Start Battery

[hard aground]

Just curious on thoughts about the smallest size/current start battery for an A4 powered boat. Presently have a group 24 that won't hold a charge to save it's life. Literally.

[joe_db]

My start battery is a U1. It is about 30 AH and I can pick it up with one hand. It is getting old and has a hard time with cold starts now. A group 24 is plenty big to cold start an A4, so it might be the path of least resistance to just get another one.
FYI - the A4 draws about 120-140 amps when starting.

[Sam]

As I have gotten older and harder to wield batteries in and out of tight spces I switched to Optima AGM marine Blue top batteries., D27, can easily handle with one arm. Each battery is about 10;bs lighter than lead acid counterpart, can operate at any angle, handle vibrations etc. Costs about 3 times as much but I have one still going strong after about 11 seasons.

[Administrator]

+1 on the Optimas.

Bill

[roadnsky]

+2 on the Optima
Been using them since '09 with great results.
One of them is 10 years old and still kicking.

[Al Schober]

A group 24 is all you need. If your Gp 24 isn't holding a charge, get it off the boat and try it again. If it holds a charge off the boat, you have a boat problem rather than a battery problem. Then again, batteries do die.