Battery question

General Boats and Motors
1

So not to derail the “Radar selection” thread by Retired Young but a spin-off…Your comment about your new Deka prompted me to read their site. They have this warning about Yamaha’s so since I run a Yam I’ll post this; ""Yamaha recommends a cranking-type battery that can have distilled water added to its cells when necessary. Maintenance-Free, sealed,
or Gel batteries are not recommended because they may not be compatible with Yamaha’s charging system.’’

Could one of the battery guru’s explain this? I’ve been running gel’s (Optimas) with my Yamahas for 10 years with no problem.

2

Optimas are AGM (absorbed glass mat) and not gel batteries. A lot of people interchange the two terms. Gel batteries are typically used in wheelchair’s and other medical applications. AGM batts have the acid absorbed into the mat so you can mount it any configuration and not worry about the acid spilling. AGM’S ideally charge between 13.5V and 13.8 V at 77 F. Yamaha is probably just covering their behinds so they don’t have a lot of complaints if batteries fail.