Group 31 Battery

[JR19]

Thanks for the replies so far.

If your looking for a direct replacement of the Sam's Duracell then you have 2 options. East Penn manufacturing makes the Sam's Duracell and the O'rilyes auto part battery posted in reply #5 and a Deka Intimidator 31 AGM. All 3 are the exact same battery. Pending who sells them is what sticker East Penn puts on them. There is a price difference but that's mainly due to the warranty offered and the volume of batteries the seller is buying.


You already know what the Sam's Duracell looks like. Well here is the Deka and O'rilyes sitting side by side. they are the same battery as the Sam's Duracell...

you are the only one for me poems

[78Staff]

Currently have the Northstar AGM31 - previous owner had it installed in 2020 and had no issues with it running two graphs, AT, livewells and a single PP - lots of tournament fishing. I've since added two more graphs, SS3D & Module, and a 2nd power pole. So hoping it will be up to the task still. If not, I will look at one of the big Lithium's I guess.

[Highcentered]

I just ordered the O'Reiley's 31 agm to replace my 6 y/o Interstate 31 agm. Something about the smartcraft only reading 12.4v after only 30 mins of sitting between spots had me a little uneasy. My 4-stroke is easy to crank (probably? lol) and it was a little draggy a couple times.

[Rude520]

Guess I’m one of the half percent that has zero issues with interstate. I use them and will continue to.

[geodebasser]

I keep hearing Interstate AGM is junk. My buddy bought a ranger four years ago. He was sold on the fact Interstate was junk so he sold me his Interstate AGM 31 for $50.00 I thought if I only get a year out of it that it would pay for my $50.00 I run four depth finders, a mega 360 and crank the boat and lights and live well off the Interstate. It has never let me down and after four years it’s running great.
Meanwhile my buddies North Star is starting to loose power.
I just wonder that if there really is not much difference and it just depends on the individual battery rather than the brand?

[Highcentered]

I got a good laugh out of the guy that helped me when I did the battery swap at O'Reiley's. He told the other guy at the counter "I'm not a fan of those group 31 batteries". I looked over from one of the aisles and said "you're not the one that has to wrestle that pig in and out of a tight bilge with a rats nest of wires in the way". The other guy said "yeah I've had some real fights changing those out on dump trucks".

I finally learned to stand on the back deck and lift straight up and down while my buddy held the wires out of the way.

[clayshooter]

Guess I’m one of the half percent that has zero issues with interstate. I use them and will continue to.

I use them.! My 2015 was and still has the original trolling Group 27 lead acid 36volt system and never let me down. I’m anal about the care process of charging when I get off the water. I just replaced the crank battery with a 31 AGM out of concern I was pushing my luck. Battery’s where date punch in fall 2014 so I ignored negative publicity and went with it. Only regret is I had to lift it in and out and it’s heavy.

[catdude28]

Nothing wrong with Interstate. More important is the age of battery at time of purchase, especially in a flooded battery. Read the date stamp. As mentioned above, charging habits and quality of charger are very important as well. I once had a set of Interstates last 7 years.

Funniest posts referencing the deep cycle wet cells are "Interstates are junk. The Everstarts from Walmart are fantastic". Funny because they are the identical battery from the same manufacturer, simply relabelled for Walmart and Interstate.

[bassfisher444]

Funniest posts referencing the deep cycle wet cells are "Interstates are junk. The Everstarts from Walmart are fantastic". Funny because they are the identical battery from the same manufacturer, simply relabelled for Walmart and Interstate.

But for some reason the don't have nearly as many failures and last 2-3 times longer, not all Interstate batteries come from the same supplier depending on where you live. Here the ones you get from Interstate and the ones from Walmart are not the same battery.

[DaveBrabec]

Guess I’m one of the half percent that has zero issues with interstate. I use them and will continue to.

Not the only one.4 in the boat 2 in the rv .Never any issues with Interstate.4+ years on current set and will probably use them again.