Thread: optima marine battery question

Whew! That's a "high dollar" battery. I just use the wally-world brand and buy the largest deep cycle they have. Usually last about three years and I fish an average of 3 days per week. What is their life span? Do you charge every time you fish or wait until near total discharge?

yep have 3 of them

are they on board? looking at optima's web site, they recommend this charger. have you used it and if so is it worth the money? also, do u use separate batteries or the "troll fury"?

I used Walmart batteries also, I troll some, but once I locate the crappie I may stay there for quite awhile as long as they bite and I catch them. A lot of the guys around here are stationary crappie fisherman, we just stake out an area and reframe from starting the big motors.

The younger guys like to troll around and catch one from each bush and move on to the next bush. I guess it is all in what you like to do. If I intend to troll quite a bit I take two trolling batteries, plus a cranking battery for my outboard--I do not troll on it.

worth their weight n gold. i have four (2 in boat). best money i ever spent. i got the min kota on board charger they sell at wally world ($75 after rebate) and it works great with them

I use two blue top Optimas hooked in parallel (troll fury) for my trolling motor and one blue top for the cranking and depth finder. My boat is pretty light (1654 aluminum F&F) and I can troll three days straight in heavy wind without recharging....they are amazing. I started to buy a Minn Kota on board charger but was told they were not recommended for the AGM batteries. I got a charger from Cabella's that has a setting for those which works great. I leave it plugged in all the time as recommended. Before I got the Optimas I used the WM brand but they didn't seem to hold as good a charge. If you get the Optimas be SURE to get the blue tops which are deep cycle. I would not recommend a cranking battery even for the outboard if you are going to also use it to power electronics.

Guys...........just had a pretty in depth discussion about this on the Georgia Off Topic forum

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/georg...r-battery.html

Also, my personal charger of choice:

http://www.blackanddecker.com/Produc...oductID=15579#

This used to be Vector Portside...........they have been bought by Black & Decker........

Nice charger..........has modes for Wet, AGM, and Gel batteries plus desulfate mode to refresh the electrolytes in the battery

Originally Posted by luvpt

I use two blue top Optimas hooked in parallel (troll fury) for my trolling motor and one blue top for the cranking and depth finder. My boat is pretty light (1654 aluminum F&F) and I can troll three days straight in heavy wind without recharging....they are amazing. I started to buy a Minn Kota on board charger but was told they were not recommended for the AGM batteries. I got a charger from Cabella's that has a setting for those which works great. I leave it plugged in all the time as recommended. Before I got the Optimas I used the WM brand but they didn't seem to hold as good a charge. If you get the Optimas be SURE to get the blue tops which are deep cycle. I would not recommend a cranking battery even for the outboard if you are going to also use it to power electronics.

I am not familar with "troll fury", can you explain it or what it is?