Need a new battery

[nathanielrthomas]

So I had a stupid idea that I should go fishing Saturday. I went, first time out in about a month. I was out there about 2 hours, fighting through the ice on the lake, and my trolling motor got a little weak. I said the hell with it since I hadnt got so much as a bite, and went back to crank my motor to go back to the ramp. This is where the fun begins....

I just bought my first electric start motor, a 1992 Evinrude 25hp. It has no rope.... And I learned the hard way, about a mile from the boat ramp, that electric start motors dont crank if you have a weak battery. I had no rope to tie to the flywheel, and I was the only person stupid enough to be on the water in this weather. I tried trolling back, but that lasted about 200 yards before the battery completely died. Paddling was an option, but its not that effective on a 1448 trying to fight through sections of ice.

So there I am, stranded in 30 degree weather, with no way of moving my boat. Thought about calling a buddy that could tow me back, but his boat is jacked up right now. Then I though about calling 911, but I was too embarassed at the time. Then my mantelligence kicked in. I cut about a 6 foot section of ground wire that I had ran to the front of the boat for my switch that controls my livewell, tied a knot in it, tied it to the flywheel, and proceeded to try not to tear my arm off while awkwardly pulling on the flywheel. Luckily the motor started right up, and I was able to get to the boat ramp. Close call, but I made it home safe.

So I have a few battery questions:

I have one interstate marine battery that needs replacing. I have a 12V 55# Minn Kota Edge, two fish finders, a livewell that rarely gets used, and an Electric start motor that needs cranking power/amps or whatever. I also have a 5 amp BPS onboard charger. I mostly use the trolling motor on the lake I fish, anywhere between 6-10 hours.

Should I replace my one battery with two in a parallel setup?

What kind/brand of batteries are the best value for the money?

Where is the best place to puchase batteries?

Any other advice would be greatly appeciated. Thanks guys.

 

[russ010]

I just replaced my 2 batteries for my 71# 24v motor with 2 Optima Blue Top 31M batteries.. I got them for $200 each from Advance Auto the day after Christmas when they had 20% off everything in the cart. But they are $250 each - and well worth the $$$. If you are running that much stuff, I would either buy one of those, or 2 wet cells in the 29 series

 

[PartsMan]

Get a good deep cycle and some small rope. You should be fine.
If you are worried you can get a separate cranking battery for the motor. They are cheap.

 

[redbug]

I run my trolling motor very hard I fish in a tidal river that has a tide drop/rise of 7 ft every 6 hours. so the current is moving.
I have a 21' triton and run a 109lb thrust motor guide. I was using wet cell batteries for years and would replace them every couple of years. they would run my motor fine but by the end of the day fishing the current I would see a drop in power.
the other issue was that if i had a 2 day event on the river they wouldn't reach a full charge over night.
I finally bit the bullet and dropped the $600 on 3 DEKA AGM batteries. these things are great. I never saw a power drop and never went below 45% charge.
they also charged very quickly.
very expensive but worth it.

 

[basstender10.6]

I would recomend a Sears Diehard battery. The have the longest warrenty and have been proven to be the most durrable. Also I would recomend a tracker cranking battery for your 25hp evinrude, the cost about $30 and this way you wont have to worry about your minn kota edge draining down your battery.

 

[Ictalurus]

Nate

That's funny, I went out to Herb Parsons Lake on Saturday to try out my new motor and had to break through the ice too!

If you are worried you can get a separate cranking battery for the motor.

Think I'd have a deep cycle for the TM and throw in a cranking battery for motor and other electronics.

 

[DenisD]

I've got a 25hp 4-stroke electric start without a rope start also. I use a deepcycle for the TM and I think it's a group 51 for starting, this battery is used in Acura RSX cars so it has plenty of cranking amps, but is smaller and lighter,maybe cheaper (can't remember, I try to block out boating cost) than a typical group 24 starting battery. Or you could try a riding mower battery like I use on my 15hp electric start, but it has a rope start for backup. Good luck and smart thinking on using a ground wire for a starter rope. =D>

 

[Captain Ahab]

I recommend three batteries. One devoted to starting the motor, one for electronics and one for the TM

Group 31 deep cycle - for the TM

Group 27 or 24 Deep cycle / starting - cranking for the outboard

Group 24 Deep cycle for the electronics

DO NOT run them in parallel but isolate each for the job. If one battery kicks on you you can always swap things around

 

[rusty.hook]

All I use are Continental batteries , but regardless of what batteries you use, KEEP THEM CHARGED ALL THE TIME. I just bought 2 onboard battery chargers, one is a Motorguide model 6 amp for the troll motor, and the other is 1 1/2 amp for the big motor, come in, plug them in and they are are both auto shut-off models, therefore I am always ready to roll out on a spur of a moment

 

[tripleup05]

All I use are Continental batteries , but regardless of what batteries you use, KEEP THEM CHARGED ALL THE TIME.

This is the advice I follow, however, I have also heard that repeatedly discharging only a few percent and then recharging back to 100 percent "teaches" the battery to only discharge to that point. If you discharge past that point (after many, many cycles of only discharging a few percent) the battery will begin discharging very rapdily and fall flat on its face much sooner than normal. I also heard that it will not recharge from a state past its "memory" threshold, as its only used to being recharged a few percent.

Any truth to this?

 

[nathanielrthomas]

All I use are Continental batteries , but regardless of what batteries you use, KEEP THEM CHARGED ALL THE TIME.

This is the advice I follow, however, I have also heard that repeatedly discharging only a few percent and then recharging back to 100 percent "teaches" the battery to only discharge to that point. If you discharge past that point (after many, many cycles of only discharging a few percent) the battery will begin discharging very rapdily and fall flat on its face much sooner than normal. I also heard that it will not recharge from a state past its "memory" threshold, as its only used to being recharged a few percent.

Any truth to this?

I have no idea, but that sounds very complicated.

 

[KMixson]

All I use are Continental batteries , but regardless of what batteries you use, KEEP THEM CHARGED ALL THE TIME.

This is the advice I follow, however, I have also heard that repeatedly discharging only a few percent and then recharging back to 100 percent "teaches" the battery to only discharge to that point. If you discharge past that point (after many, many cycles of only discharging a few percent) the battery will begin discharging very rapdily and fall flat on its face much sooner than normal. I also heard that it will not recharge from a state past its "memory" threshold, as its only used to being recharged a few percent.

Any truth to this?

Ni-Cd(Nickle Cadmium) batteries are prone to that situation. Pb(Lead Acid) batteries are not like that. If that were the case your car would not have very long battery life at all.

Ni-Cd's can be brought back from this state a lot of times with a cycle charger/discharger. I have resurrected a lot of them myself with my charger. You just set it up to discharge to a certain point and then charge it back up to full charge. You can see how many mAh's(miliamp hours) were discharged in each cycle and how many mAh's were needed to charge it on each cycle. You can program it to cycle up to ten times. Here is a link to the charger.

https://www.electrifly.com/chargers/gpmm3153.html