Hi Bruce,
When one of my new "Exide
4D Nautilus Gold Commercial" batteries lost cell shortly after I took
delivery, the dealer arranged for Exide to replace t,
and rather than just getting one, I got two new ones to parallel into a single
bank.
The original Catalina OEM
Batteries: NG4D Commercial: 1400 mca, 400 reserve
minutes.
The only Exide
batteries you're likely to find off the shelf are "Nautilus Gold"
batteries. NG4D : 850mca, 250 reserve minutes. In fact, this is more or less, the standard
for retail batteries.
After contacting Exide (Mass. Distributor) and explaining the mixup, they contacted Exide
engineering because their info doesn't list the 4D as a 1400/400 battery.
The Scoop:
Exide bought some other battery
company (name escapes me) and consolidated their 4D line. While they are still
manufacturing both, they may now label them both with the same 850/250 label.
How can you tell which is
which? The true 850/250 rated battery is engraved with a series of letters/numbers
on the TOP of the battery and will have a "250" in it. The 1400/400 rated battery will be engraved
on the SIDE and will have a 400" in it.
If you want the high output Exide batteries that Exide OEMs
for it's boats, you'll have to contact Catalina and
arrange for Exide to drop these locally for you. did this and I
think I ended up paying $160. Catalina
paid for the other one.
However! If I were to do this again, I'd simply go with two 4D Gel cells or
4D AGMs. I'd
possibly consider going with 6v versions, but unless you're very careful to
take care of the extra cabling between the batteries, you may lose the
advantage. If you have the stock charger
and alternator, Gels are better than AGMs. They cost a bit
more, but they are simply better batteries, less
maintenance, much safer in ocean conditions and don't lose their charge quite
like flooded batteries.
Hi,
Here's some possibly
new/clarifying info on the OEM vs. Off-the-shelf Exide
batteries.
Exide salesmen and distributors
really aren't aware of the batteries
Catalina
OEMs. All they seem to know about is the NG4D they
sell which is a "true" deep cycle battery. It seems each time I mention it to them, the Exide guys seem to insist that they've never produced the
battery most of us have in our boat...
They say they've never
made a 1400 mca
marine deep cycle battery.
In fairness, it appears that
our batteries may be a bit more of a dual
purpose battery deep cycle and
starting battery given the amount of Marine Cranking Amps (mca) and the
reserve minutes. If this is actually
true, then it is even more important to avoid deep discharges.
Exide's aren't all that great, and
I replaced my failing ones with the OEM version only because I wanted a matched
pair, and could
get them for $175 each from the Mass. Distributor (and Catalina paid for one of
them).
-Jeff