8V batteries - Where?

[ohiohatteras]

My bro has an 50' 1987 Betram with a 32 volt system. He needs 4 new batteries.
He told me today that the Deka batteries he last bought are no longer made.
They were around 21" long and his battery trays are set up for them. Only batteries ha says he can find a gel 8 volts and they are 28" long.

Anybody know where to find to shorter version 8 volts? We're in Ohio...so would need a place somewhat close by....
Thanks

 

[MadHatter53]

I'm lookng as well. I have 4, 8D 8volt wet. East penn manufacturing is on my call list as well as a few others. What I found is they are not cheap and weigh 130+lbs each.

 

[finatic]

Check Trojan Batteries. I think they have several sizes.

 

[finatic]

US Battery - This one is 21 long US 13-4-1 XC2
Go US Battery web site and you can find a dealer in your area.

 

[miboatnutz]

The problem I found with using an 8 volt AGM volt battery is that the ones which will fit into existing 8D battery boxes will not have equivalent AH and cold cranking amps as their lead acid equivalents.

Since my battery boxes were original and rotted, I ripped them out and replaced them with some really nice NOCO boxes which each hold two Full River DC180-8 AGM batteries. Two battery boxes per side and yes, when all four of the batteries are squeezed next to each other you get just over 28 inches. I had loads of room below, so installed two boxes on each side that were about six inches apart for ease of box install.

We're on year three for Full River AGM's and an Analytic charger with no complaints whatsoever. Boat sits all winter with no charge and yet fires right up in the spring.

 

[northshoreone]

I got a quote from dcbattery.com in Miami FL including shipping to Charlevoix MI that was lower than what I could buy them from the local State supplier! Give them a try.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Rolls Battery makes the 8v batteries that fit. You can buy others but you will not get the life out them that you will get with the Rolls. I would not use any other 8v battery. My start bank is 11 years old.

 

[carolinacoast]

With 11 years that is the winner.
I went to the dark side last year with golf cart batteries. The big knock is that CCA are not published, although you can get anecdotal testing data.
Had a new to me certified Detroit mechanic onboard yesterday who complimented the spin up of the engines. Trojan T875s with watering system.
Several boats here go to the bahamas yearly and have gone either AGM or golf cart. We just use 1 box per side now.

However, I also have the non traditional battery setup the MikeP (former owner and perhaps an engineer) advocated, since I have a second gen with a dedicated start batt.

 

[Boatsb]

Sky knows the cost per year with his rolls batteries is far better than any other choice. It's the solution Hatteras chose too. Not because it was expensive but because it worked right.


Batteries have a life expectancy based on it use, care and cycles.

The number of years is not the only measure. Although it's nice to get 10 or more years out of a bank like the rolls if you keep a lesser battery charged, watered and barely use it it may also last 10 years too. Run it daily for starting and house loads off the shore power or genny and it will age faster for sure.

Also the standard agm and FLA batteries are designed for 3-400 cycles at 50%. LiFePo batteries run at 4-5000 cycles at up to 80% and weigh about 1/2 per AH.

Too bad Nobody is making a 32 volt LiFePo battery so the rolls again becomes the best available technology

 

[drburke]

Good reliability info in this thread. I was very happy with my US Battery purchase 7 years ago but they timed out.

I would only add that one of the reasons (anecdotally) for batteries failing sooner nowadays than a decade ago is since most are made in China they contain recycled lead which has trace metals which shorten the lifetime.

Decent car batteries used to go 5 years without effort; now 4 is hard. So some of the group experience may be from a higher quality product than currently available, or no longer available, on the market.

Scott makes a good point about LiFePO4. I am in the process of converting my boat to 32V cells of that technology, backed by SuperCap boosters at the starter. Raw cells alone are ~$3K and I am designing the electronics (BMS, bypass relays, balancing) myself since I am an EE. Stand by for that.

DAN