Battery Upgrade/ Overhaul

I have been running the Blue Top Optimas d43m's for some time now 3-4 year's. I have been happy with them. I have always wanted more battery/Amp hr's I have 4 blue tops that run the ststem and 1 that starts the boat. So with the 5 blue tops I have a total of 275 amp hrs. Each blue top is rated at 55 amp hrs @ 20 draw.
Space has been the reason I havent tryed new batteys. Most battery's I have found are more amp hrs but are either much larger in size and weight making the blue top a good option. I found the Sea Volt and Sea Gell batterys @ West Marine a while back but havent found anyone that wanted to be a test mule for my battery experiment. I decided I would swap out all 5 of my optima's for the Sea Volt battery's

Each Sea Volt AGM battery is rated at 92 Amp hrs and weighs 67 lbs. So If can cram 5 of the Sea Volt batterys in the same space as my Optimas I will have added a extra 185 amp hrs to my system
this is the way it works out
The old system each Optima 55 amp hrs X 5 = 275 amp hrs
The new system each Sea Volt 92 amp hrs X 5 = 460 amp hrs
Now Im the process of moving some things Solonoid and relay's out of the way so that the battery's can fit Its gonna be real tight

Just curious, but what kind of alternator do you have charging your system & how many amperage rating on it?

Im running a 150 Amp Alternator right now. Im looking at some new alterantor's 210 amp's with 2" 1/2 inc pully's to take the extra strain a big alternator like that will put on the belt's

Im hopeing to almost doubble the battery storage with thenew battery's so ill need to up the alternator. Ill let you know what I come up with. Right now Im still moving wires ect out f the way to make room for the larger batterys

wow....four blue tops. Thats crazy. I was just wondering why you didnt go with the yellow tops? I have always gone with yellow tops in the trucks and boat because they are deep cycle. I have 2 in my boat link up with a Perko switch. The Perko switch is nice cause you can switch it from one or another or both. Also when you want to charge a different battery you can switch it on the fly why the engine is running. I ran a Perko switch to my stereo system which works well aslo. I can run the system power supply from one battery or another or both. I like to isolate one battery so I always have a battery to start in case I bump to hard for too long...(I have yet to completely drain one battery bumpin at ski beach for hours) Also the other question was how much amplified power are you runnin? Are you running any capacitors? If so how many Farats? General rule of thumb say .5 farat for every 500 watts or 1 farat for every 1000 watts. It helps your system always have power when it needs it and save the electrical draw on your power supply.

I'll be interested to see where you locate those, Grant. Are you planning on putting any in the nose, where you had the Optimas? They look like they might be a tad too tall.

Hey Grant,
If you are still shopping H/O alternators, check out www.mechman.com. I am running 6 blue tops and have a 220 amp alternator (oversize pulley/belt)in my Avalanche. The shop that helped with my install swears by Mechman. It seems like it is always a challenge to find quality H/O alternators, so this may be another source. I know they are not cheap, but you know the saying.

(ZRIDE) The Blue top D34m Is the same YELLOW top(light gray case)battery with a Blue marine top which has the additional marine posts on the top and the same light gray case. The blue top starting battery(dark gray case) is the same as a red top battery(dark gray case)with the addition of the marine posts blue top.

I got a chance to test fit some batterys and figure out how everything is gonna fit. I ended up fitting 4 of the group 27 Sea Volt battery's where my 5 blue optimas used to fit.

I was able to fit a blue top in a spot that I never thought would work. This will be my starting battery.

We have an imposter!! That is sooo not Grant.


Look at the shoes!!!

Not sure why I was thinking those SeaVolts weren't AGMs and you could set them on their sides. It must've been the 'ports' that are along the top.

Looks great Grant! Now I'm starting to wonder if I goofed picking up a single D34M for a battery in the nose of my boat.

I have never elt with any other battery other then blue top optima's But they size their battery's diffrent. A group 31 in a optima is a diffrent size than any other group 31 dont know why this is? But yes the Sea Vot batterys are AGM batterys and can be placed on their side. They can not be mounted upside down. If you want to mount "inverted" you need to use the Sea Gell battery's but the Sea Gell batterys are not as many amp hrs for the same size.

Grant- I went with MK AGM batterys from batterystuff.com the only reason was more amp hours per $$$ then Optima. Couldnt be happier with them. I beat the c**p out of a 105 amp hour battery last summer and it never cried mercy. The downside is there size, like your Seavolts, they were close to 2x as big as an Optima

(Message edited by iagainsti on April 06, 2006)