What kind of trolling battery to get?

[IceIceBaby]

I have two trolling batteries hooked up to my bow mount trolling motor. I need to replace them and know absolutely nothing about them. Any suggestions on which ones to get would be greatly appreciated as the choices I've looked into and the salesman's lack of knowledge have just confused me.

Thanks,

Al

[Fowlmouth]

I have the fleet farm brand deep cycle. Great price and no problems yet with being 2 years old. Just my 2 cents.

[My_Key]

Interstate

[IceIceBaby]

Does it pay to buy the most amount of "trolling minutes" available? I assume it does, or can it be overkill?

[highlife4me]

+1 on the Interstate

[Esox_Magnum]

+1 on the Interstate

+2

[aanderud]

The amount of minutes is really only limited by your willingness to devote space and weight in the boat to batteries. The most common sizes are group 24, 27, 31, each having more weight/size, and each having a higher amp hour rating (thus more minutes). They do make even larger batteries, but you run into overkill I'd say with anything bigger, unless you're in the unfortunate situation of having nowhere to charge it for several (long) fishing days in a row. Even so, that's a pretty rare event, and I doubt that you'd want to go bigger just for that rare occasion.

One thing to remember is that the amount of current the motor draws will be dependent on how fast you're running it -- e.g. if you have a variable switch from 1 to 10, running it at 10 will chew through the battery faster. It seems obvious, but some folks don't realize that. It might not be a completely linear relationship -- meaning running at 1 might not get you 10x as much runtime. But I do know that running at 1/2 throttle on my 80 lb minn kota will get me 2x or more battery life. So, keep that in mind when fishing -- I try to never crank it up to 10 if I don't have to. If you have a ways to go to get back on the spot (say you had the motor off while you were unhooking a fish or something and you drifted off the spot-on-the-spot), don't be afraid to power the big engine up and troll back over there rather than cranking the electric up, wasting both time and battery minutes getting back on the spot.

I've heard good things about the interstates, but I've always just bought the walmart specials.

[IceIceBaby]

Where do they sell Interstate batteries and what about "trolling minutes"? Thanks for your replies!

Al

[aanderud]

Specifically what do you need to know about minutes? It's so variable, depending no your boat, etc.

Different manufacturers might have slightly different names for the capacity of a battery (reserve capacity, amp-hour rating, etc), but basically figure out how many amp hours (sometimes abbreviated 'ah') in the battery, divide by your motor's current draw, and you'll know your hours of runtime.

For instance, my 80 lb minn kota draws like 50 amps at max draw. I can't remember exactly what it is, but it's more than 40 and less than 60, so for the sake of argument here I'll say 50. If I'm running at half of max throttle to push my crestliner sportfish, lets just assume it's drawing 25 amps. If I put it on my little jon boat, I probably only have to run it at 1/4 throttle in no current, and thus I'm drawing something like 12 amps instead of 25. Smaller boat, so less power needed. On the same battery, I'd get twice as many minutes. So that's what I mean when I say it depends on lots of stuff. How much wind is there, how heavy is your boat, how well loaded is it that day -- they'll all impact what speed you run your motor at and how much current it draws.

Anyway, if I want to troll for 4 hours straight drawing 25 amps the whole time, I need a battery (or in the 24 volt case, 2 batteries) with 100 amp hours of capacity. In most cases this means a really high capacity group 27 battery or a group 31 battery.

[IceIceBaby]

That's where I start getting confused, Aanderud.

I have a 18 ft Lund Pro V tiller with a Minn Kota trolling motor that is 80 lb. But, it sounds like I should go for the high capacity battery like yours.

[LMITOUT]

I have a 70# Minn-Kota on the bow of my boat with a 80# on the rear and use Interstate batteries (24V) and they are more than enough to do the job. I can take a look at the sizing if you want. Interstates aren't the cheapest, but you get what you pay for and can get them almost everywhere.

[IceIceBaby]

I'd appreciate that, Limitout. Let me know what you've got.

Thanks!

Al

[My_Key]

Is your trolling motor 12V or 24V? You said that you have two batteries hooked up, but never specified the trolling motor voltage. I have an older 12V MinnKota Powerdrive on my boat, and run two 27 series batteries in a series. I fished 3 days Memorial Day weekend and never once charged the batteries. In fact, I still had over half charge left. I rarely run it higher than about 60% throttle either. Just make sure that you buy the same size and type batteries when you do replace them. The circuit is only as strong as the weakest battery.

[IceIceBaby]

I have a 24V battery.

[LMITOUT]

Just checked and the Interstates I have are deep cycle, 675 CCA. They are Group 29 sized batteries so they are physically larger. You'll have to see what size you currently have and make sure the new replacement battery will physically fit in the storage area.

A larger Group size doesn't necessarily mean it has more capacity.

[IceIceBaby]

Thank you Lmitout. I appreciate it.

[titelines]

+3

I've got 2 Interstate's running a 24v system and have fallen in love with them.

[RebelSS]

+ 4 On the Interstates. Run two of 'em. Unbeatable.

[Northlander]

I run 4 Interstates. 2 in back and 2 up front for the bowmount Minnkota. Im very happy with the performance of my Interstates and even more so with Interstates Customer service at my local, Superior Wi. shop.

[IceIceBaby]

Where can I buy interstates?

Thanks again for the info. I think I'm sold on them.

[Northlander]

Many service stations, parts stores and of course Interstate shops have them. Do a search for Interstate batteries and their HSOforum will give you suppliers in your area I think.

[RebelSS]

GM has them, Firestone stores, and many auto parts places carry them.

[IceIceBaby]

Thank you all for your help! I'll get them tomorrow.

Al