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I just bought new Cabelas AGM deep cycle batteries for my trolling motor. I brought my old wet-cell Interstate batteries in to get them checked when I was having problems with my Ulterra, come to find out the batteries were fine but the breaker was bad. However, in doing so I tipped one of the batteries over causing acid to leak out. What a mess to clean up, baking soda and water all over. Now there's white stuff all over the interior of my boat. Plus, when I opened up the batteries water level cap recently to check the water level, liquid sprayed out. Luckily I was wearing safety glasses and none of it hit my face. After that I was done with wet-cell batteries forever and bought AGM sealed batteries instead. The automotive industry has used sealed batteries for years, I can't recall seeing a car with a wet-cell battery. Why doesn't the marine boating industry all go to AGM sealed batteries as standard and phase out wet-cell batteries like the automotive industry did (the price would quickly come down on them)? Just like cheaper boat trailers use hubs that have to be consistently greased and higher end boat trailer hubs do not, we could go to a standard maintenance free hub like high end boat trailers and the price would eventually come down also. Just like backup cameras in vehicles that are now mandatory by state law, all cars have backup cameras now and the cost went from thousands to included in the price of the vehicle.

Had problems with my TM last year and had the batteries checked at Batteries Plus. They were fine, problem ended up being the circuit breaker. After that the trolling motor, a 2017 Minn Kota Ulterra worked fine rest of the season with the same batteries. They are Interstate deep cycles from 2014. Now this year I'm having problems with the Autopilot and Spotlock not working but the TM will still work for hours without those features. Whenever I tried the features I got a set of chirps/beeps and that feature wouldn't work. I charged the batteries with my other charger rather than the onboard Minn Kota charger and got the features to work again although only for about 10-15 minutes. I assumed it was the batteries. The TM continued working again without those features for hours. One the batteries on the onboard charger batteries always goes to solid green (full charge) and one always flashes green. I checked the water in the batteries and one is definitely low. I can see the top of the plates by about a 1/2" inch. The water in the other battery is fine. Note: I do keep my batteries plugged into the onboard charger all year long and it is in a warm pole-barn all year long. Can I put more distilled water in this battery and it will work or is it ruined now?

I have a small bass raider 8e and when coming in from the lake today I was unscrewing wing nuts on my sears die hard deep cycle battery and I noticed (with some pain) that the wing nut on the + was extremely hot. I have never had this happen before but it is a little older battery. What would be the cause of this and is it safe to use? I put it on a trickle cherger overnight after every outing and have had no problems. Just wondering....

I have two Optima deep cycle marine batteries and a starting battery for my motor in my boat I recently purchased used. I've noticed the life of the Optima batteries hooked up to my trolling motor and fish finder may be on the tail end of their life. They last me all day when coming off of a fresh charge, but they do not appear to hold a charge. I'm not sure what is acceptable in terms of loss of charge over time in storage, but my batteries are usually completely dead one week sitting after being fully charged. I have an onboard battery charger for all the batteries, but due to storage needs I can't have it plugged in at all times. Last week I left the boat charger plugged in after I parked it. I returned one week later and noticed that the on board charger had a green light for fully charged, as it should be since I left it plugged in. Well I take the boat out and the all items running off the deep cycle batteries are dead..the trolling motor turns the prop maybe 1/32 of a turn and stops. The fish finder beeps when turned on but does not have enough juice to show anything on the screen. The motor battery is ok but of course that's a different type of battery. I know the batteries aren't great, but when left plugged in, they shouldn't be completely dead...So: 1. is it possible that the charger is able to conduct an immediate charge but fails to kick into maintenance mode as it should be doing? The light on the charger indicates the batteries are 100% after a week of sitting, but if I unplug it and plug it back in, it shows red again for charging/not fully charged. 2. Also, how long should I expect my deep cycle charge to last when sitting in storage unmaintained by charger?