CTFishTalk.com: Trolling Motor & Battery Question - Connecticut Boat Repair, Electronics, and Motor Help ( CT Boat Repair, Electronics, and Motor Help ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

mikey5string · Joined: 09 May 2012 Posts: 179 Location: West Haven

I just got a Minn Kota 45 thrust trolling motor. A friend and I bought it at Dick's and wanted to go fishing that night so we bought the only battery they had.

It is a Stowaway Marine Dual Purpose 730 marine cranking amps 160 reserve capacity. I have no idea what any of that means.

We used it on and off for about 3.5 hrs last night. I still have to get a charger for it but I have no idea what to get. I am assuming it has enough juice to power the motor again tonight and I can research chargers a bit more and buy one next week.

Did I get the right battery? How long will it last before it needs a charge?

Thanks
Mike

hoppy · Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 393 Location: congamuck

what you want is a deepcycle battery. Regular cranking battery's arent designed to be discharged and recharged over and over as deep cycles are.
I know optima's yellow battery is both a starting and deepcycle battery. abit pricey but awesome batteries. A regular cranking battery wont last if its contstantly drained down. Id return that one if its not a deepcycle.

hoppy · Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 393 Location: congamuck

to add to what i said...........any twelve volt battery thats got juice will run your motor. how long it lasts is an entirely differant story though. how long your battery will last is hard to answer. depends on your boat size and weight and how much your running it and on what speed. Ideally with a good marine battery charger you want to hook up when you get home from your trip or every other trip to keep the battery fully charge. the onboard charges are nice, not only charge, but maintaine once at fully charge.

mikey5string · Joined: 09 May 2012 Posts: 179 Location: West Haven

It's a dual purpose for starting and trolling. I don't need the starting part though since its only a trolling motor.

hoppy · Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 393 Location: congamuck

then i guess your good to go

SAP284 · Joined: 07 Jun 2011 Posts: 655 Location: Central, CT

To answer your question about how long will it last before needing a charge that can vary of course. On your trolling motor it will give you a slight idea of the hours to speed ratio. 160 reserve capacity means 160 minutes of continuous use at a certain amount of amps. I'm not a genius with it, but that's kind of an idea. Whatever you do though, ensure when you charge it that you trickle charge it at low charge such as 2 amp trickle. It takes a while to charge, but the slow charge doesn't damage the battery like a fast charge. Sears has a bunch of different chargers.
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Steve

colburn · Joined: 16 Apr 2010 Posts: 125

so i have nothing to do at work heh

http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles/charging-articles/how-do-i-pick-a-battery-charger.html

ripline · Joined: 26 Feb 2012 Posts: 121 Location: Shelton

I have had a few different automatic chargers. The best I ever owned was a Vector Smart charger. As far as I know there really isn't a better one out there for deep cycle batteries. The desulfide option alone is worth the cost of the charger, it has brought a few old batteries back to life and keeps the new ones fresh.

Proper maintenance with all marine batteries is vital to keep them working properly. Try to recharge the battery as soon as possible after discharge.