Hi all
26X
Our starter battery in the helm post is shot, any recommendations of replacements (make, models) ?
TIA
—
Stephen and Julia
Francesca
Macgregor 26x (2003)
Fri, 07/06/2024 - 1:41pm
#1
26X Starter battery
If you have a decent house battery with plenty of available amp hours then just go lead acid. 50 to 80 ah should be enough . Suggest search Internet. Think , why did old one fail? Was it lack of use/ charging?Was there a hidden drain on it? Did you have to use it for House and hence flatten it?
Periodically a good intelligent trickle charge is good , especially in winter. Inelegant battery combiner/ voltage sensitive rely is helpful.
I'm sure others have ore erudite words.
Hi Roly
We have a separate house battery the helm one is purely for starting the outboard.
I think the old ones failure was just age (roughly 22 years old) and lack of use last season (boat sat on trailer all summer without any trickle charge)
I did try a trickle charge on if for a couple of weeks but it's not holding enough charge.
I'll have a look about to get a replacement, looks a tight space to work in (not looking forward to it)
Many thanks
Stephen and Julia
Francesca
Macgregor 26x (2003)
I've installed NOCO NLP30 LiFePO battery as a starter one on my M26M "Harmony". Works great, starts Yamaha 50 in a split second, has 700 CCA, despite only 9Ah. You will also need a DC-DC charger (I have Victron), as internal BMS shuts the battery when fully recharged, so the alternator current needs to be diverted to the house battery. You will find plenty of information on the LiFePO house batteries in the marine systems but very little on LiFePO starter batteries. Mine works for 2 years now with no problem. PM me if you need more details.
22 years is way old for a battery...Im not surprised it needed replacing. Platinum seems to get a fair report and is sold in Force 4 chandlery . Also Yuasu seemed to be good. Make sure it says marine . Sizes can vary , also the type of pos/ neg poles. Need to ensure it can take a fat cable for starter. Good luck. Roly
If you are only using the battery for just the outboard then a cheap 60 amph wet from places like Halfords will do the job . Some have even gone down the route of using a 12v motorcycle battery to save weight. I use the 60 amph wet in my X helm pinnacle for the outboard & have a 300 amph po4 lithium iron phosphate house battery placed under the galley which we got from sterling batteries. Both batteries are independent of each other.
I agree with Andrew, if it's just there to start the motor you don't need anything special. You don't really need more than 45 Ah, or even 30 probably. You can get batteries that size quite cheaply. Maybe Halfords, or try online. You might think having a battery shipped is expensive, but it's not! Usually cheaper than a shop, just search for something like "12v car battery" to find suppliers.
Rick Jones (Treasurer), former 26X & 19 owner, Isle of Wight