Battery life

[Muskiebait]

Just wondering what the life of a trolling motor battery is? I have a 24 system running interstates, going on my 3rd season, and when charged the symbol only goes to 3/4 on the trolling motor, think they would still be good for another year? thanks

[eyebjim]

Have you checked the fluid in them? It sounds like one of them is not taking a full charge. Measure the voltage across each of them. They should be about 12v each. If one is lower, it is likely the problem battery.

[Muskiebait]

willl do that didn't think of it, i kept a charge on them about once a month this winter, didn't realize they would lose fluid if it was enclosed. thanks for the tip.

[PerchPounder]

If you take your batteries or your boat to any auto parts store most will test you batteries for free and should be able to tell you how much life is left in them. We have 5 year old exide nautilus batteries for our trolling motor and they tested almost like new and they both tested the same.

[Snowking]

im having the same problem. took them in to the auto place and found out 1 of them is bad. so do you buy just one or do you buy them both?

[Phred52]

Muskiebait, The biggest part of battery life is "battery maintance". I have 2 Trojans S225's that I run in both the boat AND the wheel-house. They're being cycled all year long, I'm always checking and filling the water levels, as well as doing the "battery recondition cycle" on my charger, and they're now going onto their 9th season. I really don't see a drop in their performance level. My buddy just bought his 3rd set of Interstates in that same time frame. He doesn't do the maintence, and runs the snot out of them. Funny...He's always whining how crappy his batteries are! Time is money, money is power. How true!! Phred52

[tonkapat]

ever since I bought an onboard charger I haven't bought any new batteries. Have an optima for the trolling motor that is on year 6. Optima = no maintenance. If u are not using an automatic charger 3 years will be max battery life. Don't trust what the trolling motor says either.

[Muskiebait]

I check them last night they were a little low on the fluid level so I added some then put them on the charger, Haven't checke them yet but will after work today, it is an onboard charger, so hopefully I can do like Phred52 and get some years out of them, if it was just the fluid level I will put that on my check list for the start of the year maintenence on the boat. Thanks for all the help

[PerchPounder]

im having the same problem. took them in to the auto place and found out 1 of them is bad. so do you buy just one or do you buy them both?

It's generally best to replace them in pairs. If you only replace one battery and your orignal then goes bad and goes unnoticed it can draw off your new battery causing it to go bad.

[Whoaru99]

I firmly believe it's not so much the onboard charger (that just makes it so much easier) but proper maintenance of which 80% of is fully recharging as soon as possible after any amount of use.

A buddy of mine spent nice money on an OB charger, yet still complains about crappy battery life. Wonders why I got 8 years out of my last set but he has to replace his every two years.

Why? Because he/we fish all day or night in his boat, then it goes to the back yard where the low batteries just sit until the next time he wants to go fishing. THEN he plugs in the charger. You can lead a horse to water....but you can't make it drink...

[jeffreyd]

Being a fire truck mechanic, we had 6 12 volt batteries on our trucks. 3 in each bank. No matter what type of vehicle it was, if it had more than one battery they both got replaced. Simply put that if one battery is bad, the charging system is trying to fill that one battery and the other one suffers. So if you simply replace the bad one chances are you will be replacing the other one sooner. Then it becomes a circle of replacing batteries.

A fully charged battery should have 12.66 volts, if you research on battery a 12 volt battery is considered dead at 11.89 volts. Each cell should have 2.10 volts in it to equal 12.66 volts charged. Here in AZ, if we get 12 months out of a battery we are in tall cotton. The heat is what kills them here, they water will evaporate out and then your done. I would suggest someone who is continually charging a battery, should check the water at least once a month. Especially if you are discharging and charging a bunch.

Remember if you take a battery in to an auto parts house have them test it for warranty replacement, chances are they will say it is good you just need to take it home and recharge, that is money they will lose over time if they replace them.

I can take a midtronics tester and make any battery pass or fail just on how i connect the cables.

For clarification purpose I am a certified ASE and EVT mechanic and sit on the certification board for emergency vehicle low voltage systems.

Good luck.

[BobT]

Originally Posted By: Snowking

im having the same problem. took them in to the auto place and found out 1 of them is bad. so do you buy just one or do you buy them both?

It's generally best to replace them in pairs. If you only replace one battery and your orignal then goes bad and goes unnoticed it can draw off your new battery causing it to go bad.

Yes and no. In a parallel wired circuit (12v) I would agree with this completely because is one battery develops an internal short-circuit it will very likely damage the other one however, this would not likely be a high risk in a series wired circuit (24v). If one battery fails in a series wired circuit, you'll lose voltage but the good battery shouldn't be damaged.

[Pat K]

Growing up on a farm a lot of the diesels had two 6 volt batteries for a 12 volt system.

If you replaced batteries one at a time you were constantly replacing batteries.

If you replaced the pair they usualy lasted 3 years.