Super Jet killed another Oddy Gel battery.. done with GEL bat's

[Don 79 TA]

Well... happened again....
Was out Saturday (supposed to meet 227 and his family on the river) and jumped a small boat wake, and i hit the RED button on my on/off switch with my vest and went to start the ski and wahlah... the DREADED Click-Click sound
FAWK me... i usually carry a spare battery with me, but we didn't because we were supposed to have gone an up river cruise with 227 and his kids... sorta glad it didn't work out, would have sucked being towed a LONG way back

so...
this is the 4th GEL battery in two seasons (3 last year, one this year), and 7 total over the last few years
5 oddy's (545 and 625's) and 2 Dekka's (XT16's i think??)
they seem to be breaking internally and i get the dreaded click-click
I have to admit i am VERY surprised i had this many ride times out of this battery, but then again, we hardly rode this past summer, so i want to say 4 outtings before this one broke

i even swapped it into her SXR and same thing.. click-click
swapped the battery in my SJ, ski fires right up

i have the Rayce battery box, first gen front sponsons and hull extenders
sometimes i land hard (meaning almost dead flat on the ski) and right afterwards, that is when the bat's go out on me

i run a regular charging system

I don't remember where i bought the last one from, but one of them said i had to pay to send it in, wait for them to be checked out, then if warrantied i would have had to pay to ship it back, and at the weight of the PC625 doesn't seem worth it to me (shipping from here is expensive)

i'm going back to regular acid bat or the JW bat
the JW i had on 03/04 went two seasons, the stock one lasted a year, the GEL's no luck for me, i probably exceed the weight limit of them LOL

 

[Matt_E]

That's Odyssey for ya. :bigok:

 

[tom21]

if you are thinking its from impact, try to turf your battery tray, I still run the stock tray but with jetworks and I have turfed it all around. my batteries die from no use not overuse but still that is a long list of good batteries to kill. time to change your setup.

 

[eeerieski]

or try some lightweight a123 lithium ion packs as discussed on one of the lightweight battery threads.

 

[Big Kahuna]

I have a jetworks that is 7 years old and still works. It is weaker than a new one but will still do the job. It is a backup now.

 

[weston]

oddys have a two year warranty return it!
I bought mine at batteries plus and bet your a$$ if it dies I'm taken back and there giving me another.

do you use a battery tender?

 

[Don 79 TA]

I have tried various ways to "protect" the battery, (turfing it, cushion, etc)
I also have the tops covered as much as possible too to prevent any sort of shorting or what ever
i also have a C-pak charger for the oddy, but with a new battery and only a month or two with it, shouldn't need to charge at all, especially running a standard charging system
its just that they break internally
I believe it was battery plus (at least one of the places and maybe battery mart as well) where i bought them from

I'll go back to the JW or standard next year

i bought a Deka from a shop last year, and called about the warranty, basically was told gels suck for PWC use because they get damaged internally and wasn't warrantied for PWC's, needless to say i never ordered from that place again
i would also say heat out here in the dessert destroys the batteries too, but again, i can easily pin point it to hard landings and the dreaded click-click sound and only a few months old on the bat's, so heat isn't the factor
if it was, her ski would have the same issue...
and as i said... i probably exceed the weight limit of these lol

just weird... some people have the same issue as me with short life span of gel bat's, some have no issues at all... ohh well that's life i suppose

 

[Matt_E]

The plate welds fail on the Odysseys. It seems to be fairly common. I've killed three of them that way.
Haven't killed a single JW yet (save one for serious abusive overcharging)

 

[infamy]

im on my second odyssey battery and havent had one fail due to impact.. ive had numerous flat landings from 15' plus (not always with me still on the boat) and havent had one break yet..my last one lasted for several seasons. but the current one is only 2 seasons old and is starting to lose juice. the cheapo ones i have bought at kragen or walmart seem to last forever though.

 

[QuickMick]

Time for a Jetworks battery.

 

[QJS]

AGM batteries are more suited for the marine environment due to the slamming loads they are subjected to although we don't have a problem with gels either but our conditions in the surf are tamer than yours.
Chris.

 

[grahammy]

I'm glad its not just me busting batteries then! I've tried wet, gel and an Oddesey none seem to last long. I've seen best results from normal wet batteries, but last weekend one just died on me out at sea, cranking over fine on the beach, 2 minutes later, just a clicking solenoid!
I religiously use optimate chargers.
I've just bought another Oddessey and have put 5 layers of turf underneath and 2 on top under my clamp. I'll see how it goes this weekend, but I've come to the conclusion that batteries and impact just don't go together!

 

[Don 79 TA]

i know exactly what you mean
i've tried various things to help my issue, none seemed to work for me, at elast for the Gel's
i just need to remember to bring my spare with me

 

[227]

Don I've had nothing but good luck with Dry cells, I even had a oddysee that lasted about 5 yrs. I currently have a Jet Works and its padded heavily with Turf. As for last Saturday, Wish you guys could have made it

 

[Don 79 TA]

Don I've had nothing but good luck with Dry cells, I even had a oddysee that lasted about 5 yrs. I currently have a Jet Works and its padded heavily with Turf. As for last Saturday, Wish you guys could have made it

just missed you guys by maybe 10 mins
and that Squaw area is REALLY nice looking, especially when it was empty
we wanted to do the up river ride so bad, but i'm sorta glad we didn't now, a long tow back would have really sucked
this has to be the first time i came back with a very full tank in the ski too

if we are around next year, we'll try again
have fun if you go the the WF's

take some good photos of the Norbert/blowsion ski
I have an "if-all-works-out-plan" that it is part of

 

[SUPERJET-113]

Odyssey batteries suck.. Jetworks or Power Source are what i like. However I did just buy a new Auto Zone "high impact" AGM battery, it was $85. Hope it lasts a few years.

 

[chriselmore_1]

my interstate sealed agm batterys are cheap and bomb proof. I dropped one off the hood of my truck hard. It put a huge crack in the side of the battery and it still works like a champ.

 

[SUPERJET-113]

Ya, Interstate auto batteries are damn good, have them in my vehicles. Ill bet there AGM PWC battery has to be good too. What did you pay for one Chris?

 

[chriselmore_1]

my old lady gets em from her vondor for like 87$ out the door!!!!. It's the cycletron 2 model I think? I run the bigger 11 pound model for a little more piece of mind. I'll see if I still have the part #s

 

[Mouthfulloflake]

all of my Odyessey pc625 batteries from a few years ago are still in service, except ONE.

wife's bilge pump switch stayed on for several months and killed it I guess, it wont charge.

one even made its way into my dual sport motorcycle, it certainly gets beat harder than a superjet.

maybe they declined in quality in the years after I bought all of mine ( I dont remember when it was now, but its got to be 3 or 4 years ago?)

edit- I looked, I bought 5 in the spring of 2006, 4 are still going strong.