How to maintain troll motor battery

[PISTONESAL]

Hello,

I never had a troll motor before so it is new to me. What's the best way to maintain the battery? Its been working fine for 6 months now and this past weekend it started to get real weak and I could not troll anymore? I have always put a solar panel to trickle charge it. I have one on the main engine battery and I did the same on my previous boat and never had battery issues. I always brought a jump box with me anyways. But can anyone give me a real good way to keep it up and take care of so it does not go bad? Can I revive the one I have now. it measures about 10.5 volts. I put a black and decker smart charger on it and it came back and said replace or service battery. I appreciate any help. Thanks

 

[ondarvr]

A solar charger won't do much, if anything, to help charge the battery, you need to put it on a smart charger after every use.

Your current battery may be beyond help, but leave it on the charger for a few days and then take it to an auto parts store and have them load test it, they can tell you if it's bad.

 

[GA_Boater]

The main battery with the solar charger worked because it doesn't have a constant drain and only short discharges when starting the motor. After starting the motor, it recharged or maintained the battery.

A trolling motor deep cycle battery need charged after every outing. The solar panel didn't charge it very much and the battery gradually discharged, running out of juice.

Guessing - The deep cycle battery is gone and needs replaced. To extend the life of a new deep cycle, hook up the charger when you get home and don't continue using it when it needs charged. Deep discharges are the death of most batteries.

 

[bruceb58]

Never discharge your trolling battery past 50%(12.0V) if you want it to last. Is you battery for your trolling motor a true deep discharge battery?

 

[PISTONESAL]

Thanks for replies. Darn... I just pulled it out of the boat and checked water levels and were very low.. I filled with distiller water. I will see if I can do a recondition and see if it will take. Hope it works.. So the main batterry does not need a smart charger on it?

 

[bruceb58]

All batteries should have smart chargers on them so that when they get fully charged, they get a proper float charge. If you are relying on your solar charger to keep your starting battery topped off, make sure it has a voltage around 13.4V when the battery has reached full charge.

 

[PISTONESAL]

Any recommendations? Do they make smart chargers to hook up on 2 batteries at same time?

 

[ondarvr]

They make them for just about any number of batteries you want. There are so many on the market it's hard to keep track, plus they keep changing models, colors, sizes, names, etc, so it's hard to recommend one because when you go to look for it its been changed or discontinued.

 

[bruceb58]

Any recommendations? Do they make smart chargers to hook up on 2 batteries at same time?

Both of my boats have 2 bank onboard chargers. One is a Guest and the other is a Dual Pro. You have many choices in the charge capacity and number of banks.

 

[PISTONESAL]

Ok. But my scenario is the main battery is in the rear and troll motor battery is in the front so not sure how to do that hookup...

 

[PISTONESAL]

Also, how to determine what wattage/amp to use? Is there a math equation to figure it out? There are 2A or 8A or 1.5W etc etc? In order to use a 2 bannk I would have to extend cables to front of boat. That would have an effect on charge wouldn't it? And probably not recommended..

 

[bruceb58]

Depends on the charger. Some have temp sensors in the leads so you can't extend them. Some you can extend them and it doesn't matter.

I would get a minimum 5A per bank charger. If you have a 70AH battery and you discharge it half, you have to put back in 35AH. A 5A charger would likely need over 10 hours to fully charge it. If that is too long, get a 10A per bank charger.

 

[ondarvr]

As stated, go no less 5 amps, and more would be better. Lower than 5 and the rate of charging will be so slow you won't like it.

 

[SOG3]

I use a Shumacher charger that has a"maintain" setting and leave it hooked to my battery all the time ,except when using it .Battery is 3 years old and strong as ever .

 

[PISTONESAL]

I use my boat on weekends so there is a week between use so does amp really matter or is it the fact it's better to charger faster at 5A?

 

[bruceb58]

Some batteries like AGM like to charged faster. If you are using flooded lead acid, it doesn't matter.

You want a smart charger. Smart chargers will put its output into a float mode which is a float voltage of around 13.4V +/- .1V. If it's much higher then that, you will boil your battery.

 

[Silvertip]

One solution, and maybe the cheapest for you would be to buy two, single bank chargers. Trolling motor batteries tend to get quite deeply discharged. You want a 10 Amp charger for it. The starting battery is never (or rarely) deeply discharged or even as low as 2 amp is fine for it. Mount one charger in back and one in front. Although you say you only use the boat on weekends, what happens if you overnight somewhere and use the troller heavily during the day and want to charge the battery back at the dock so you can go out later in the day or evening. Anything less than 10 amps will not get the job done in a short period of time. You can even wire the front and back charger AC lines to a single recessed 115V outlet so you only need to plug in the extension cord.

 

[PISTONESAL]

Thats pretty good info. I saw this one which seems like it will do the trick. thoughts?
http://www.harborfreight.com/15-amp-three-stage-onboard-battery-charger-maintainer-99857.html


Yeah, i park the boat at my house and hardly ever go less than a week apart on fishing trips..

 

[PISTONESAL]

Looking to getting this battery

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...p-size-27-600-cca-27dc-2/2080036-P#fragment-2

 

[ondarvr]

Thats pretty good info. I saw this one which seems like it will do the trick. thoughts?
http://www.harborfreight.com/15-amp-three-stage-onboard-battery-charger-maintainer-99857.html


Yeah, i park the boat at my house and hardly ever go less than a week apart on fishing trips..

I'm not sure if the link is correct, but it takes me to 1.5 amp charger, and it's not really a smart charger.