will also plug them in when I take the boat out of the garage the night before a trip if it is extremely cold outside to keep them heated up.  If I am doing something wrong please let me know.  This is what I have always done with good results until I bought Optimas.  I am always open to suggestions and they are appreciated.

If you are getting 3 years out of a trolling motor battery, I need to talk to you.

I have a ACDelco that has been in use since 2000. I use it has a starting battery and a trolling battery.

There are way too many variable to say how long a battery will last.  Even how many charge cycles you can get from a battery. 

Cheap batteries are not going to give the life deep cycle Trojan's, Deka's or US Battery will give, that's just a plain fact of life.  High quality, true deep cycle batteries will have solid lead plates.  Just about all other cheaper batteries will have a lead alloy sponge plate.  That's why the those three brands cost so much more.

Besides battery construction, you have how the battery is disharged.  Let's just use 100%-20%-100% cycle's (fully charged battery discharged to 20% and recharged) as example.   Say your battery last 150 cycles discharged to 20%.   It will last 300 cycles discharged to 50% and possibly 600 cycles if discharged to 80%.  At 50%, that's 300 days of fishing.   These are numbers based on cheaper batteries, you can almost double that with the Big three, Trojan, Deka, and US Battery, of course you will also pay a heck of a lot more for these three.  You pretty much get what you pay for.  With one of their AGM's you can expect about 20% more battery life, but at a reduced capacity for same size batteries.

It should also be noted that long periods of inactivity is also damaging to a battery, even if stored on a maintainer/float charger.

The number one killer of all batteries it the charger and the person charging them.   Cheap, automatic chargers will not charge a battery to 100%, unless you put it in manual after it cuts off and charge it approx another 30 minutes or so.   Not fully charged lets the battery sulphate so everytime you charge it, you loose more and more capacity from suphation.  These chargers also charge at too high of a voltage. 

A battery should never be charged above 14.6 VDC.

Trickle charging one long periods of time is just as damaging as overcharging. 

As for a cranking battery not needing charged because you're motor is keeping it charged.  Numerous studies have been done on just that subject with tournament fishermen and the average cranking battery state of charge at the end of a days fishing is 80%, so it needs charged everytime you come in just like your TM batteries.

 

Good info...Now I can make a few adjustments in my battery care and see if it helps.  Overall I have not had a lot of battery problems but every little bit helps.  Would you not say that a year is about typical on trolling motor batteries if they are used often and fished from daylight until dark where they are commonly drained almost all the way?  A cranking battery will usually last me around 3 years (if they aren't Optimas  :).  Most times, the trolling motor batteries still have some life left in them but as soon as I see any difference in the amount of time I can fish, new ones go in the boat.  The used ones usually go to buddies and they get what life is left in them.

So what would be the best way to charge an optima blue top, and what would be a good charger?  Because on thier website they say just charge like normal.

Charge as a normal battery, just most normal chargers will not meet those the requirements.  Check the following out.

There are a lot of different opinions about battery charging and we hope this will help clear up any confusion that our customers have. AGM batteries are still technically a lead acid battery and they charge very similar to a wet cell. Regardless of what some rumors portray, AGM batteries are not as sensitive as once believed. They often get confused with Gel Batteries, which are very sensitive to voltage and they need a special charger. Lifeline AGM batteries can also be equalized to regain capacity if need be (instructions for equalizing is listed below). We also offer very personal service if you would like to reach us by telephone should you have any further questions regarding our batteries.

Battery Charging:

Charge 1 with voltage-regulated (constant potential) charger. The following charging voltages are recommended for maximum battery life.

3 Stage Chargers

Bulk 14.2-14.4 volts

Acceptance 14.2-14.4 volts

Float 13.2-13.3 volts

2 Stage Charger

Bulk 14.2-14.4 volts

Float 13.2-13.3 volts

Single Stage Charger

Bulk 14.2-14.4 volts

Once the battery is fully charged, remove it from charger.

The standard old Automatic charger has a charge voltage much higher than 14.4VDC, more like close to 16 Volts

I am looking at getting a couple more AGM batteries and was thinking about getting the ProSport II charger from Cabela's because it is on sale.  Could you describe the difference between this one and one that is $100+ more?  Is the higher price justified in your opinion(s).  I want to upgrade and extend the life of my batteries and would like to do it right. 

The ProSport II 20 plus would be an excellent choice if your running two TM batteries and cranking battery.

