minn kota digital maximizer

[midwesthunter]

I am looking at getting a new trolling motor. Is the digital maximizer really worth the extra money? They claim it can make your battery last 5 times longer on one charge. I'm not sure I believe this and was hoping on some input.

Thanks

[Slob_Samurai]

I have a 65lb maxxum w/ the digital maximizer and from my own experience running it as a 24v my charge seems to last forever. I charge every 2-3 trips and use my trolling motor 90% of the time and I've never ran out of juice. From what I have read, you gain the greatest advantage with the maximizer when using it at slower speeds. If you are running it at full power (which I rarely do) you gain nothing with a maximizer.

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=252767

[delcecchi]

Minnkota has had Maximizer technology in one form or another for quite a while. It works.

The old way of controlling the speed of a trolling motor was to drop the voltage by putting a resistor in series with the motor. This wasted some of the power from the battery.

The new way is to turn the voltage on and off rapidly. The proportion of time it is on controls the average voltage the motor sees. If it is done really fast, it works sort of like a light dimmer and no power is wasted. I think all the manufacturers do it that way now.

I think the "digital" part comes from how they control the switching on and off. Back in the day we would use an analog circuit that used resistors and capacitors and transistors to switch the voltage. Nowdays they probably use a small microprocessor or some counters and stuff to time the turning on and off.

For old geeks it was unijunction transistors or 555 timers.

But to summarize, the maximizer really works, especially if you spend a lot of time with the trolling motor on low speed

[PerchJerker]

The digital maximizer will definately extend your run time --- plus the infinite adjustment lets you fine-tune to the perfect speeds for you, instead of having to be on speed 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.

Get it, you'll be glad you did!