Trolling motor or battery?

[mxcarne]

Hello, I have an aluminium 1964 14" Texas Maid. When I bought it, it came with a 27# Minn Kota 40t(?) w/ 5 speeds. On Feb 2nd I bought an EverStart 94 720 amps, 115 amp hour 27dc-6 battery to run it. On my first trip out last Sunday I got about 2 hours trolling on speed 4 which was barely fast enough to make a 4" rapala wiggle. I took the battery back to Walmart and they load tested it for over an hour and everything checked out OK. When I got home I took the prop off the trolling motor and there was a crap load of line wound around the shaft between the t-pin and the actual motor. I cleared that all out and it seemed to spin better. Today we went out on a full charge and were running at 3 speed which is perfect rapala wiggle now. I got about 3 hours before it died out. All I have attached to the battery is a Garmin 100 fish finder and the trolling motor. This seems awfully short and I seem to remember back 15-18 years ago having a 24# or 27# pushing a 12ft sea king for 6-8 hours at the same speed.

When the battery starts to die the fish finder shuts off until I turn the trolling motor off and then the fish finder comes back on. The fish finder has a battery meter in it and when it was "dead" the battery was at like 10.2v and when I turn the trolling motor to 3 it would drop to 7.7v and then the fish finder would shut off.

When I had the battery tested it was pushing like 12.7 volts and like 680 cold cranking amps which the guy told me was good because the battery is rated for 600 cold cranking amps.

Now does this seem like a trolling motor or battery issue?

Trolling motor looks to be an older one because the newer ones of the same model have a battery meter build into the head.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

The reason the locator shuts off is because you are discharging the trolling motor battery well below what is good for its health. Any electronic device these days has a high and low voltage cutoff voltage and obviously 7 volts is below the locators cut off voltage. In fact you have just about killed the battery. Now then, Minnkota typically labels its motors with the thrust so you may in fact have a 40# motor rather than a 27. You have a boat that is bigger than the one you refer to and you likely have a motor that draws about half again as much current as the old motor. I don't think you have a battery problem, but you will if you keep discharging it as deeply as you have been. At 11.5 volts its time to recharge. It may also be that the bearings in the motor are tight which makes the motor draw more current than it should.

 

[littlefin]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

Just my opinion but after working with batteries for over 30 years I found that you get what you pay for.
You should get about 5 hours on the average. But that is really hard to say, because there's to many variables to consider.

You may want to try an Interstate Marine Deep Cycle battery. There the best I have found.

 

[mxcarne]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

The reason the locator shuts off is because you are discharging the trolling motor battery well below what is good for its health. Any electronic device these days has a high and low voltage cutoff voltage and obviously 7 volts is below the locators cut off voltage. In fact you have just about killed the battery. Now then, Minnkota typically labels its motors with the thrust so you may in fact have a 40# motor rather than a 27. You have a boat that is bigger than the one you refer to and you likely have a motor that draws about half again as much current as the old motor. I don't think you have a battery problem, but you will if you keep discharging it as deeply as you have been. At 11.5 volts its time to recharge. It may also be that the bearings in the motor are tight which makes the motor draw more current than it should.

Its for sure a 27# thrust. I didn't realize how low it had run when the fish finder shut off the first time and took some exploring on the fish finder to see that it had a battery meter warning.

Now considering how fast its running through the battery is it possible the trolling motor is corroded to hell inside? Or as you say the bearings? Would I be better off with a new true 40# trolling motor?

Just my opinion but after working with batteries for over 30 years I found that you get what you pay for.
You should get about 5 hours on the average. But that is really hard to say, because there's to many variables to consider.

You may want to try an Interstate Marine Deep Cycle battery. There the best I have found.

I've never had much experience with batteries in general but I would think it should last longer than 2 hours regardless of brand.

I'm not opposed to trying a different brand but atm I'm just trying to figure out where to start getting back the trolling times I'm used too.

 

[littlefin]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

I've never had much experience with batteries in general but I would think it should last longer than 2 hours regardless of brand.

I'm not opposed to trying a different brand but atm I'm just trying to figure out where to start getting back the trolling times I'm used too.[/QUOTE]

The reason why some batteries are priced lower than others is in how the cell envelopes are constructed, and what type of quality materials are used. Most (better priced) deep cycles are not built as well as high end ones. You can tell the difference just by picking them up and feeling the wait.

Trust me there is a BIG difference.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

And I've used inexpensive group 27's from my local farm store decades and get excellent service from them. In fact I've never had to replace one. My boats have all been powered with Minnkota 55# motors and they run all day at slow but intermittent speeds. You do not have to spend $100+ to get a reliable battery. My last one as $69 and it had much better reserve capacity than the AGMs I looked at.

