Battery Trouble

[newcreation]

Ok I bought an 2 everstart batteries. I read an article in one of the bass magazines and decided on a cranking battery everstart deep cycle 600 cca to turn my Johnson over. I got the biggest rated everstart to run my motorguide and accessories. Ok first two trips no problems. This evening I was out for about 3 hrs and my voltage dropped to 10 volts. So I cut my all nighter short. I did charge the battery before i went overnight. I used a 6 amp charger that does not have auto shutoff. An old guy on the dock told me I need to slow charge the battery after running it completely down. I have the lights left on and i did get a 1.5 amp charger with auto off. The guy at Wal-Mart said to bring the battery back if it does not hold charge, so that looks promising. I guess my question is am I on the right track?

[Jig Man]

Your 6 am charger is a slow charge. You should have a 10-15 amp charger for the batteries. There is a very good chance that you never got the batteries recharged completely after the first two trips.

Get a hydrometer so you can check the specific gravity of the cells when you have charged them. At full charge they should be 12.7 volts.

[Way2slow]

At 1.5 amps, you would need to charge a fully run down 115 amphour battery about 75 hours

At 6 amps, you need to charge it about 20 hours.

What many people don't understand "SLOW" is in the battery world means approx 10% of the rated capacity. 10% of the rated capacity is the recommended charge rate for most all batteries.

CCA/MCA means absolutely nothing for deep cycle batteries. True deep cycles will not even have these ratings on them. Amphour or reserve minutes are the numbers you look for in deep cycle batteries. Even those can be misleading because companies will use different rating critirea. Amphour can be a 20 hour rating (which is the most common) but can be as little as 5 hour (you will usually only find this on high quality, industrial batteries). Reserve minutes is usually based on a 25 amp draw but some will use a lower draw to make their numbers look better

I think you will find the Maxx batteries from Wal-Mart will usually have 12.84 VDC fully charged. Specific gravity will be usaully be 1.280 - 1.300, if they are properly charged and cared for.

[newcreation]

At 1.5 amps, you would need to charge a fully run down 115 amphour battery about 75 hours

At 6 amps, you need to charge it about 20 hours.

What many people don't understand "SLOW" is in the battery world means approx 10% of the rated capacity. 10% of the rated capacity is the recommended charge rate for most all batteries.

CCA/MCA means absolutely nothing for deep cycle batteries. True deep cycles will not even have these ratings on them. Amphour or reserve minutes are the numbers you look for in deep cycle batteries. Even those can be misleading because companies will use different rating critirea. Amphour can be a 20 hour rating (which is the most common) but can be as little as 5 hour (you will usually only find this on high quality, industrial batteries). Reserve minutes is usually based on a 25 amp draw but some will use a lower draw to make their numbers look better

I think you will find the Maxx batteries from Wal-Mart will usually have 12.84 VDC fully charged. Specific gravity will be usaully be 1.280 - 1.300, if they are properly charged and cared for.

Thanks for the info! I usually only get to fish one night a week, so for now either the 1.5 or the 6 amp charger would work if I am understanding the logic of charging a battery, slower will not hurt it, it just takes more time. I beleive that is what your saying. The new 1.5 has a maintainer option so I can just leave it pluged in.

[Wayne P.]

I'll add one more thing to your battery needs. If you have a lot of stuff powered by the starting battery, lights, pumps, electronics, etc., your starting battery should be the Dual Purpose type with enough MCA to handle the needed requirement of your outboard.

[Way2slow]

Use at least your 6 amp to charge it (as soon as you get home from the lake). It is not good to charge a battery too slow. The battery must gas some to keep the electrolite mixed, if too slow, the electrolite will stratify. After it has been on the 6 amp for 8 - 10 hours or so, then connect your 1.5 amp maintainer and leave it.

That's only if you have a quality maintainer that holds about 13.2 VDC when fully charged. Many of the cheaper maintainers will not do this so you need to fully charge the battery before even connecting them. 13.17 VDC is the recommended float voltage for most deep cycle batteries. I've seen cheap maintainers that won't even hold 12.8 VDC.

[newcreation]

I went to put the boat away and charge the batteries, I checked them last night with my dvom trolling 10.5 cranking 12.6 I left the stern light on to run down my trolling batt. to give it a good charge. This morning when i checked em they wer both at 12.56v ballanced. I must have a wiring issue? well anyway I un hooked them and going to charge them both seperatly.

[Way2slow]

Wait now, Time Out!!!!

You left the stern light on to run it down, to give it a good charge????

First, you NEVER, EVER want to run a battery all the way down! All you are doing is destroying what was once probably a good battery. You should never run a 12V battery below 12.1VDC and will get a lot longer life if you don't take it below 12.3.

How are you connecting to the batteries to charge them. It sounds like you are charging them in parallel since that's the only way you can charge both batteries at once with a single stage charger. If so, they are going to read the same voltage. Also, you can just about double those times I said it would take to charge.

How do you have you're boat wired? Normally the nav lites and all accessories run off the cranking battery because the motor is recharging it some when it's running. Only the TM is run off the TM battery.

Are you running the batteries in series to run a 24V TM and also using one of them as the cranking battery? If so, that's risky business and both still need to be the same type, style and size.

[Fishes in trees]

If you want to go hassle free with your batteries, go ahead, bite the bullet and get an on board charger. You get home from your trip, plug it in - no muss & no fuss. Remember to unplug it before leaving for your next trip. The last time I had battery issues was over 12 years ago, prior to purchasing an on board charger.

All you've got to do is remember to plug it in.

[CWB]

I have the exact same Everstart trolling motor battery (120 AH) and have not had any issues for 3 years now. I charge it out of the boat with a Sears 15 amp charger set at 12v deep cycle. Never takes more than 5-6 hours to fully charge, even after running for almost 2 days.

Are you using both batteries to start the engine and run the T.M?

You should use a separate battery for each. If T.M is 24V, use 2 separate ones for that. If the starting batt. goes dead, you can usually rig up the good one(s) to start the engine.

[Jim H.]

The batteries at Wally World were made by Exide for several years. Mostly they were not very good but the warranty was great. If you will look at the batteries they are selling today, they are coming from Johnson Controls the same company that produces the Interstate brand you see in most garages and those have a very good reputation... for the most part. Truth is you never really know what you are really buying. Both China and Mexico are producing batteries and U.S. companies (including Johnson Controls) are selling them without revealing where they were produced. BESA (Battery Enterprises of South America), for example, is a subsidiary of Johnson Controls and make many of their batteries in Mexico. By the way, our local Wal Mart charges a $9 fee if you don't turn your old battery in. What a rip that is! Your local reclycling operator will pay $.28 - $.32 / lb for your old battery. Most 120 AH, group 27, deep cycles will weigh in around 45 lbs and will bring $13+.

Perhaps some day the trolling motor manufacturers will wise up and instead of building 12/24V trolling motors they will go to 6/12V motors and power them with 6V Golf Cart batteries. Back in the day, Byrd Industries located in DyersburgTN made Eagle brand trollers in 6/12V and I loved them. They had as much thrust as most of todays MT's and MG's. The bad thing is they had small prop shafts that would bend and let water get into the lower unit.

just my $.02.

[yournamehere]

"I left the stern light on to run down my trolling batt. to give it a good charge." take them back and start over..Just get and on board battery charger/maintainer and be done with it..