What's the best battery for my trolling motor

[Ryancoats1029]

I have a 12ft jon boat and have a minn kota 50 lbs thrust that I'm going to use with it.. I bought a ever start battery group number 24ms from Walmart and was wondering if that will run my trolling motor or do I need to look for another battery.. what's your thoughts on 24 550coca interstate battery? Please give me yalls opinions please. Thanks

 

[ondarvr]

The best.....well.....that will cost a great deal of $$$$.

As long as you get a deep cycle battery it will work, the bigger the battery and the more you pay, will give you a little better run time. It's up to you what the budget is.

No matter what battery you get buy a good charger designed to charge the type of battery you buy.

 

[bruceb58]

If I was going to buy one 12V battery to run my trolling motor, it would be a Trojan deep discharge battery.

 

[MH Hawker]

a group 24 depending on use will last about 3 hours

 

[fishrdan]

24ms from Walmart

That's a "marine starting" battery, which is not designed to run a trolling motor. I'd take the battery back to WalMart and tell them you made a mistake and need to swap it out for the proper dual purpose marine battery. I would also consider their group 29 battery, so the TM runs longer.

That said, the battery you have now will work to run the TM, but it will die an early death since it's a start battery.

The "best" battery is going to be expensive, $200-$250. I would spend that money on a good battery, and a good battery charger

 

[TyeeMan]

I agree 100% with bruceb58. I've had a few Trojan batteries and it's like the things don't die. I've gotten a minimum of 5 years out of each one, granted they get charged immediately after every use. Unfortunately they have gotten rather expensive lately.

I had a Minnkota bow mount 55 pd thrust. I connected it to a group 32 size battery. Yep it's a biggun but you won't have to worry about running out of juice. Go big or you will be going home, , early.

And yes, you need a deep cycle battery, not starting battery.

 

[Silvertip]

If money is a consideration, most farm stores carry deep cycle batteries and you can very often find group size 27 for about 75 bucks. I put them in my new boats and they are in there working fine when I sell them. Using a proper smart charger and charging them after every use (not the day you intend to go out) will keep them going a long time.

 

[bruceb58]

If money is a consideration, most farm stores carry deep cycle batteries and you can very often find group size 27 for about 75 bucks. I put them in my new boats and they are in there working fine when I sell them. Using a proper smart charger and charging them after every use (not the day you intend to go out) will keep them going a long time.

Problem is they are not true deep discharge like a Trojan is. A Trojan may cost twice as much but will also last twice as long if you discharge them the same amount. Same reason they use Trojans and not the other types in RVs and golf carts

 

[Silvertip]

Not been my experience at all. Just offering my experience.

 

[fhhuber]

What kills the batteries is overcharging, over-discharge and/or excess current demand.

Higher current demand means you need to not discharge as deeply.

Don't let the Wal-Mart battery get below 11.0 v and charge at a rate to recharge it in 10 hours. Use a charger that shuts itself off when it detects the battery is full.

I've put the Wal Mart "deep cycle" batteries to extreme use, demanding 100 amps and putting them through many cycles... and gotten longer life than the OEM battery in my car.

 

[bruceb58]

Don't let the Wal-Mart battery get below 11.0 v

11.0V is basically almost completely discharged. Never let a battery discharge that far. Should be shooting for 12.0V

 

[fhhuber]

Then we hear of all the people complaining that they can't start their boat because the battery is below 10 volts...