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Crappie Wall Hanger II
Trolling Battery Question
I have 12/24 set up. Trolling motor 19 yrs old. I have three bank onboard charger that is plugged in unless fishing. Batteries are two years old this Tuesday. Go to lake run on calm day, all day rigging, lite use bumping to move slowly, all well. Windy day, running on high 12 or lower 24 after a few hours on the lake less and less power. Tie up or drag chain let it set awhile and more power back, not seemingly as much as at start. Come home check with volt meter, 12.11 and 12.8 in the other. Put meter on battery and run trolling motor voltage drops to 7-8 volts. Let off and voltage back up. Plug charger in, leave overnight, shows full charge for all. Voltage is 12.87 run trolling motor, voltage drops to 12.5 or so. About the same on 24v side drops to 23.9 while running. Took one of the batteries out and checked fluid all full, checked with Hydrometer and all cells are in the fair range, out of bad, fair, good. I do not know how accurate they are, never used one before. Is there a true way to load test a deep cycle battery?
While having the problem my thought was the trolling motor was drawing to much current, getting hot, let it cool and works again.
Now thinking the batteries are just getting weak. I just thought that the batteries would show a lower voltage on a standby reading. Did not get to check voltage while having the problem, probably 3 hours after having problem voltage reading was taken. Would the voltage come back up just sitting if they were down 3 hours before? But lack the amps to run the TM! I think I am going to be buying battery's. I have Interstate now, any thoughts on better ones that might last longer, or is this all you can expect?
Thanks for reading, and any thoughts are appreciated! Mark
Crappie.com Legend
with out a second thought your trolling motor is the problem, may need to replace the brushes, or check to see if there is an obstruction dragging the prop down... a 19 year old trolling motor is almost unheard of these days.... check all connections, clean terminal and ends of cables, double check all your wiring. sound like you said way to much current draw, a short in the wiring can cause a voltage drop,and no smoke, you may have a bare wire touching metal along the run.
Crappie.com 2K Star General
Brand is the ford/chevy debate everyone will have their own name to drop, truthfully I don't see that much difference. Newer technology trolling motors will have more thrust per amps drawn but is it possible for a trolling motor to become less effective over the years? Could be but I'm betting batteries are your culprit. My belief is that the number of recharge cycles factor in and that if you have to replace batteries often its a sign you are getting to fish a lot, use it as a badge of honor and be proud. By the way at present rate mine are going to last me a long time.
Crappie.com 3K Star General
One way to improve it may be to replace the wiring from batteries to T.M........the bigger the better. Some older set ups used 10 ga wire, but these days I think 4 ga is recommended.
If you haven't already, you may want to post this thread to the main forum....electronics and trolling motors
Slabmaster II
Take your batteries to a place that sells them and they should be able to do a load test.
Crappie.com Legend
I would check the TM draw while it's under a load (pulling the boat). Without the load on it, your reading will be off. If your batteries check out good with a load tester, I say TM. JMO without testing myself. 2 years isn't much on well maintained batteries. I assume that you charge them as soon as you get home or back to camp with them? If you do they should last 4-6 yrs easy, if not, 2-3 years is about it!!!!!
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Crappie Wall Hanger II
I do appreciate the replies! Trolling motor is old Johnson, they are good motors, have thought about new but still like the old one. Is there anybody that works on these motors? I actually have an old power head for it I could get rebuilt. Preferable around KC or Truman or anywhere in between. I have replaced all the switch's on the pedal. Wiring is fine and connections are fine. I will take my volt amp meter next time fishing with me and see what the situation is. (I hate to take tools fishing!!!!!) Maybe it will work fine if I take some tools!!!
I have been researching some and found several things that say the batteries are good for x number of charge and discharge cycles and thats it! Kaz don't tell my wife but that might just be the problem! I have been blessed! Thanks
Crappie.com 3K Star General
You could give this fellow a call Jerry's Trolling Motor Repair | Kansas City Metropolitan Area, Missouri & Kansas . His site indicates he's authorized for MinnKotas and Motor Guides repairs. If he can't work on yours he could probably steer you in the right direction for getting yours worked on. He is just a one man shop so he may not be speedy but I've certainly been happy with his work on my MinnKota a couple of times it needed some work.
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Crappie Wall Hanger II
Crappie.com Legend
Had simular sounding problem mine is a 93 it was one of my deepcycle batts. I have really good luck with AC Delco 27 series.
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