Batteries

[Eager Beaver]

How long have your Marine batteries for your trolling motor lasted? I replaced both of mine for the 24v trolling motor today. One was good yet and one was bad. I replaced both of them. I want both batteries to be the same and not have a good one and one that won't last much longer. The guy where I got the batteries checked and said the batteries were 10yrs old. That isn't too bad for having them on a trolling motor and discharging and recharging all the time. I have them hook to an onboard charger&nbsp;that charges them and maintains a full charge all the time. When&nbsp;I put the boat up for the winter time&nbsp;I take the batteries out and put in my garage and keep them charged up over the winter. I will charge them about once a month to maintain a full charge on them. I have Delco Voyager 27 batteries and highly recommend them to anyone that&nbsp;is looking for&nbsp;quality batteries.&nbsp;&nbsp; EB<IMG class=inlineimg title="Thumbs Up" border=0 alt="" src="http://www.crappie.com/crappie/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif" smilieid="12">&nbsp;

[NeonMoon]

Not discharging past 50%, and recharging immediately (and not leaving batteries set discharged) will do much to extend battery life. I constantly remind dad that at 12.0 volts, a battery is past 50% discharged.

[Barnacle Bill]

My Delco Voyagers were about 6 years old when I got rid of the boat. They still load tested good.

[gabowman]

I never had any trolling batteries to last anywhere near that long, but I never had an onboard charger before now either. ZSo time will tell. I'm running two optimas in series on a 24v. 65# trolling motor.

[crappiedoc]

Just a quick tidbit. Talked with a buddy and the Wal-Mart Everstart are now made in Mexico. I live in Salina,KS and we have an Exide plant here, and those batt used to be made right here. This plant makes many different brands/labels and I didn't ask him if they (Mexico) were a Exide plant. To be quite honest, I wouldn't use the junk crap made here by Exide if I didn't get them so cheap. My cranking batt is made here, brand new, and just about like all of them I've bought, they won't full charge! It takes them forever to charge from 92% to 98% and most of the time they'll kick off the charger on an error code. I do have two series 29's Everstart DC's for trollers (which fully Charge) and just this week I ran them 3 days straight and when I did charge them, they were at 66%. Great TM and good batt's I guess. Variable speed TM's are batt sipping, just awesome. I 10amp charge, then top off with 2amp and before going I'll 2amp charge again. The boat hardly sits very long, but in the winter I'll maintain monthly with everything disconnected. I don't leave mine hooked up constantly, I get to many leakers that way.

[Bronson]

I've been using a Dual Pro 3 bank charger for years and love it. I do thnk that can help tremendously but I've still had batteries go down. I've heard people who use their batteries on a regular basis and charge them immediately when they get home get more life from their batteries than the rest of us weekend anglers.

I did read somwhere that it was best not to combine a weak battery with a strong battery any more than you had too.

[Eager Beaver]

That is why I replaced both batteries yesterday. One was good and the other bad but replaced both. EB

[BigRiverMarine]

10 years might be a world record !!! Proper care IS the key, and you proved that.