I attached my Minn Kota 30 lbs thrust to my Cabela AGM Battery, Its the very heavy battery that cost $219.99. Its very heavy and when I use it with my inflatable boat I put wool blankets underneath, very thick wool blankets.
It cost some money yes, but I attached it to to my trolling motor in my living room(being careful to not get my feet chopped off[laugh]) Before I attached it I check the battery meter it had 1/3 battery charge left, and when I attached the trolling motor at 3:30 PM and I set the trolling motor speed at #5 its still going right now and its 5:22 AM!!! Over 12 hours at speed # 5!!! Can you believe the power of these batteries, of course for $219 you better get a good battery for the money.
Pretty good battery ,eh?
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I hate to burst your bubble, but don't rely on these results. An electric trolling motor run out of water has essentially no load and it doesn't pull any current. My guess is it would run at least 10-20 times as long in the air as it would in water. My Minn Kota manual specifically states not to run the motor out of water because it relies on water for cooling.
Also, running a battery below 1/3 charge is a good way to sulfate the lead plates and ruin even the best battery in a hurry. 12.1V is considered by most as the absolute lowest you ever want a battery to get. Its best to recharge them before they hit 12.2V (about 40%)
While I wouldn't recommend them for an application like an inflatable boat where they're bound to get tipped over, I've had really good luck with the $70 deep cycles from Walmart. I'm just finishing my 4th year with them and can still get 6 hours of trolling at 50% speed on my 65lb thrust 24V motor before they drop to 12.2 volts. I could get 7 hours when they were new. These are far better than the Costco Kirkland batteries that I had to replace after 2 seasons.
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Got that. Not a smart thing to do, hope I didn't ruin the trolling motor.
Thanks for the info!
Happy fishing.
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[font "Times New Roman"][#000000]I also would tell you not to waste money on those expensive batteries. What they claim ont the labels is just a sales trick. I always keep in mind that almost all deep cycle batteries are in fact made at the same plant. They pretty much use identical materials and processes. 3 1/2 years ago I got some Stowaway Deep Cycle batteries for $55.99 each. They still keep their original voltage and will last just as long as these expensive ones.[/#000000][/font]
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I wasn't saying that catfish-logic had wasted his money. If I were buying a battery for a an inflatable boat where it was sure to end up tipped over on its side then I would have got an AGM or gel-cell battery too. These batteries are completely sealed and don't leak.
I always used to shake my head at the guys who wasted money on those yellow-top optima batteries until I saw a friend hook one up to his 75-amp charger and charge the thing off this generator in less than an hour. Turns out that these batteries have no maximum charge rate as long as you keep them cool. My cheap deep cycle batteries would boil and fizz if I abused them like this.
However, I've found that unless you need these features then even the cheap batteries last 4-5 years as long as you take care of them.
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