battery life

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by steve frye on May 3, 2010 at 1:13pm

Eric,
I use Interstate group 29 deep cycle marine batteries on my Minn Kota Terrova auto/copilot with sonar transducer 80lb 24volt and 2 fish finders (one with a sidefinder). I can get up to two full days out of a charge, even when using them most of the day in wind. I learned along time ago to get the best battery because they will pay in the long run.

Permalink Reply by Ron Langley on May 3, 2010 at 1:20pm

No No No! the trolling mtr needs it's own battery. put everything else on the cranking. It might buy you an extra hour or so. You shouldn't have any problems running all of your electronics and starting the boat with the same battery.

Permalink Reply by Brian Walters on May 3, 2010 at 2:21pm

I second that. Also depends on how your trolling motor is set and if you are under powered. I know that with my 101 i could usually get 2 days of use and still be ok but if i was on it alot and had it set really high such as 90% i would be getting low after the day. But still should last you more then a few hours


Ron Langley said:

No No No! the trolling mtr needs it's own battery. put everything else on the cranking. It might buy you an extra hour or so. You shouldn't have any problems running all of your electronics and starting the boat with the same battery.

Permalink Reply by Adam Florenzen on May 3, 2010 at 2:38pm

yeah dude. just found out the hard way not to hook anything els up to the trolling motor system. hooked up one of my fish finders and it cut my battery life in half

Brian Bassguy Walters said:

I second that. Also depends on how your trolling motor is set and if you are under powered. I know that with my 101 i could usually get 2 days of use and still be ok but if i was on it alot and had it set really high such as 90% i would be getting low after the day. But still should last you more then a few hours


Ron Langley said:

No No No! the trolling mtr needs it's own battery. put everything else on the cranking. It might buy you an extra hour or so. You shouldn't have any problems running all of your electronics and starting the boat with the same battery.

Permalink Reply by C-RIDE on May 3, 2010 at 3:35pm

Also check the water level in the battery. It will still test ok with low water level but it will not take a good/full charge if it is low. Use only DISTILLED WATER to fill them just over the lead plates. Check them often and do not get anything other than the water inside of them. I would bet your levels are low.

Permalink Reply by Harry Hardy on May 3, 2010 at 4:11pm

I third that. Your trollling needs it's own battery and everything else goes on the crank battery. Your motor should have a charging system on it and will keep the cranking battery charged so you shouldn't have any problem starting your big motor. No matter what type of battery your using if you hook everything to one battery including the trolling motor they will not last long at all.

Permalink Reply by eric mccarthy on May 3, 2010 at 4:28pm

Thanks for the info I am going to hook my depthfinders and livewell etc to my cranking battery and run only the Minkota to the 2 deepcycle batteries see if this helps. I think my trolling motor is underpowered too so this could be another reason I am running out of juice and the 3 foot swells I am fishing in lately.

Permalink Reply by Adam Florenzen on May 3, 2010 at 5:06pm

whatever you do, do NOT hook a 12v motor to 2 12v batteries. only one.
you could break it....(sorry brian. beat you to it)

eric mccarthy said:

Thanks for the info I am going to hook my depthfinders and livewell etc to my cranking battery and run only the Minkota to the 2 deepcycle batteries see if this helps. I think my trolling motor is underpowered too so this could be another reason I am running out of juice and the 3 foot swells I am fishing in lately.

Permalink Reply by Shawn O'Connell on May 3, 2010 at 7:55pm

It's not a problem to use two batteries if you wire them in parallel and not in series. This still provides you with only 12 volts versus wiring in series wich will provide 24 volts. All you will be doing is doubling your capacity which typically means less draw down on each battery extending battery life. I agree with C-RIDE that it is highly probable that your water levels are low. As he said the battery voltage will still read good but your capacity will be down.


Adam Florenzen said:

whatever you do, do NOT hook a 12v motor to 2 12v batteries. only one.
you could break it....(sorry brian. beat you to it)

eric mccarthy said:

Thanks for the info I am going to hook my depthfinders and livewell etc to my cranking battery and run only the Minkota to the 2 deepcycle batteries see if this helps. I think my trolling motor is underpowered too so this could be another reason I am running out of juice and the 3 foot swells I am fishing in lately.

Permalink Reply by Rodney Heupel on May 3, 2010 at 8:10pm

I too went the cheap route 2 yrs ago with the Wally world Everstarts, from the start they never provided the "power" I was used to. They will be replaced this week, with quality batteries. Four hours run time in this windy spring is over.

Permalink Reply by Adam Florenzen on May 3, 2010 at 8:31pm

sweet. did not know you could do that. electricity scares me

Shawn O'Connell said:

It's not a problem to use two batteries if you wire them in parallel and not in series. This still provides you with only 12 volts versus wiring in series wich will provide 24 volts. All you will be doing is doubling your capacity which typically means less draw down on each battery extending battery life. I agree with C-RIDE that it is highly probable that your water levels are low. As he said the battery voltage will still read good but your capacity will be down.


Adam Florenzen said:

whatever you do, do NOT hook a 12v motor to 2 12v batteries. only one.
you could break it....(sorry brian. beat you to it)

eric mccarthy said:

Thanks for the info I am going to hook my depthfinders and livewell etc to my cranking battery and run only the Minkota to the 2 deepcycle batteries see if this helps. I think my trolling motor is underpowered too so this could be another reason I am running out of juice and the 3 foot swells I am fishing in lately.

Permalink Reply by rzone on May 3, 2010 at 9:03pm

I highly recommend these guys (they are down at 105 S. Brandon
Seattle), they had pallets of fresh batteries:

http://www.batterysystems.net/

You can get Trojan and Odyssey brand batteries there, I know that much. I run 3x of the Trojan batteries on my 101 MinnKota and a big group 31 Odyssey for my cranking motor / electronics.

Most I have fished in a day is about 12 hours (moderate wind). I always charge at night even when camping, even if that means hook up to little Yamaha generator.



Rodney Heupel said:

I too went the cheap route 2 yrs ago with the Wally world Everstarts, from the start they never provided the "power" I was used to. They will be replaced this week, with quality batteries. Four hours run time in this windy spring is over.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page