Hello, I noticed your conversation involving our products and wanted to provide our perspective on what was posted. If you are running multiple batteries in your boat and they are not properly-isolated from each other or are all being maintained with a common charger, they should be identical in age, size and type. So in reference to MLA's scenario, even if you put a new flooded battery in with an old flooded battery of an identical group size, you should be using either a multibank charger or two different chargers to maintain those batteries.

Regarding Ah ratings (and ratings in general), Optima tends to be very conservative in how we rate our batteries, preferring to under-promise and over-deliver. Performance over the lifespan of the battery is important to a lot of people on the water, but rarely mentioned until after batteries have been purchased. I routinely hear feedback from anglers who are disappointed to see so much drop off in reserve capacity on their trolling motor batteries (from many different brands & manufacturers) within the first two years of use.

Part of it is that some of these folks don't recharge their batteries as soon as they get home. Instead, they allow sulfation to build up on their discharged batteries and wait until the night before their next trip out on the water to put them on a charge. However, part of it is that the decline in performance on some flooded products is steep and steady. Manufacturers and brands know consumers are chasing many different numbers when buying batteries. Some are looking for the lowest price, some are looking for the longest warranty (and will overlook pro-ration penalties), while others look at standardized ratings on the labels. Some brands have even created proprietary ratings, which sound impressive, but don't allow consumers to do apples to apples comparisons. Consumers have choices in every regard, although options directly contradict others- it has the longest warranty, but it also costs the most, etc...

As important as it is, it's difficult for anyone to accurately and consistently measure battery capacity over time, but just about any auto parts store can load test your battery and most will do it for free. That will give you a good indication of how that battery is performing, relative to the ratings on the label. Most new batteries should test above their rated CCA, but some test far higher than others and are able to continue testing far higher, for far longer.

If you do choose to upgrade the stereo system in your boat, it is a good idea to upgrade your battery at the same time. However, consideration should also be given to the quality of your wiring and your alternator. Any system will only be as strong as it's weakest link, so the improvement in one area may be minimized or negated if the other areas are deficient.

Ajbrooks1, our RedTop batteries are designed and warrantied only for starting/lighting/ignition use, not deep-cycle use, which would include audio. In those applications, we would recommend our YellowTop batteries or our BlueTop batteries with light gray cases (D34M, D27M or D31M).

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries