Starter battery recommended MCA

[kaelc]

5 years of boating, 4 sets of batteries and I was always ignorant of the MCA needed marine cranking amps, and they aren’t even displayed on Canada Proof Batteries Deep Cycle or Energizer Marine AGM. Have you ever seen the MCA rating?

Few of the common outboard recommended batteries www.dekabatteries.com/assets/base/0406MarineApplicationslayout.pdf

 

[kaelc]

Found the MCA rating on the blue optima and everstart marine

 

[Newf]

I have a set of Interstates in mine and they show 690 and 500 MCA

 

[pescador]

Yamaha's website provides battery requirements by horsepower type for a typical set up. I just followed that with my F250 and now have 7 years on my Interstates. Never a problem, not once. I have a on board charger and use it a half dozen times a year when the season is on. Not sure if i'm just having good luck or the Interstates are just high quality. May replace this year tho.

 

[Rob H]

Found the MCA rating on the blue optima and everstart marine

I have an older 200 hp MercuryOptimax as the main on my 21.5 Campion. These motors are known to require a strong battery for starting. I have a Costco group 27 "Starting/Deep Cycle" as battery 1 and a blue top Optima as battery 2. I alternate which battery I use for the day via by battery switch. Either battery will start the Merc on its own with no problems. I replaced the batteries at 8 years even though both were still performing well. The batteries are kept charged while trolling with a HT9.9 Yamaha, I never need to put a charger on the batteries.
...Rob

 

[salmonkiller01]

Optima blue top for me, they seem to last and no worries of gassing

 

[Whole in the Water]

1) Get the most MCA you can afford. 2) get a ACR switch if you have more than 1 battery - will keep them equally charge and (3) get a onboard battery charger like a NOCO Genius and plug in your batteries when not running the boat. This will ensure virtually problem free use and long life.

 

[Corey_lax]

1) Get the most MCA you can afford. 2) get a ACR switch if you have more than 1 battery - will keep them equally charge and (3) get a onboard battery charger like a NOCO Genius and plug in your batteries when not running the boat. This will ensure virtually problem free use and long life.

Agreed. He’s going through way too many batteries.

 

[ship happens]

Never use deep cycle batteries for starting. Especially with fuel injected engines. Blue top is deep cycle. Snake oil. Combination batteries are also snake oil. Keep her simple.

 

[Newf]

On my 30hp 3 cylinder diesel, the house and start battery were opposite of how they should have been hooked up for the first 5 years that I owned the boat. It was hooked up wrong at the factory. So the deep cycle in reality was my start. Not what's recommended but they obviously work and I realize it's a much smaller engine than what most boats run. I only found out it was wrong when I had a dead "house" battery after leaving something on and checks revealed that the house battery location actually had the start battery in it's place. Swapped the batteries around and in May of this year they will be 8 years old.

 

[zurk]

i use a northstar NSB AGM-31M.
1150 CCA/1370 MCA
works great.

 

[Foxsea]

Some good advice here! Use the right battery- there are differences. Use a smart charger. Also, a smart regulator is also a great idea. Typical alternators with diode regulators never get a battery up to full charge. Mosfet is the way to go.