Trolling motor Test and radio hookup?

[jessb_55]

Hello everyone,

I’m looking at adding a stereo to the boat and am wondering if its super critical to get a marine radio or if I could just pick up a car stereo as they seem to be much easier/cheaper to find. I do have a flip cover for the radio as a radio was previously installed but they broke the faceplate “ears” off. If I do put a car radio in it do I need to worry about it’s “clock” function always being on. Also, when it comes time to wire it what gauge wire should I just and should I connect it directly to the panel or wire it directly to the battery?

Secondly, our trolling motor battery doesn’t seem to last more than 45 minutes or so. I’m not sure how old it is but I do think it’s on the bigger side, it’s specs are 725 CCA, 115 amp hours and 205 minutes of reserve capacity. It’s Exide in brand and currently isn’t available in any stores near me so I would need to get a different model. Does anyone have any recommendations on brands or what minimum specs I should get? OR what would be a good test to see if this battery is indeed the issue or if something else is draining the battery prematurely?



Thanks so much and I would appreciate any advice and please let me know if I need to give more information on anything?

 

[briangcc]

Hello everyone,
I’m looking at adding a stereo to the boat and am wondering if its super critical to get a marine radio or if I could just pick up a car stereo as they seem to be much easier/cheaper to find. I do have a flip cover for the radio as a radio was previously installed but they broke the faceplate “ears” off. If I do put a car radio in it do I need to worry about it’s “clock” function always being on. Also, when it comes time to wire it what gauge wire should I just and should I connect it directly to the panel or wire it directly to the battery?

Secondly, our trolling motor battery doesn’t seem to last more than 45 minutes or so. I’m not sure how old it is but I do think it’s on the bigger side, it’s specs are 725 CCA, 115 amp hours and 205 minutes of reserve capacity. It’s Exide in brand and currently isn’t available in any stores near me so I would need to get a different model. Does anyone have any recommendations on brands or what minimum specs I should get? OR what would be a good test to see if this battery is indeed the issue or if something else is draining the battery prematurely?



Thanks so much and I would appreciate any advice and please let me know if I need to give more information on anything?

Not sure how you're posting BUT that was incredibly small which made it very difficult for me to read.

In any event...car radio in a boat. Well it might last for a bit but it's not meant for the humidity which a boat finds itself in. There are tons of options out there, google is your friend. As for the clock/memory function - leaving that connected without running the boat frequently is a sure fire way to drain your battery dead. As for the gauge of the wire - I generally match that coming out of the head unit and run it to the fuse block (as long as the length isn't super long).

Trolling motor battery drawing down quickly....you can have any major autoparts store load test the battery. That will give you a quick view of the health of the battery. What isn't mentioned is what trolling motor you have, what speed you're operating it at, and what environmental conditions are happening when you run it. In essence...if you have a large trolling motor, running it at full tilt in high winds/weeds you'll drain that battery quickly.

 

[GA_Boater]

When I got the boat on my sig, it came equipped with a PO added Philco-Ford car radio. It fell apart taking it out of the dash it was so rusted.

Get a marine radio. Surprisingly, they aren't any more expensive than non-marine.

On the battery - You don't have to get an Exide. Are you charging it enough? What is your trolling motor?

Increase the font size on your posts.

 

[jessb_55]

Sorry for the font size, I guess when I copied it from my wordpad it pasted it really small....My apologies but thanks for the follow up!
As for the car radio...I ended up picking up a radio for $15 nearby and if I get a season or so out of it that's fine with me I wanted a marine but couldn't find a used one under $50 or so and I've already got $1500 into the boat this season alone As for the gauge wire I'll see if I can match up what's coming from the radio but it just seems like it's a bit thin. I believe what I'm hearing is that its best to connect it directly to the fuse panel then? I was thinking that connecting directly to the battery would be best practice but is it not preferred due to the distance of the wire or does that not matter? What size fuse should it be used with it too then?

As for the trolling motor it's a Minnkota 55AP 55 lb thrust . I totally understand that so many factors can play into battery life but for example last Sunday with a mostly tailwind of about 8 mph at about 1.3 miles per hour the thing lasted about 45 minutes before it was low. I'll see about taking it to a parts store just didn't know if they'd charge me to test it if I don't buy one from them.

