TOPIC:

Im going to say check your battery's. i have a new Terrova 112- 36 volt and have ran it on 5-6 outings with out a charge yet . I replace all 3 battery's when i replaced the motor guide that was on my boat . So far the only feature i use is the spot lock . So much for anchors !!!!!!

Haus

Buckin Fin !

MC_angler wrote:

Having a spot lock on the trolling motor sure ruins you for any other type of perch fishing. Using an actual anchor seems like the worst thing in the world when you're used to the spot lock!

Though I always keep an anchor in the boat for safety reasons I haven't dropped it in for at least 7yrs. Best feature on the motor IMO is using the north feature when pulling spinners. Though the spot lock works great I pretty much only use it in the fall and spring otherwise fishing spinners is a blast for perch in shallow water all summer long. Sucks your batterys took a crap Dirty a set of 3 Optima 31's should be your next big investment buy once and don't look back!

Poorboy

Poorboy wrote:

MC_angler wrote:

Having a spot lock on the trolling motor sure ruins you for any other type of perch fishing. Using an actual anchor seems like the worst thing in the world when you're used to the spot lock!

Though I always keep an anchor in the boat for safety reasons I haven't dropped it in for at least 7yrs. Best feature on the motor IMO is using the north feature when pulling spinners. Though the spot lock works great I pretty much only use it in the fall and spring otherwise fishing spinners is a blast for perch in shallow water all summer long. Sucks your batterys took a crap Dirty a set of 3 Optima 31's should be your next big investment buy once and don't look back!

Poorboy

Yes and no. Batteries only have so many charge / discharge cycles they can accommodate before deteriorating. AGM should be a little higher than lead acid, but the cost still never worked out. Costs are coming down, so I may try some. Mine are 4+ years old with ALOT of cycles on them I should have replaced them during the winter but was trying to get everything I could out of them - I found there limit lol.

netminder34 wrote:

Nice Job.

Hey Guys dont want to hijack the topic but I have a quick question about the batteries. Upgraded the Minn kota 55power Drive V2 when I got the new boat and put the I pilot head on it. Love the idea and should be happy but have not been getting the battery life I would like or expect when I tried it out at Houghton a couple weeks ago. I have 2 crown deep cycle 27's i hooked up in Parallel thinking I should double my amphour rate as I heard the spotlock and I pilot in general drains batteries quick. I had the onboard charger connected all week before I left and a generator running between trips and cant seem to get more than an hour on the trolling motor. I would set the auto speed for trolling and would be out of battery in less than an hour. Was basically only able to use it for getting in and out of the shallows when I had my main motor up for anchoring. Any feedback or PM's on how your batteries perform would be appriciated. I seperated the batteries and charged them individually with the onboard charger and ran them individually just to see if I had a bad battery (both 1 yr old) same results but about 30min run time. Thinking I may not be getting a good charge out of my onboard charger.

If its a 12V motor than you did everything right. If its a 24V then they need to be in series. Else, perhaps your battery charger is taking issue with the two units but that seems unlikely. If batteries are unbalanced, they can discharge each other. In theory it should all work fine. Perhaps one of the batteries is in less than stellar state, discharging the other. Hard to say.

MC_angler wrote:

Having a spot lock on the trolling motor sure ruins you for any other type of perch fishing. Using an actual anchor seems like the worst thing in the world when you're used to the spot lock!

It was the very first time my anchor saw water haha. I had to untangle 100' of rope to use it

Battery Analysis / Comparison

Optima Blue Top D27M:
Cost $193 ea.
Discharge Cycles - 300
Reserve Capacity 140 Min

Interstate SRM 27:
Cost $110 Ea.
Discharge Cycles - 250
Reserve Capacity - 160 Min

Simple conclusion:
Optima is going to last a little longer over the years - number of charge / discharge cycles.
Interstate is going to last longer on the water.
Optima costs alot more.
Optima takes more abuse.

Still not cheap enough to be worth it to buy an Optima for me. The best thing Optima has going for them is their survivability. If your battery does not hit the charger constantly, then that is the battery for you hands down as they can handle abuse while lead acid cannot. If your battery hits the charger religiously, then a lead acid / interstate / other mfg is the way to go.

Motor is a 55lb 12v. Boat was rigged for 24v system but only using 1 battery for the 12v motor. So I thought I would outsmart the only issue of battery drain that I saw with all the reviews I read and put in the second battery in parallel to up my amp hr rate.

Batteries were purchased last year for my big boat and on the charger in the marina most of the summer. had them in the house on a trickle charger all winter. Put them in the new boat after purchase to use as the trolling motor batteries as they were the bigger 27's.

So while in the deep woods hundreds of miles away from the garage running off my generator, I did seperate the batteries and charged them independently, then tried them one at a time and seemed to get about half the time as with them both together. Still knowing I should be getting more time and power out of them. I am looking at the charger pretty hard as when I got home I connencted my 10amp smart charger and after about 6 hrs of charging the battery I had it hooked up to was still sharging at 5 amps so it was definitly discharged to a low level. I havent had time to test it yet as too much work to do after vacation but hopefully this weekend I will get a chance to take it out and see if that made a difference.

I am thinking of putting in a battery switch between the 2 trolling batteries and installing a bigger charger so I can select or isolate the batteries as I chose, easier than disconnecting terminals. I can then also isolate them for charging while in the barn between trips.

Thanks for the tips and I was also looking at the more expensive batteries but could not figure the benifits like Dirty when looking at Amp Hr rates. I know those Tournament Pro's use these trolling motors a lot in a weekend and the performance I am getting so far I was just dumfounded as to how they are getting it. First time with a bow mount and fishing rig like this one, a lot more to learn scaling back to Bass and Walleye from the big lake all these years.

I am considering getting Durcells from Sam's club. These are Deka Intimidator's with a different label and the price is excellent. I was going to go with standard lead acid but now I may try AGM. They are $179 ea. and have a reserve capacity of 210 min@25A which is a 30-35% increase over an Optima Blue Top.

www.samsclub.com/sams/duracell-agm-deep-...32.ip?navAction=push

I will take a look at them, Thanks. Next time out I will post an update and how the garage charger and batteries do.

Walmart Everstarts work great also for $100 ea. Also be sure to watch the remote battery. Mine was acting funky and it turned out to be a low battery in the remote.