Thread: Minn-Kota battery test

Checked my batteries yesterday before I headed out today. Got 3 lights so I figure i'm good - only spent one light last trip which is par - 24v 70 lb thrust pulling a small boat; I figure that makes sense. 3.5 hours and I'm out of juice. Are these test lights reliable? Your experience?

Yep, need to keep the deep cycle batteries fully charged. Left in a discharged state the cells will start to sulfate which reduces the amount of capacity they have which shortens your troll time. I am speaking of lead acid batteries. I have not switched over to the new gel type so I can't speak for how they perform.
Everything I hear tells me they are much better than lead acid ones, but I haven't bit the bullet yet. Mucho dinero.
PS I use a digital voltmeter to test my batteries. You can google a chart to tell you the % of charge at a specific voltage, but 12.7 is fully charged and it drops from there to 12 volts being nearly zero charge. You can also check to see if your engine is charging your start battery if it has a charging circuit in it. Should read from 13.5-14 volt at running speed. My 40 Yamaha doesn't really start to charge until I hit 2000 RPMs.