In terms of "charging it enough" I guess I'm not sure what you mean by that.

 

[MTboatguy]

Virtually all the auto parts stores will test them for free as they will other components on your cars. If that battery is going low in 45 minutes then the battery is going bad and needs to be replaced. I bought a load tester at HF a few years ago for $20 bucks and it saves me a lot of time running to the store. I was at C a b e l a today and they had a marine radio with two speakers on end of season close out for $59.00. I normally use 12-14 gauge wire on my radio installs, unless I am pushing large amp. Most radios come with a fuse on the power lead these days and if someone has cut it off, then run to a fused power source of 15 amps. Normally I don't worry about the clock in the boat radio, but I have been known to hook up a battery holder to the back up power leads that maintains the clock as well as the pre-sets in the radio so I don't have to keep looking for the stations every time I go out. I use a 12v lithium battery and it will last long past the end of the season.

I run a group 27 battery for my trolling motor and it will last the whole weekend easy and then I put it on the maintainer when I get home and it is always ready to go.

 

[Silvertip]

You must always charge a deep cycle battery immediately AFTER use. Don't wait until the night or day before you head out. Leaving a battery deeply discharged will shorten it's life considerably. If you are expecting the engine to charge the battery that is a bad expectation. You cannot fully charge a deep cycle battery in a short run back to the dock or when moving from one spot to another.

 

[MTboatguy]

My group 27 does not run down much, I have run my trolling motor two to three days in a row all day long and never has it drawn the battery down very much. I have a load tester and either use the maintainer or the charger based on what the load tester reads.

 

[jessb_55]

Thanks All! Maybe I'll pick up a load tester since they are like $20 at Harbor Freight and the battery is almost 60 lbs and I'm a strong lady but getting that out of the boat is a bit of a pain. Since buying the boat the battery has never lasted a day like you all describe. I'll definitely load test the battery but curious would there be anything else that could be draining the battery, example wiring, etc?

And are all group 27 batteries pretty similar when it comes to specs, or are there any specs I need to look out for to make sure I get or don't get, ex: CCA? Any brands better than others or brands or more importantly brands to avoid?


MTboatguy

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In terms of running it to a fused power source of 15 amps do you mean if I connected it to the fuse panel and then add a 15 amp fuse there? In terms of hooking up a battery holder is that something you can buy?

 

[poconojoe]

You must always charge a deep cycle battery immediately AFTER use. Don't wait until the night or day before you head out. Leaving a battery deeply discharged will shorten it's life considerably. If you are expecting the engine to charge the battery that is a bad expectation. You cannot fully charge a deep cycle battery in a short run back to the dock or when moving from one spot to another.

This is all great advice from Silvertip.

I always put my deep cycle batteries on charge as soon as I get home.
I use two batteries on my Jon boat. I use one for a while, then switch to the second. I prefer not to run any battery too low and like the security of having two batteries when running on electric only lakes.

 

[poconojoe]

My bow rider has a stereo which has memory and clock. If left connected, it does run the battery down significantly if left for a week or so. It's best to do without the memory and clock. If your boat has a main battery switch, make sure it is off when not using your boat. And if this is the case, make sure the stereo is fed through the main battery switch and not connected directly to the battery.

Or you can put a toggle switch somewhere if you want. This way, when you want to use the radio, just flip on the switch and when your not using the boat, turn it off. My boat has an unused toggle switch at the helm labeled "accessory". I always wanted to connect the stereo to this switch, but never got around to it.

 

[briangcc]

In regards to the trolling motor battery - what else is hooked to it? Should only be the trolling motor BUT who knows what the PO did - I've seen strange stuff done. The battery itself should be deep cycle not a starting battery. I have Interstate currently but have run the Autozone brand previously without any issues.

I've run my trolling motor for several days (only an hour or two at a time) and the charge has stayed at "Good" according to the meter on the trolling motor. Then again, it always says "Good" even after charging with the onboard charger for a day or two.

 

[MTboatguy]

Thanks All! Maybe I'll pick up a load tester since they are like $20 at Harbor Freight and the battery is almost 60 lbs and I'm a strong lady but getting that out of the boat is a bit of a pain. Since buying the boat the battery has never lasted a day like you all describe. I'll definitely load test the battery but curious would there be anything else that could be draining the battery, example wiring, etc?

