Battery question...

[Flipman93]

Just picked up a 97 Hydra sport with very little use. Original owner says less than 50 hours. Now to my question it has a 24 volt trolling motor. Im gonna use the boat alot in the next 2 months but use will probably slow down around November. My question is...should I just use the old battery's that are on it until spring? Or do I buy three new battery's now? If I do purchase new battery's would they still be good when spring rolls around?


Just trying to avoid buying battery's now and in March. What are some winter battery tips? Thanks for any info.

 

[lafae7]

What kind of batteries does it have right now?

 

[bricknbass]

I would go ahead and get new ones. While storage. I would fully charge them. Unplug the charge. And check batteries every two weeks until time has come to fish again fully charge them night before. Save the headache. Of old batteries

 

[Hook1]

Just run them till they go bad. I wouldn't buy any until I need to.

 

[Hook1]

As far as winter tips it's pretty much the same as any other time. Fully charge after uses and don't leave them sitting dead too long. Keep fluid level full.

 

[djsmarinelectronics]

plus one for Hook 1 comments; as long as the ones in it are taking a charge, wouldn't change them.

 

[Flipman93]

Thanks for the quick responses. The battery's that are on it are all ever starts marked 05/06. Ten years old. Still starts the boat but I've yet to take the boat out due to buying it Friday and not registering it. Just not wanting to get on the water and have 3 bad battery's. Thanks for the tips on winter too.

 

[davisjeremy1981]

if you can install an automatic bank charger in the boat. that way you just plug it in and over the winter it with charge the batteries as needed but will turn itself off so as not to burn them up

 

[richg99]

There is no way that I'd go on the water with my STARTING battery ten years old.

If your trolling motor batteries go out, you don't have a good day fishing. If your starting battery goes out when you are ten miles from the launch..you are going to have a very bad day.

I do carry one of those Lithium starting packages ($35.00 at Amazon) but why tempt fate?

richg99

 

[Flipman93]

That's my thoughts on it. I'm gonna bring them to work tomorrow with a full charge and load test em to see if thry are good or bad and make my decision based on the results. The starting battery's isn't that old it's the trolling battery's that are 10 years old. The starting battery hasn't been charged in around 2 months and it will still start the motor. But the trolling battery's are a little old and will surprise me if they are good just don't wanna waste money if new battery's go bad over winter but don't wanna get out and get suck on the old ones

 

[Smalliefan2]

I would put the batteries on a charger. After fully charged, let them sit a few days. Put them back on again. If the charger shows fully charged after a couple of minutes, they are holding a charge, if it takes a while to charge, time to spend some money. Take care of your batteries, charged and water in the cells, and they will last for years.

 

[jsb]

If I was going to keep them I would check the water (which I assume you did). If all cells were full then I would fully charge them and then check voltage. If all that checks out then I would have a load test done. If all is ok I probably would use them but keep a eye on them but don't replace just one of your trolling batteries always do both. There are some exceptions.