trolling motor battery

[Tileman]

any suggestions on what battery to get? Are the optima worth the extra money?

 

[Fishheadspin]

i bought a a optima about 3 or 4 years ago. it has held up great. I wa goign through about a battery a year or so. I finally shelled out the bucks to get a good one and i think it has been worth it. i have a 50 lb thrust TM and it is 12 volt and i can only think of one time when it went down and that was fishing in 20 mph wind all day long.

I have heard of some problems with them but i have not had any yet.

 

[beetlespin]

The everstart max yellow batteries from walmart are good bets but stay away from the regular everstarts. You will get new ones for free every year but i would rather not go through the hassle of replacing them. I have heard mostly good stuff about the optimas though.

 

[saltwatts]

I would recommend Interstate. I've got two on my boat that are going on their third year and still hold a charge really well. I've heard of people having charging issues with Optima batteries, but I'm not sure of the details.

 

[SNUFFY]

interstates the best I`ve had

 

[Guest]

Tileman I bought an Optima blue top 2 months ago. I use it for my cranking battery and all the other power needs on my boat except the trolling motor. I will say that I will never buy another. My 2 depthfinders will run it down on a long day. That is pitiful performance for a $175 battery. I have an Intertate battery on my trolling motor and it only draws down about 40% on a 10 hour trip. My vote goes to Interstate.

Cheez

 

[Hair Jig]

cheez - 8/16/2006 9:30 PM

Tileman I bought an Optima blue top 2 months ago. I use it for my cranking battery and all the other power needs on my boat except the trolling motor. I will say that I will never buy another. My 2 depthfinders will run it down on a long day. That is pitiful performance for a $175 battery. I have an Intertate battery on my trolling motor and it only draws down about 40% on a 10 hour trip. My vote goes to Interstate.

Cheez

That's really weird behavior for an Optima. Could it be that you are using the Blue Top instead of the Yellow Top? I had 2 Yellow Top Optimas in my Ranger, and they were hands down the best batteries I have ever owned. After 12 hours they were almost as strong as when I started, and I was running two DFs, 2 blacklights, and the TM on them.

 

[HangnMoss]

I'll second, third, or whatever the Interstate vote.

Even on the windiest days I have yet to run my Interstates down below 60% after a full 9-10 hour day on the water. I fish out of an aluminum boat, so if there's even a gentle breeze, I have to stay in the trolling motor.

 

[trappstarr423]

in the situation the yellow top optima would be the only way....the blue top is not as good as the yellow and the red top isn't as strong as the yellow the blue top is the bottom of the line it jus doesn't have the crankin amps as the yellow the blue top won't even start my cadillac....but you could have bought the yellow top for 175 bucks i don't understand why you paid so much for the blue top you can catch the blue tops and red tops at orielly's and autozone for $109 and the yellow for $169 the optima batteries are dry spiralcell technology which means they charge faster and discharge slower and can be mounted up side down ....on its side....or right side up...... you shouldn't have any problems out of an optima jus make sure you read your cold crankin amps and think about how much stuff you will be running...

 

[ranman]

I got two new optimas last year(blue tops) and I've had zero problems with them.I run a 70#motorguide on a 21ft boat and they have yet to let me down.I can't say the same for the interstates.I always make sure I charge them as soon as I get home,I read somewhere that running them down and not charging them up right a way is hard on them.

 

[Guest]

Trappstar I bought my battery at Autozone. They had one for $109 and one for $163 I got the better one. The Optima website reccomended the blue top for my application. Cranking/deep cycle combination. I was not charging it everytime I came back from fishing and believe that to be some of the problem. I now have an onboard charger that charges both of my batteries and I plug it in as soon as I get home now. I guess the battery is OK but I still believe that it is not worth the extra$ it cost.

Cheez

 

[fishin3]

I have had my blue top for over a year now and have not had any problems with it. I charge ever time I get off the water and top it off before I go. I have used it till it would not hardly puch the boat. I have a 55 lbs MN on the front of the boat and the biggest 12 V blue top I could get. The only time I felt let down was on Dale Hollow untill I found out we had been out there about 9+ hrs and been using the trolling motor on 2 or 3 most of the day to hold in the wind. It still was only about 40-50% used on the battery but the wind had pick up and I was tired of fighting the wind to hold still. I would buy another in a heart beat, esp. for the trolling motor. I have used some of the other mention brands and have been let down more than once. I treated them the same way I treat this one too. That is just my 2 cents.

 

[adamwstewart]

I can now give some input...


I say skip any of the Trojan batteries. Two new ones, 1 1/2 years old in G/3, running a 55lb Minn Kota 12 volt gave up the ghost about a week ago. I've been very good to keep them properly charged, too. Replaced with Interstates. Haven't had a chance to try them, yet, but I'm expecting good things.

AWS

 

[Liveliner]

The Optima Batteries are no doubt the top of the line and of course you pay the price for it. The draw back with the gel batteries is that when they go out it is dead to a negative charge quickly. There is no slowly losing power in them.

As well I like the Interstate Line. Just hard to find when you need one quick.

