Starter battery

[mick]

What is the best dedicated starter battery, in terms of power, for a Beta 13.5 hp with a 40amp alternator in a yacht in which the engine is run for the least time possible? My old, knackered, one is 56ah, and I am wondering if this is perhaps unnecessarily powerful.

 

[pvb]

Starting power is rated in CCA, not Ah, so theoretically you should be looking for something with a good CCA. However, in reality your engine is quite small and doesn't need a lot to start it, so any small starter battery would do the job. Having said that, the last thing you want is for the battery to let you down, so why not just replace it with a similarly-sized battery? The cost will be about the same.

 

[KREW2]

I've just put a 600cca battery on my VP 2002 and it turns it over luverly.

 

[BAtoo]

If you want a small starting battery with a high cca look at the red flash range; special gel starting batteries, small (6-7kg), bit pricey but v good. (About £90 delivered)
I use one on my VP 2003 28hp; works fine and in the space left from the old large battery i put another domestic battery.

 

[johna]

I think this demonstrates the size of the red flash and in my case the short connecting cables. I know I need to cover the terminals to prevent accidental shorting.

 

[ditchcrawler]

I put a Red Flash in as a starter as well & combined my other two batteries as domestics.My understanding is that Red Flash are AGM batteries not Gel.

 

[Jonny_H]

Our starter battery failed on the last day of our summer cruise. Luckily we had plenty in the domestics so could still parallel the banks and start the engine. I was thinking about the red start - but then I thought what happened in the reverse situation (domestics fail), would a red flash have enough to power a VHF/GPS and start an engine - I know a traditional one would.

Just a thought - very tempted by the red flash - this is my only concern?

Jonny