And are all group 27 batteries pretty similar when it comes to specs, or are there any specs I need to look out for to make sure I get or don't get, ex: CCA? Any brands better than others or brands or more importantly brands to avoid?


MTboatguy
In terms of running it to a fused power source of 15 amps do you mean if I connected it to the fuse panel and then add a 15 amp fuse there? In terms of hooking up a battery holder is that something you can buy?

On my boat I have a fuse block that I run a 10 gauge wire from the battery to the tap on the fuse block, then it has 6 screw terminals on it that I can run 6 different circuits from and insert a regular auto blade fuse in each circuit to match what I am running on that circuit. Some of them come with a ground bar as well, if you have an aluminum boat, you don't want to ground it to the boat, you need a ground wire coming from the battery to the ground block.

 

[MTboatguy]

Just in case you or anyone else was wondering, this is what I was talking about in my previous message about doing circuits on a boat, I have been using these for a number of years now, I mount them under the dash and then I mount a secondary ground strip and they work out quite well. The cost about $5.00 at most hardware stores.

 

[jessb_55]

Well I hooked up the radio last night. All went well. I connected it directly to the fuse block and then added a 10 amp fuse as that's the size fuse on the radio itself or should I still do a 15 amp on the fuse block? I think for now we'll just plan on pulling the face off the radio or does that mean it's still drawing some power even with the face off?

In terms of the battery I was under the assumption to drain the battery almost completely before recharging it but I'll now follow your guys advice and charge it immediately after returning home. That being said how often should I charge the starting battery? Looks like I can get a FVP 27 group battery for $80 and an Everstart 29 group battery for $86 or a Resolute with a 24 month warranty group 27 for $83. I noticed that the FVP and the Resolute vary in CCA by quite a bit with the Resolute only having 575 is that too low?

As for the trolling motor wiring I haven't touched it but the system was previously a 24 volt I can see. As far as I can tell it's original wiring and it looks like it goes directly from the battery to the trolling motor plug receiver. At one point I hooked up to the other side of the old 24 volt system and shortly after not much use we ended up blowing it's inline fuse but have never blown a fuse on the side we currently use.

 

[MTboatguy]

If the radio had a 10 amp then that is what the factory fused that circuit for, which is fine. My current Group 27 is made by Exide and sold by Walmart and I believe it is a 625 CCA battery, it is a good one, I have had it going on 4 years now and it is still going strong. There are actually only a few companies that manufacture batteries and they are sold under a lot of different names, I have also had batteries I got from both Autozone and O'Reilly and they have been good batteries.

 

[jessb_55]

Well I had O'Reilly auto parts test the battery and it tested good so now i'm at a loss. I did think of one thing though. I do have a slow charger, i think it charges at 2 amps as I've always been under the impression that it's better to charge a battery on the slower side if you can. Well knowing that whoever I got to test the battery today I put the charger on yesterday a.m. and it said it was fully charged this a.m. Out of curiosity sake I then put my other bigger charger on it but still at 2 amps and an hour later it was still charging it! I'm starting to wonder if my slower charger has been leading me astray. I swear though there have been times where i have used the bigger charger on it before taking the boat out and not getting more than a couple hours out of the trolling motor though...but then again I've only had the boat for a little over a year and i may be thinking of my previous boat too....

Any other ideas? How accurate are the gauges on the Minnkotas themselves?

 

[jessb_55]

Happy Labor day all, hope most of you were able to hit the water!

 

[jessb_55]

Anyone?

 

[briangcc]

I wouldn't go by the battery gauge on the MinnKota. Personally, I think they're off. Why? Mine always has the state one step below the top. Always.Going off memory...Excellent..Good...Fair....Poor. Mine always reads Good. Doesn't matter if it sits on my onboard charger for a week OR if it was after its winter layup (left on battery maintainer the entire winter OR if its been used for an entire week of vacation fishing (hour here, hour there).

**Mine's a 2017 model, 55lbs thrust.


More importantly...what does the battery say its state is? Hook a meter to it if you have questions. HF has multimeters (coupons sometimes for $0).