This is actaully a bigger charger than most realize, because they don't understand how it works. It will actaully charge your batteries just about as fast as a three bank, 10 amp per bank Dual Pro or similar charger, at half the cost.

It starts charging all three equally, at approx 7 amps per battery. Since the cranking battery usually only needs a small amount of charging, it charges up pretty quick. Once it does, the current going to the cranking battery is transfered to the TM batteries, so they are being charged at 10 amps each.

Granted, it's not a ProMariner ProTournament 300 (which is all I run for onboard chargers) but it does mighty well for the price. They also have an excellent warrenty and customer service. To be totally honest with you, I would chose it over the any of the other brands 3 bank, 10 amp per bank onboards. I'm a firm believer in keeping a battery on a maintenance float mode, many of the other brands do not have a float mode, they cut off at the end of the cycle. Some come back on after the voltage drops to a set level, but I prefer not having that, float is best.

O.K. One of the charger gurus speak up here. I just put a minn kota on board charger in my boat (5 amp per bank). I don't run gel batteries, is this a alright charger?

So basically the more amps the faster the batteries charge. Are there any other advantages to having more amps?

Would running an extension cord have much affect on the amps available?

Most fishermen don't need the batteries charged in 4-5 hours but overnight (8-10 hrs) seems more reasonable.

Thanks for the advice.

Sorry for jumping on the original post.

You already have it, it's a little late to be asking advise now.   Yes, it will charge your batteries if you don't need to use them again for about 24 hours.  Yes, it's also smaller than the recommended size charger unless you're running 50 amp hour batteries or smaller.  When you figure a group 24 averages 80 Ah, which should be charged with a minimum 8 amp charger, you're charger is about half the recommended size for a group 24 battery.   

Then you ask, if these small chargers are not suited for the average TM battery, why do they sell them.  The answer is very simple, they are cheap and they sell tons of them to people that can't really afford a 10 - 15 amp per bank charger and wouldn't buy an onboard because of the price, or don't really understand a batteries charging requirements.

With all that said, for the occassional user, the smaller chargers are all they need.  They go fishing maybe once or twice a month.  They may not cycle their batteries more than a dozen times a year and the batteries go bad from inactivity long before any ill effects of using too small of a charge rate could ever show up and if you get one that has a float mode, they make great maintainers for all the batteries at a very reasonable price.

It's not just the more amps, the faster the charge.  It's the more amps at the proper phase of the charge that makes them charge faster.   Until a battery reaches approx 80% charge, you can crank bunches of amps into them, AGM's are almost unlimited as to the amount of amps they can handle.   The reason for the 10% of the batteries rated Ah capacity, on flooded cell batteries, you want enough current to generate enough bubbles rising to keep the electrolite mixed.  If not, the electrolite stratofies and the acid becomes a lot more concentrated in the lower section of the battery and much weaker in the upper section, eating away the lower section of the plates much faster.  If you use large chargers that can kick one in the butt, you should run a charger that uses temp sensors attached to the battery, that way it can regulate the charge to keep it from getting too hot.  Batteries are very sensitive to heat, that's why a lot of car companies have started using AGM's and VRLA batteries and putting them in the trunks and under the back seats etc, to get them away from the engine heat.  That's also why you almost always see batteries mounted in the front of the engine comparment, or some place fresh air is blowing on it.

The ProSport II 20 plus would be an excellent choice if your running two TM batteries and cranking battery.

This is actaully a bigger charger than most realize, because they don't understand how it works. It will actaully charge your batteries just about as fast as a three bank, 10 amp per bank Dual Pro or similar charger, at half the cost.

It starts charging all three equally, at approx 7 amps per battery. Since the cranking battery usually only needs a small amount of charging, it charges up pretty quick. Once it does, the current going to the cranking battery is transfered to the TM batteries, so they are being charged at 10 amps each.

Granted, it's not a ProMariner ProTournament 300 (which is all I run for onboard chargers) but it does mighty well for the price. They also have an excellent warrenty and customer service. To be totally honest with you, I would chose it over the any of the other brands 3 bank, 10 amp per bank onboards. I'm a firm believer in keeping a battery on a maintenance float mode, many of the other brands do not have a float mode, they cut off at the end of the cycle. Some come back on after the voltage drops to a set level, but I prefer not having that, float is best.

I installed this charger(ProSport II 20) in my boat this past spring. After researching on-board chargers, this looked like the best choice (for the money). I bought it on sale and got the friends and family discount that was available the day I was there. A fantastic deal on what seems to be a good charger. That it has your seal of approval validates my choice. 8-)