 

[mxcarne]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

Is it possibly just something with the trolling motor itself causing a huge draw? I can still exchange the battery so thats not an issue. Do trolling motors corrode inside the motor? Is it possible for the line that was wound in it caused the bearings to crap out? I can get a 40# for about $150 with my buddies discount. Would a higher thrust motor draw less than my 27# if run at a slow constant trolling speed?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

Fishing line cuts the seal that keeps water out of the motor. So yes -- it could be corroded inside. Turn the prop by hand. You should feel a slight jerkiness but the prop should turn relatively freely. If it turns harder, then the bearings are the problem.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

If you get a modern trolling motor that uses pulse width modulation (I think that's the term) instead of resistance to control motor speed, you'll get a lot more run time at intermediate speeds.

 

[artherm]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

And I've used inexpensive group 27's from my local farm store decades and get excellent service from them. In fact I've never had to replace one. My boats have all been powered with Minnkota 55# motors and they run all day at slow but intermittent speeds. You do not have to spend $100+ to get a reliable battery. My last one as $69 and it had much better reserve capacity than the AGMs I looked at.

I agree. I have been boating 50 years, and have had a trolling motor almost that long.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

you may need to take a current reading to determine how much current your trolling motor is pulling. However I do not know of anyone that has had luck with Walmart batteries. I went thru 7 myself before I went with one from East Penn from my local farm store.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

Sounds like you have a Turbo 40t which is a 27lb thrust. That motor is about 16 to 18 years old so if it's had all that line wrapped up for a long time you could be affecting internals as Silvertip said. It might be worth while to exchange the battery and see if you do any better with a new one. Be sure to charge it before first use.

I had a Turbo 30T on my old jon boat which as near as I can remember had 21 lb thrust. For some reason back then the number after Turbo was NOT the thrust. My brother and I would usually spend 4 or 5 hours and never had a battery problem. Most of that would have been cruising the shorline casting for bass, but we would often crank it to top speed for a half mile to a mile down the lake.

FWIW, I've had pretty good results with Walmart batteries.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

The big question, how much run time do you want??? Also, how big is your boat, or how much does it weigh, there are 14'ers, and then there are 14'ers

Right off the bat, I would exchange the group 27 battery for a group 29. The TM could have been compromisedwith the fishing line and have bad bearings, do the spin test as ST suggested and see how it feels. You could also pop the motor apart to check for rusted bearings, but I wouldn't without planning to replace the seals.

If you want long run time, buy a "digital" TM as NYbo suggested. At slower speeds they will run 2-3 times longer then the old school/cheap speed coil TM's. You will pay for that run time as they cost 2-3 times as much....

 

[mxcarne]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

Sounds like you have a Turbo 40t which is a 27lb thrust. That motor is about 16 to 18 years old so if it's had all that line wrapped up for a long time you could be affecting internals as Silvertip said. It might be worth while to exchange the battery and see if you do any better with a new one. Be sure to charge it before first use.

I figured it was about 15-18 yrs old. I went and picked up a Minnkota 40# endura c2 today, $150 with my buddies walmart discount. I was looking at the digital ones but I figure if i can get 5-6 hours out of a battery I'm good, I can pick up a 2nd battery and still be less than the digital.

The big question, how much run time do you want??? Also, how big is your boat, or how much does it weigh, there are 14'ers, and then there are 14'ers

Random google pic.That's not me but that's pretty close to what I have. Loaded with me 300lbs(I know), and my kid who is <80lbs its pretty light in the front but a sandbag will prolly fix that. I did a separate trip with my buddy ~200lbs I would guess. Loaded its extremely stable. I have a 5hp Briggs as my main mode of too and from. I'm looking for 5-6 hours constant trolling. A full day with some stop and cast.

 

[mxcarne]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

So picked up the Minn Kota 40lb endura last night, opened the box and found it just has the horseshoe connectors and not the clamps. It also states I need a 60amp breaker which it doesn't come with. My battery has regular posts and screw&nut posts.

3 questions:

Do I need a breaker for my setup?

Can I hook the trolling motor to the screw&nut posts and leave it attached?

When It comes time to recharge, will I have to disconnect the trolling motor?

Right now with the 27lb I have it just has alligator type clamps, and no Breaker.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

1. Yes, for safety's sake.
2. Yes, with a circuit breaker on the positive lead somewhere.
3. No.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Trolling motor or battery?

It also states I need a 60amp breaker which it doesn't come with.

Even though they say a 60 amp breaker, I doubt you'll need that high rating of a breaker. That 40# TM will draw about 40 amps at stall speed, so you would be safe with a 40 or 50 amp breaker. The reason I say to go with the lower rating breaker is you can't find (at least I couldn't) an inexpensive 60 amp breaker, it's going to cost $40-50. Where as an inexpensive 40 or 50 amp breaker will run about $10.

The breaker is really there to protect the battery from shorting out, or the wiring to the TM from shorting out and causing a fire, it's not there to protect the trolling motor.