Interstate Battery Issue

So I purchased a new boat from Cabelas in February of this year and it came with a group 31 AGM interstate dual purpose battery. Over the last couple of months I started to have issues with the battery dying at the end of the day and would have to use the emergency start switch to fire the motor. The last week of using it, the battery would die on me in the middle of the day and even in the morning. I took the battery to Cabelas and they tested it and said it was fine. I bought a Duracell AGM group 31 and ran it last weekend and one evening this week with no problems.

Has anyone been through this before? Cabelas suggested having it tested at an Interstate Battery warranty center.

I just got a new ranger that came with that battery. I don’t think it even meets Mercury’s specs for a 200 pro xs. I took it out and replaced with a X2. It’s a shame what they set the boats up with these days. The interstate would have a hard time cranking motor, running electronics, live wells, etc.

I have never had good luck with Interstate batteries. I quit using them many years ago.

My experience as well.

I guess I’m lucky then. My other boat was a 2015 model and sold it last year and never had a problem with them.
My boat now is 1 1/2 years old and not a problem so far. All of them have been Interstates AG 31.
When I come back home my batteries always stay on charge. The only time they are off the charger is when I’m fishing in it.

I’ve always run interstates. I same issue last year with mine dying on me while out fishing. Had it tested locally and tested good. Took it to interstate store in ft worth for warranty exchange but it also tested good. So just bought a new one. Well same issue was going on. Finally found out I had something pulling off the battery while turned off. Ended up being the onboard charger. I would see if any of your wires spark while e writhing is turned off. If so then you have something pulling power. If it test good then it’s good over 95% of the time. I used to sell batteries.

A ammeter will tell you if there is anything drawing current when everything is supposed to be off. About $10 online or at Wally World.

We sell about 3000 Interstate batteries a year with very few failures. Normally something else is causing the issues we have found out 90 percent of the time.

Far as the comment above not being enough to crank a 200. A group 31 with crank just about anything just fine. A group 24 will even crank a 200 in a pinch

I would never run a dual purpose as a starting battery especially on a boat with a lot of electronics...I also put a main battery cutoff switch that cuts off everything except the trolling batteries when the boat is parked. Onboard charger stays plugged in when boat is not being used. No problems this way with either boat.
I switched to lithiums for my trolling batteries several months ago and they are great! Power all day even in a big wind and charge fast plus way less weight in the back of the boat.

I've personally had bad experiences with them. They are readily available and you often see them on a rack collecting dust. Maybe we just got some old ones, who knows. But since we went to the Odyssey 2150 to run electronics and starting, zero issues. For 2022 I'm going to run electronics off a 12v lithium and go back to a blue top for just cranking only.

I've been through it with 2 different AGM batteries. The first was a Sears Platinum. Battery was tested 7 ways to Sunday. I even bought a Carbon Pile load tester. It passed every test ran on it - with good numbers and not just barely getting by. Same as you I was experiencing battery loss in 1/2 day with no real load. Replaced the battery in spite of the test and the problems went away.

2nd battery was a Batteries Plus X2, both were Grp 31's by the way. Same thing, same test, same passed test. Same problem solved once I replaced the battery.

The Platinum now supplies lights for my construction trailer. It will only hold a charge of 11.4v. But it runs a string of LED interior lights just fine. The X2 is still in the boat but I haven't had a chance to test the configuration yet. I moved all my electronics: 3 - 9" Carbons, 1 - 12" Live, NMEA net, SS3D module/transducer, Active Target module/transducer, Point One antenna, to a stand alone Grp 31 wet cell. battery(All I could find on Toledo Bend at the time). The X2 provides cranking juice, pump power and lights.

yep, junk and could not give them to me for free

My 225 Optimax uses group 24 Interstates... Never an issue

Same here....my Ranger had them and after 1 year, they took a dump, switched to Sam's Duracell and never looked back.

This ^^^

Avid_Basser:

What group Duracell batteries did you end up using? I presume AGM and I'm curious as to what group/model you used for the TM and what group/model did you use for the starting/electronics.

I'm about to do the exact same replacement of all 4 of my flooded Interstate batteries...to do away with any maintenance other than charging them.

Group 31...did away with those smaller batteries that had little to no capacity for the entire day. I bought these...have 3 now:

Sam's Club Marine Group 31