I tried something a little different this time and replaced all three of my good batteries with three new Wally-World Everstart Maxx 29 Series Dual purpose Batteries. Dual purpose batteries have not caught on yet for some reason that I can not understand. Dual purpose batteries will recharge much faster and will hold their charge much longer than I can run them. They have a three year free replacement with no questions asked from any Wal-Mart @ 24/7.

The reason I went to Dual purpose is due to an awful experiance last February. I was fishing at night up about a half mile below the nuke plant. It was at night and the temps were below freezing. (Yeap, I was the only fool out there but I was catching the heck out of the crappie and Bass) I had not ran my big engine for hours but being that it was dark I was running my lights, pumps, instraments and every thing connected to my starting battery. Starting batteries are not designed to handle that kind on load for hours without showing signs of losing power. I think that most all our boats are rigged to put all the instraments and assecories on the starting Battery. When the entire top of my boat Iced over, it was time to go. Eerrrrrnnk-Eerrrrrnk !!! Not enough power left in my starting battery to crank my cold engine. (Fortunately I was Up the Creek) As many of you know, a deep cycle battery will not put out the quick power to start a big cold engine. So after switching the wiring around, that did not work either. I was alone so I could not hold a temp jumper wire to boost the power up to 24 volts in a manner that would not damage my electrinics..... Sooo, I trolled all the way back to Chester Frost ramp. Hours later I was at the ramp. No fun loading a 21' boat onto a Drive-on trailer with no power either.

I was sure that I would not let that happen to me again. And besides, I take my boat out up to Twelve miles offshore in the Ocean. How would that be out there in the strong tide currents??? Scary thought.

The dual purpose batteries will let me run everything on my boat for hours and then will spin my engine with no problems. In the event that I did have problems with the battery that is used as my starting battery, I have two more just like it that I can connect to.

As far as lasting power using dual purpose batteries for trolling. A couple week ago, two of my hugh hunting buddies and I were running up the river from Grasshopper to Hiwassee Island to deer hunt. It was very cold and the fog was very thick. My sixty gallon fuel tank gauge showed that I had over a quarter tank. I found out that my fuel gauge was wrong, very wrong, We ran out of gas right at the Hwy 60 bridge. That is about 4 miles from Grasshopper ramp. I trolled my over-loaded 21' boat with my 70 lb thrust Rip Tide all the way back on high. I was concerned about having enough power to get back while trolling sinse I had not recharged my batteries for the last several trips. It was almost a Two hour troll at a constant 2.8 MPH. emoEek We made it! emoSmile

We gassed up and went back hunting anyway.

When I got home that evening I tested my trolling batteries to see how far I had ran them down. Believe it or not, they were still holding more than 80% of their power.

I can tell you that it is dual purpose batteries for me. If I were you I would at least consider a Dual purpose for your starting battery.

 

[flip1up]

I also got Trojans in my G3 from the dealer. They were new in Feb. Last week I had to exchange one of them.
I have always used Interstates, when these Trojans get out of warranty and I have to replace it will be with Interstate 31s.

 

[Aries 181]

I just replaced my two Voyager M27 MF's with two new ones because they lasted me the six years I've owned the boat. I had a bad habit of not charging them as soon as I got home but I didn't live on the river fishing either.

I now have an on-board 3 bank charger so they will get charged as soon as I get home.

Bill

 

[Liveliner]

Good going there Bill. The voyagers are good batteries. You got Six years out of your trolling batteries, That is great. You got your money's worth.

That new three bank onboard charger will sure make your life easier. On you and your Batteries.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your post about the Voyagers.

David AKA Liveliner

 

[DHaun]

I have 2 Trojans on my G3 about 1-1/2 years old - Always charged by onboard charger when I get home and I have had no problems yet... LL's story above as well as others I have read on CFF in the past prompted me to get a pair of cheap jumper cables to keep on-board but it sounds like they may be useless as a deep-cycle battery may not be able to have the current burst needed to crank an engine...unless one has dual purpose batteries like LL has, which I may just go with next just for that reason. I only have a 40lb trolling motor...I am curious to see what kind of lifetime you get out of your Everstart Maxx 29s LL.

Who sells Interstates and how much do they typically cost?

What are other methods of jumping off a dead cranking battery? I think I heard once of a device you could buy to do just that...anyone have experience with them?

 

[Aries 181]

David,

There is an Interstate battery store on Shallowford Rd. on the right before you get to the cemetary and the creek bridge. I stopped in there last week price shopping before buying the Voyagers. I was quoted $79.00 ea. + tax.

HTH,
Bill

 

[Liveliner]

D. Haun. There is a devise out that is supposed to jump start your car by just plugging it into your cigarette lighter socket for a few seconds. I suppose that it back feeds power to the battery. It is a small scale portable booster. They are recharged when the engine is running and charging. How neat is that. I plan on looking into that device.

On my Dual purpose MaxX batteries, Wallyworld gives a three year free replacement with no questions asked. That is the main reason that I bought them, 24/7 easy access Warranty means a lot to me. I also paid less than $70.00 for those big 29 series batteries, Beat that.