Upgrading Trolling Motor Or Another Battery?

[DJ Funk]

Good morning and Happy Easter to you all!

 

I've been having issues with getting enough use out of trolling motor, and I usually run out of trolling motor based on the wind having to turn the speed up on my trolling motor too many times to keep on my spot.

 

After getting all 3 batteries tested (yes 3...2 in the back run parallel for the electronics and live well for whatever reason...bought it this way) and one in the front which is a duracell marine deep cycle 29hm series (1 year old)

 

I have been given the idea that my Minnkota Edge 55lb trolling motor (12V) just isn't enough for my boat. (1989 basstracker aluminum v hull tournament V17).

 

1. One idea is to add another battery and keep it on hand (adding more weight) meaning having 4 batteries in the boat.
2. moving the second battery from the back and using that for the back up
3. selling my current trolling motor and getting a 24 volt system. I'm not rich, but if I need to do it, then that's my only real option.

So if I do go with option #3, what trolling motor would you recommend? I would like to get Minnkota preferrably.

 

Thanks in advance!

Jeff

 

 

[Dave P]

We have a tracker pt 175 tx and run a 24V 82lb Motor Guide. 3 batteries. IMO, you need the extra thrust because of the high sides and lite weight of the aluminum hull.

[NBR]

First I don't understand the reasoning for 2 batteries for your electronics and cranking. My boat works just fine with the cranking battery supplying everything except the TM. Your are correct with them in parrallel since in series you would have 24 volts to the system.

 

Do you charge your batteries as soon as you get back? Is your water level in the batteries at proper lever? Your boat is light and is probably going to get pushed around by the wind. You can probably reduce wind push by throwing out a bucket on a rope to act as a sea anchor.

 

You would probably be more satisfied with a 24v system but if you do that you probably need to get 2 new TM batteries. Battery systems neither like new and older batteries nor different batteries in the same system.

[ww2farmer]

I run a Minn Kota Maxxum 70, the variable speed model, with 2 group 24 batteries on a Tracker Pro team 170. I can fish for 8-10 + hours a days  in wind, weeds, and other challenging conditions, with no loss of power. I suppose if I was on 100% all day it would drain them, but the motor is great on a boat my size, normal conditions I only run 30-40%, in wind I rarely need to bump it up more than the 60% setting. I can blast through all but the thickest mats on 75%. The only time I use 100% is to zip to a spot quick, or to drag myself out of a mat so thick you can walk on it. If you have room for the extra batteries go with the 24v, you won't be sorry. Just make sure it's the variable speed, that goes a long ways in conserving juice.

[DJ Funk]

Yes, I charge the batteries as soon I return. I also have them ona maintainer when not in use.

I didn't notice this as being a real issue until fall (more wind) so I was having to crank up the speed on my TM.

 

My thought is to not run the bilge area batteries in parallel and just use one. I'll be getting the boat out this week and taking it out to test to see the results of running all the electronics and pumps to see what happens from only using one battery.

 

Keeping the newest battery up front with the TM, and when I need it, swap it out with the extra one in the bilge area. Pain in the butt, but probably the cheapest option....

 

Thoughts?

[Way2slow]

Yes, upgrading to a 24 volt TM would give you approx. 25% more run time over the 12 volt motor just for the difference in efficiency of the two motors.

Before doing that, I have reservations about the condition of your batteries and how they are connected.

First off, if this is has an outboard motor and not electric only, one of the batteries in the back should be the cranking battery and should not even be connected to the TM. All the electronics and accessories should be running off that battery.

Next, you need to verify the other battery in the back is in fact connected in parallel with the battery in the live well, which is most likely there for the TM and they just didn't have enough room in the back to add a second TM battery.

Then you should make sure that all connections between the two batteries a good and clean and strongly recommend you have at least #6 marine/battery cable connecting them together and going to the TM connector.

My next suggestion would be to load test the batteries yourself. Get you two dual beam headlamps, connect/wire the elements together so both are in parallel and both will burn both elements at the same time and connect them to one battery at the time. Make sure you disconnect the cables so you are sure the other battery is not connected, this will give you approx. a 20 amp load. Look on the label and see what the reserve capacity is on the battery and connect the headlamps to the battery. It should at least as long or longer for the battery to drop to 11.8 volts as the minutes for the reserve capacity. If the battery is dropping to the 11.8 volts a lot sooner than the reserve capacity number, your battery is bad.

While those electronic tester are great, and I use one all the time myself, it will lie to you when it comes to what the battery will actually do under a load. And the quick load tester used is does not give you an accurate indication, which I also use for quick checks and they are much better on cranking batteries that deep cycle. Nothing works better than the steady drain test for deep cycle batteries. I have a much more expensive and fancier tester but the head lamps work great for the backyard mechanic.

Do not swap the batteries out as the run down, connect them in parallel. You will get approx. 20% more run time running them in parallel versus swapping them out.

[DJ Funk]

Thanks...

ed

The trolling motor has it's own after market wiring (I believe it's 8 gauge marine wiring) that is exclusively used for the trolling motor. It also has an inline fuse as well.

 

The batteries in the back are connected in parallel. Not sure why.

I bought it a dealership and it came in on a trade. Perhaps the previous owner didn't want to run new wiring to the back if the old wiring was bad. Who knows.

[Way2slow]

Sounds like you have a whole lot of somebody not knowing what they were doing.

One battery on that size TM running on or near max is only going to give you a between one and two hours run time.

,

If it was me, I would make sure the cranking battery was a good dual purpose, preferably a group 27, battery and connect everything but the TM to that battery. However, before I did anything, I would do my recommended load test.

Then I would run #6 cable (the stranded stuff from Home Depot will work but marine is better) between the other two batteries.

If there is room in the back, I would get that battery out of the live well and move it to the back. I think you will find the boat will run much better, unless it's wanting to porpoise on you when it's back there, that is a problem tin cans have when the weight distribution is not right on them.

Two good group 27/31 deep cycle batteries in parallel should run you all day with no problem unless the TM is living on high or very near it.

[Comfortably Numb]

Way2slow is correct. You want 2 bats in paralell for the TM and 1 bat for electronics/cranking. Put all 3 in rear and run 4 ga to the front for TM.

 

That will fix your runtime prob. If still not happy with power get a 24v TM and run the 2 TM bats in series for 24v.

[DJ Funk]

I'm not sure if there will room in the back for 3 batteries and 2 6 gallon gas tanks though.