AirbusAngler Posted October 1, 2011 Posted October 1, 2011 I have a 12' Inflatable which is propelled by a BPS prowler 30lb thrust trolling motor and the battery I use is the XPS Power Series AGM deep Cycle-48 marine battery. The model is XPSAU1H My questions is--I fully charged the battery before I went out on the lake for the first time. It worked great no problems about 3-4 hours solid use on the motor I would say. Did not notice any loss of power yet. I am about to go out on the lake again but I am wondering If I need to re-charge the battery first? Do I have to get a De-charger first then re-charge from empty? or can I just hook it up to my charger and start charging right away? And the last question is are there any off the top of your head 12V battery testers that I can use to test % of my battery life left? Any help is greately appreciated! Thanks in Advance! Quote
Super User Wayne P. Posted October 1, 2011 Super User Posted October 1, 2011 I have a 12' Inflatable which is propelled by a BPS prowler 30lb thrust trolling motor and the battery I use is the XPS Power Series AGM deep Cycle-48 marine battery. The model is XPSAU1H My questions is--I fully charged the battery before I went out on the lake for the first time. It worked great no problems about 3-4 hours solid use on the motor I would say. Did not notice any loss of power yet. I am about to go out on the lake again but I am wondering If I need to re-charge the battery first? Do I have to get a De-charger first then re-charge from empty? or can I just hook it up to my charger and start charging right away? And the last question is are there any off the top of your head 12V battery testers that I can use to test % of my battery life left? Any help is greately appreciated! Thanks in Advance! Deep cycle batteries----- Number One battery care must: never, ever, leave a battery in any state of discharged. Recharge it as soon as you stop using it. Number Two battery care must: never, ever, discharge it completely. If you haven't already screwed it up, it may recover from your lack of proper maintenance. A voltmeter and/or specific gravity meter are the two items to check you battery's condition. Read this: http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm#Major%20Battery%20Types Quote
Super User QUAKEnSHAKE Posted October 1, 2011 Super User Posted October 1, 2011 I checked and that battery rated @32 amp hours so 3-4 hours use by a 30lb motor you for sure should charge prior to going out. Hey I use an inflatable too(See Eagle 124smb) what you have? Quote
AirbusAngler Posted October 1, 2011 Author Posted October 1, 2011 Deep cycle batteries----- Number One battery care must: never, ever, leave a battery in any state of discharged. Recharge it as soon as you stop using it. Number Two battery care must: never, ever, discharge it completely. If you haven't already screwed it up, it may recover from your lack of proper maintenance. A voltmeter and/or specific gravity meter are the two items to check you battery's condition. Read this: http://www.windsun.c...Battery%20Types I wish BPS would of told me this exact information when I purchased it Oh well thank you for the great info thats EXACTLY what I needed to know. I may have to run down and purchase another one now. I bought the battery thursday, charged it, used it friday til around 12 noon then let it sit without charging. I just put it back on the charger now but havent seen any battery % increase so maybe it is screwed up now? Are they that sensitive? Quote
AirbusAngler Posted October 1, 2011 Author Posted October 1, 2011 I checked and that battery rated @32 amp hours so 3-4 hours use by a 30lb motor you for sure should charge prior to going out. Hey I use an inflatable too(See Eagle 124smb) what you have? Great man thank you! and I have a Sevylor FishHunter 360 Quote
Super User Way2slow Posted October 2, 2011 Super User Posted October 2, 2011 What are you charging it with? I hope it's a voltage controlled charger that has an AGM mode. I have to assume you picked that battery because you were concerned about the weight. If you run your TM on high that battery is only going to give you about 45 minutes or less run time, so be very conservative with your speed settings. Quote
AirbusAngler Posted October 2, 2011 Author Posted October 2, 2011 What are you charging it with? I hope it's a voltage controlled charger that has an AGM mode. I have to assume you picked that battery because you were concerned about the weight. If you run your TM on high that battery is only going to give you about 45 minutes or less run time, so be very conservative with your speed settings. A speed charge it has an AGM setting and 2a 6a 10a respectively. I had it on 2amp and then kicked it up to 6 and the battery started showing that it was receiving charge. So I guess I just really drained the battery down pretty good. I let it go to 75% on 6amp then kicked it back down to 2amp for the remainder of the charge Quote
Super User Way2slow Posted October 2, 2011 Super User Posted October 2, 2011 let the charger do what it does best, charge the battery. The logic card in it will take care of all that stuff for you. Set the charger on six amps, AGM mode, connect the battery to it a leave it alone. If you have a DVM, check the voltage the next day after the charger has gone into the float mode. If it's very close to 13.4 VDC then leave it. Quote
AirbusAngler Posted October 2, 2011 Author Posted October 2, 2011 let the charger do what it does best, charge the battery. The logic card in it will take care of all that stuff for you. Set the charger on six amps, AGM mode, connect the battery to it a leave it alone. If you have a DVM, check the voltage the next day after the charger has gone into the float mode. If it's very close to 13.4 VDC then leave it. ok great I will do that. Thanks a lot for the help! Quote
acar555 Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 What are you charging it with? I hope it's a voltage controlled charger that has an AGM mode. I have to assume you picked that battery because you were concerned about the weight. If you run your TM on high that battery is only going to give you about 45 minutes or less run time, so be very conservative with your speed settings. Be careful about the setting. AGM batteries are not GEL batteries. The GEL batteries are the one that require a different charging mode. AGM's charge like wet lead acid batteries. It could be the wrong battery mode that is the causing the issue. Quote
Super User Way2slow Posted October 2, 2011 Super User Posted October 2, 2011 Well, he said he was using AGM, not sure that charger even has a GEL mode, anyway, that would not create and immediate problem if he did. Gel batteries charge at a couple of tenths lower voltage than AGM's and the float voltageis a couple of tenths different. Actually, AGM's do not charge the same as flooded cell batteries. All three batteries have different max charge voltages and different float volatages. Each only being a couple of tenths but over time, these coupe of tenth's will damage the battery. Flooded cell batteries seem to withstand the most abuse by improper charging the longest, the newer AGM's have gotten more tolerant than they used to be and gel's are still very picky about how you charge them. Quote
fish-fighting-illini Posted October 14, 2011 Posted October 14, 2011 1) Your battery will be fine it is not very likely to crap out that easily. Your treatment wasn't perfect but it wasn't that bad. Heck if it was that big of a deal it would be mandatory to charge the battery b4 you left the lake! 2) you are using an inflatable, not much weight so I wouldn't worry too much 3) I run a 14' extra wide john boat with flooring ( thin & light ) decking ( small amount ) using a 55# thrust ( digital but have also used a 55# non digital ) and my battery has been fine for several years. I use it on a lake that is at least a couple of miles long and the only mode of transportation is your trolling motor as gas motors are not allowed. They cannot even be on your boat! 4) I also have a 25# thrust as sort of a backup that I sometimes run at the same time as I run my 55# 5) once in a while I forget to put my battery on the charger right away. Sometimes it is the next day or 3 or ??? I'm no battery expert just my .02 FFI Quote
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