Are AGM batteries worth it?
- Thread starter Tightlines22
- Start date
Not quite. The Optima brand batteries are manufactured by Johnson Controls battery division.
https://www.johnsoncontrols.com/batteries/lead-acid-batteries/battery-brands
daddystoy
Well-Known Member
I know everybody has their opinion on battery brands. I'm one who has had a good experience with Crappy Tires Nautilus brand batteries.
I just replaced a group 24 Nautilus start battery from 2004. YES you read that right....2004!! I topped it up every year with distilled water and charged it up at the end of each season and again at the beginning of the following season. I would load test it each year before re-installing it and it passed each year with acceptable results.
I replaced this battery not because it failed but because I thought I might be pushing my luck a bit. I actually thought about using it again just because I wanted to see how long I could make it last!!!
Probably not a smart idea. And yes... I replaced it with an identical Nautilus battery.
I just replaced a group 24 Nautilus start battery from 2004. YES you read that right....2004!! I topped it up every year with distilled water and charged it up at the end of each season and again at the beginning of the following season. I would load test it each year before re-installing it and it passed each year with acceptable results.
I replaced this battery not because it failed but because I thought I might be pushing my luck a bit. I actually thought about using it again just because I wanted to see how long I could make it last!!!
Probably not a smart idea. And yes... I replaced it with an identical Nautilus battery.
Attachments
brutus
Well-Known Member
good on you,me and a friend bought 4 at the same time a few years back for electric motor trolling,mine crapped out after one season and my buddy craped out half way true his second season,also had 2x motorcycle batterie crap out after one season and my jag batterie was only 2 years hold and just craped out so no I am not happy with CT batteries and yes they all where maintain by smart charger,motorcicle was on a battterie tender all year,replace all of them with batterie from the local batterie store and all are kicking still now,also have 4x deepcycle for my trailer with solar panels and 2x in my boat,oh and 2 more in my truck and one in my wifes suv,lol yes I have lots of experience with batteries.maybe I was just unlucky as f...…,but wont buy any of them from CT
How do you like your LTO battery .. did you go 5s or 6s? I just got 100 amps of LIFEPO4 to replace my lead. Figure I pulled close to 60 lbs off the transom. Also.. where did you get your LTO and what size did you go?I switched over to group 31 agm batteries about 4 years ago. (2 starting and 2 house) The pure lead batteries from Can Tire that are expensive. (over 400 each plus tax) At the time I wanted to have something that I thought was going to be reliable for many years. All the hype lead me to believe agm was the be all and end all at the time.
I only used them during the summer months on my boat and bring them into my garage over the winter and charge (top up) every couple of months. I bought 1 battery each year to make it "affordable" I just returned the first battery I purchased as it would no longer hold a charge and failed every test they put it under (load test, etc). I was lucky and caught it 2 months before the 3 year warranty expiry came into effect so I was given a replacement battery. (only 2 months warranty on it though...) The newer battery (identical) comes with a 4 year warranty now. This happening on the first purchased and oldest battery has shaken my confidence on the others. Main thing I've found is try not to run them past 50% discharge if possible. If you want to get any life out of them. I also have a few different battery monitors on the boat that I can check to see what voltage the batteries are at and what the amp draw is at any given time. Comes in pretty handy if you want to not put your batteries at risk imo. What really hurts is I had all lead acid batteries previously and got over 7 years with them with no issues. 2 of them are still in pretty good shape to this day. If I had to do it all over again, honestly I think I would stick with good quality commercial lead acid batteries. I've been reading and researching the newer LiFePO batteries and over the long run they seem like they might be a good choice. I have been using a small lithium titanate battery to run the winch on my potpuller and have been really impressed. Anyways I think the future is going to be going to these newer technology batteries soon and if you are a diy'er even building your own units from individual cells might be a good choice to look into. There are a ton of youtube video's out there on the subject.
bigdogeh
Well-Known Member
Hi Macro.
I made it 5S and use a small bms. (each individual cell is approx 2.72V when tested with a voltmeter) I love the battery so far. I use it to run a 2000# warn winch that's mounted off my potpulling jib, but I don't actually use it to retrieve pots (should have been clearer in my post above) as I have a brutus type potpuller for that. It's more to lift in the large coolers full of ice and food or anything else heavy into the boat. (Next year I plan on re and re-ing my port diesel engine with one I'm rebuilding atm and I have no doubt the winch and battery setup should be able to handle it. I used a chainfall off the jib last time) The amazing thing is the potpuller is run wirelessly and the way I had it setup, there was a constant draw I believe on the battery even when not in use. Took me awhile to figure out why (I believe the wireless wiring was pulling a draw) and I now have the small LTO battery on it's own disconnect switch. Before that the battery would draw down over time. Twice it drew down to just over 1 volt after leaving it unattended for weeks on end (before the disconnect switch) and I thought the battery would be screwed. But it recovered each time just like new to it's original state of charge when I purchased it. Not sure if a regular battery would have done that. It's amazing the power the small battery puts out to run the winch. So, so far I've been really impressed.
These look like the ones I have.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5PC...8.0&pvid=8e2763fa-ce0b-4790-acc4-9f3aa451b47b
This pic is of a smaller 3AH battery, but it shows you the approx voltage of a 5S setup. These batteries come in quite a few AH (amp hr) configurations. With this one, 414 CCA from a battery less than 4" square. Not bad... prob start the wifes honda with little effort...
I made it 5S and use a small bms. (each individual cell is approx 2.72V when tested with a voltmeter) I love the battery so far. I use it to run a 2000# warn winch that's mounted off my potpulling jib, but I don't actually use it to retrieve pots (should have been clearer in my post above) as I have a brutus type potpuller for that. It's more to lift in the large coolers full of ice and food or anything else heavy into the boat. (Next year I plan on re and re-ing my port diesel engine with one I'm rebuilding atm and I have no doubt the winch and battery setup should be able to handle it. I used a chainfall off the jib last time) The amazing thing is the potpuller is run wirelessly and the way I had it setup, there was a constant draw I believe on the battery even when not in use. Took me awhile to figure out why (I believe the wireless wiring was pulling a draw) and I now have the small LTO battery on it's own disconnect switch. Before that the battery would draw down over time. Twice it drew down to just over 1 volt after leaving it unattended for weeks on end (before the disconnect switch) and I thought the battery would be screwed. But it recovered each time just like new to it's original state of charge when I purchased it. Not sure if a regular battery would have done that. It's amazing the power the small battery puts out to run the winch. So, so far I've been really impressed.
These look like the ones I have.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5PC...8.0&pvid=8e2763fa-ce0b-4790-acc4-9f3aa451b47b
This pic is of a smaller 3AH battery, but it shows you the approx voltage of a 5S setup. These batteries come in quite a few AH (amp hr) configurations. With this one, 414 CCA from a battery less than 4" square. Not bad... prob start the wifes honda with little effort...
Last edited:
Similar threads
