AH rating for WalMart MarineMaxx 29?

[amytom]

Does anyone know the AmpHour rating of WalMart's MarineMaxx29 battery? It is advertised as a deep cycle battery but only gives it's rating in cca's.

[over40pirate]

Not really sure, but I would guess about 110 ah

[Latitude9.5]

Those walmart batteries are terrible, it's prolly half whatever they advertised it to be.

[amytom]

unfortunately they are already on board. I have 3 on the house bank and 1 for the start. Just curious where I'm at now and then I can plan for the eventual replacements.

Thanks

[exranger]

Are they really that bad???

what other cheap alternatives are there???

[Latitude9.5]

I don't even want to add up the money I've wasted on cheap batteries, its without fail been my experience that you do in fact get what you pay for when it comes to deep cycle batteries.

I'm not even impressed with the automotive batteries walmart sells, the factory battery in my truck was 7 years old when it went bad, I replaced with a walmart battery and it had to be replaced once again within a year ( I sold the truck with the replacement battery in it). I used one of their AGM batteries in the dinghy for the bilge pump, charged 4 times and it wouldn't take a charge after that.

They'll take them back no problem, but it becomes a pain in the butt to return them every 6 months, not worth IMHO.

[CaptHead]

There are only a few battery manufacturers. Delco is probably the largest and makes batteries for Sears, Firestone, Kragan, etc. I wouldn't be surprized to find it was made in Mexico by Delco. I agree it is also a low line battery and probably in the 110-130 Amp size. Just keep the water filles with distilled, don't constantly charge them and they will last. Constant charging kills batteries.

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by exranger

Are they really that bad???

what other cheap alternatives are there???

I'm a cheap guy. I spend a lot of time trying to cut things out of my budget to save up for cruising. You'd be amazed at how "frugal" I am.

The one piece of advice I can give to you is this:

The cheapest thing to do is to buy high quality batteries (Trojan, Rolls, Surette), a battery monitor and take very good care of your batteries.

You *cannot* save any money buying cheap batteries because you will end up buying them a lot more often. One quality set can last 10 years if you are very careful with them and take care of them. Cheapos last a year or two.

[amytom]

Don't constantly charge them? I was always under the impression that Lead acid batteries should remain charged but with a smart charger. I have a Trucharge 20A as well as a Trace solar controller on 7 Siemens panels and a wind gen. When at the dock should I turn off the charger or just rely on it being smart enough? Or maybe just run the heck out of the batteries and return before the warranty runs out?

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by amytom

Don't constantly charge them? I was always under the impression that Lead acid batteries should remain charged but with a smart charger. I have a Trucharge 20A as well as a Trace solar controller on 7 Siemens panels and a wind gen. When at the dock should I turn off the charger or just rely on it being smart enough?

Your smart charger will be "smart" enough not to ruin the batteries by overcharging. Definitely leave it plugged in. It will maintain the charge in "float" stage while you are gone.