De-winterizing startup trouble

Where do you boat.? Lots of lakes near u!

Well that was a good thread. Especially loved the part where Pete is installing speakers on a tower for the Atom. 6 volt. Great visual. That's funny.
And my original diagnosis was correct. I feel good.

My neighbor who has a Mastercraft has a bad cover and his starter got totally rusted but being a cheapskate (aren’t we all?), he just keeps using it even though it cranks slowly and takes a lot of juice to start.

Starters are pretty robust appliances.

OptimaJim wrote: I appreciate your patience guys and hopefully, I'll have some answers that will make sense. I've had this question come up before and our engineering group's consistent response starts with asking what kind of a battery someone believes is a deep-cycle battery, as the vast majority of batteries that would show up in automotive or marine applications (at least most boats that can be towed behind your vehicle) are not true “deep-cycle” batteries, like those found in stand-alone power systems. The "deep-cycle" batteries most folks use are like our YellowTops or BlueTops with light-gray cases, that are designed for starting vehicles, but can also handle being deeply-discharged with trolling motors or other electrical accessories. The standard line is that as long as these batteries meet or exceed the OE requirements for cranking amps or marine cranking amps (CCA isn't really used much in marine), the battery will have no negative impact on the starter, alternator or anything else. The caveat to that is that the rated cranking amps on the label may not come out of the battery, if it isn't fully-charged, which is a very common issue in vehicles (and vessels) that only see occasional and/or seasonal use. I wanted to cover off on this question from the other parts of the electrical triangle, as my friend, John, at Powermaster Performance likes to call it, so I called him with the same question. He is a great resource on all things related to starters and alternators and has a very capable crew on staff, who has forgotten more about that stuff than most folks will ever know. John's team echoed our guys in respect to hardly anyone using real deep-cycle batteries in these applications, but also noted that solenoids are voltage sensitive. When they receive less than 11 volts, things start to go bad and he noted it's a huge problem with street rod guys, who hardly ever take their cars out and don't properly-maintain their batteries in between use. In marine applications, he regularly tells customers volt meters are their friends and they should be looking for at least 12.6 volts (our BlueTops with light-gray cases are fully-charged at ~13.0-13.2V). When his marine customers have issues, they find their issues are primarily traced back to three typical issues- eyelets too large, leading to poor connections, crimped eyelets leading to poor connections and cable that is too small. With wires running to and from starters, alternators and batteries, there are plenty of opportunities to have issues in multiple locations. If the battery can't make it to at least 12.6 volts or drops really low when starting, then there could also be an issue with the battery. John is also a big advocate for gear reduction starters, because they can provide more torque for high-compression engines and engines that are hard to start in general. I hope that answers your question. Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries Learn more about Powermaster's stuff here- http://powermastermotorsports.com/

Hi Jim and thanks for the reply

I guess one maybe easy question is could someone walk into their local autp parts store
(like Pete walking into his favorite AutoZone for example) and buy what you guys refer to as a true deep cycle battery or is a true deep cycle what is sold for solar installations etc.

Is what's sold as a marine deep cycle a true deep cycle? It sounds like it's not.

Otherwise it sounds like whatever you have for a battery, if you actually show it a little love and take care of it you should have far less problems than with the battery that sits neglected until you decide it's time to start the boat after a winter hibernation?

And solenoid issues are gonna happen with whatever kind of battery you have if the battery is not in good shape?