Battery question

[Oshi]

90 model Tohatsu 70 hp, pwr tilt/trim, I have a question about my cranking battery. Striper fishing this weekend and was running my outboard for 20 to 30 minutes about 4800 rpm. I was playing around with the trim to see where it ran best. Shut the engine down and my cranking battery would not turn my engine over. It would just click. The battery is a diehard 550 cranking battery. Is this enough amps? Does the trim system pull a lot? The battery isnt but 2 and a half years old. It never gave me trouble with a Mariner 40 horse. Of course this did not have tilt and trim. Do I need to have my alternator checked? The motor ran fine when I hooked my deep trolling battery to it. Thank you so much for your time!

 

[Boatist]

Re: Battery question

Oshi<br />I am not a big fan of DieHard because thay die hard. I and many of my friends have bad luck with them. Yes 550 amps should be plenty. Was this the first time out for the year?? If your boat has a volt meter it should read around 14 volts while running. If no meter on boat then mesure with a volt meter across the battery and see if is near 14 volts. Yes trim motor draws a few amps but unless you were running it all the time with the boat stopped it should recharge. If you have a Battery charger see if battery will charge up and hold a charge, if it does then check alternator but if not I try a new battery. The reason I do not like DieHard is I never had last it full warranty without problems. It seem they are design to fail before warranty runs out so you will go back to store and get a new one. Many may disagree.

 

[Oshi]

Re: Battery question

checked battery and had a head cell!!!! Thank god it was not with my motor! Has anyone tried the new Optima cranking batteries, I started to buy one but didn't because of theft problems in my area right now. I am moving to Lake Weiss in about a month and will probably give one a try when i move. Thanks for everyones reply!<br />Neil