PWC newbie here. battery question!

[rpblanchette87@gmail.com]

Hi all, i'm new to this whole pwc thing. had a family friend give me his old 95 seadoo bombardier GTX in the fall. tearing it down now and it needs a battery as well as a new motor. have a replacement 657x motor I will be picking up next week. It didn't come with a battery in it and i'm not sure what model/type it takes. checked a couple of different websites and it came up with all sorts of options, not sure which ones will work and which ones will not. some were like 130 bucks with 350 CCA's and 30 Ah's and others were like 70 bucks with 250 CCA's and 19 Ah's.

any suggestions for what would be best to use? i dont mind spending a little extra for a nice one. I am not sure how many Cold cranking amps or Ah's are ideal for pwc's.

i tried searching but didn't come up with much.
thanks for any assistance.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

16CLB from walmart or advance auto will work just fine. just make sure you take it out in the winter time and put it on a trickle charge now and then through the cold months. this keeps it from going dead. doing this will give you more than one season out of it

 

[CodyT]

I use a sealed lawnmower battery. Had to adapt the tray and straps but I just couldn't see spending over $50 for a battery just because it was a bit smaller.

IMO always go for sealed. AGM is preferred because of the size but a SLA will work just fine. Why sealed? Bouncing around and especially rolling over can cause a vented battery to leak and make a bit of a mess. Also, you don't have to charge sealed batteries outside since they don't produce gases as they charge.

Cody

:EDIT: Anything over 200cca and 19AH will work well. As stated above, pick up a charger/maintainer and hook it up when not in use for extended periods. Be sure that the charger has an "automatic float mode" which will treat your battery a lot better and that it charges at or under two amps if you're leaving it hooked to the ski. NEVER attempt to start the engine with a charger hooked up. I use a disconnect switch to cut power to the MPEM while I charge to prevent a costly accident.

 

[Dr Honda]

Are Lawn batteries actually sealed? I thought they had glued caps... but they are still a "Wet" battery, and have vents. I know the one in my tractor isn't actually sealed.

 

[CodyT]

Most lawnmower batteries ARE glued caps. Took a tiny bit of looking but I found one that Auto Zone sells.

Is it actually a bad thing to use vented batteries? I guess in a roll over it might leak in the engine bay...

 

[Dr Honda]

AGM batteries are better... but a wet battery is fine. That's why there is a hose to connect the vent to the outside of the hull.