Best battery ?

[Dave_S]

I'm looking for ones that will turn the skis over fast, one ski is a NA 1800cc and the other NA 1100cc. The batteries can sit for up to 8 weeks but disconnected and recharged before use. The two I have now and the previous ones all died before 18 months - not cheap batteries.

Any advice on better storage/maintenance will be appreciated. They are stored at a holiday house, I could leave them on a trickle charger but there is no one there to look after them and I'm nervous they might start a fire ?

[Team Bilford]

Buy an AGM style battery and don't use a trickle charger on them. If you D/C the neg cable, you will not need to charge them for several weeks. A trickle will under charge an AGM unless it has the specific algo with the higher voltage requirements of the AGM. Odyssey makes the best IMO, but Deka is also very good and makes many of the private label units out there.

[DrivingZiggy]

Not quite the answer you're looking for since it's not directly answering your question. But I'mma stick my nose in anyhow.

Lately I've been buying my batteries for my motorcycle and truck from Batteries + Bulbs. Order online and pick up at the store and you get a 10% discount. My motorcycle battery that the carry is their "house" brand and my truck's battery is a Duracell. They also have a quite generous return policy.

[casey67]

Deka agm. As mentioned they make alot of private label batteries, such as nearly all major auto part stores.
They can be ID'd by their "D" shaped posts.
They put out way more power then advertised and hold it for a long time. I average 3-4 years.
18 months is mid-quality,not that bad. The cheap ones are lucky to survive the winter-12 months max.

[Team Bilford]

Deka agm. As mentioned they make alot of private label batteries, such as nearly all major auto part stores.
They can be ID'd by their "D" shaped posts.
They put out way more power then advertised and hold it for a long time. I average 3-4 years.
18 months is mid-quality,not that bad. The cheap ones are lucky to survive the winter-12 months max.

Deka is the best of the rest, but I get over 10 years with my Odysseys and are still functional when I replace them. Some users complain that they did not get but 3 or 4 out of an Odyssey and every one of them used a tender on them. Buy an Odyssey and use the correct charger when they drop below 12.65v.

[Fandini]

Buy the “odyssey” charger. It will bring it back every time when other chargers won’t quite do it. I bet I have 6 different brands of chargers and none of them get the Odyssey battery back to specs like the Odyssey charger. I get over 10 years out of every Odyssey battery in my PWC. Don’t even take them out or disconnect them over the winter. No water to add either.

[TimeBandit]

I'm looking for ones that will turn the skis over fast, one ski is a NA 1800cc and the other NA 1100cc. The batteries can sit for up to 8 weeks but disconnected and recharged before use. The two I have now and the previous ones all died before 18 months - not cheap batteries.

Any advice on better storage/maintenance will be appreciated. They are stored at a holiday house, I could leave them on a trickle charger but there is no one there to look after them and I'm nervous they might start a fire ?

Let's first clarify "trickle charger"... I pretty sure we know what you meant, as the term is often used loosely. Yet for the greater audience here... we need to assert that a trickle charger is indeed something to worry about leaving unattended, because they maintain a constant charge potential, thus could "cook" the battery dry, and/or damage the plates on sealed batteries.

I think what you meant to say, was a "battery maintainer." These are comparatively safer, as they are somewhat "intelligent", as to only apply a charge potentials when actually needed. Even better --> not to charge when the battery is otherwise detected faulty.

So with that information in-hand, you actually have a broad battery product line to choose from, as long as you pair it with a decent maintainer.
Please search for threads on here where member "K447" has discussed this very topic many times, with great battery and maintainer recommendations.

[Highline9]

This is great info...thank you! I'll start looking (for a maintainer) from K447's posts.

[steve45]

DON'T buy the cheapo batteries that have the 'caged nut'. Well, OK, I buy them for 'Skis that I'm planning to sell, but not for keepers.

I just happened to notice this one today. I caught it while the battery was still good enough to crank the engine, so I guess I'll try to drill & tap a hole for a screw and salvage it.