Trolling batteries

[sah]

Thanks for the input everyone.

[ragnar]

I run 2 batteries 27 series for the starting also-2 29s for the trolling batery. Autozone marine batteries. No problems yet but they are not old yet. About 129.00 each.

[Rees Guide]

Batts depend on the purpose you have in mind for them and boat size as well. Slow trolling or even long lining I don't think it matters much but in a heavy glass boat I prefer the 12v golf cart batts if pulling cranks. As long as the waves aren't coming over the sides of the boat we keep pulling cranks at 2 mph and don't have to worry about running out of juice.

[tdinges]

I have a 27 cranking from Wal Mart for my big motor and 'toys' as HaleDamage said. It's a year and a half old. I've never had a bit of trouble cranking my motor over, but when I troll at idle for a half hour or so, the voltage goes low enough to shut my Structure scan off. I luckily switched my structure scan (LSS-1) module so I can shut it off and still run my regular sonar and GPS. Any thoughts on what is going on? It seems to help a little bit when I shut my radio off and keep my livewell pumps off, but it will still drawn down low enough. When I go faster than a trolling idle, I draw enough volts/amps to run everything. Do I need a bigger/better battery? That's the plan first thing next year unless someone else has any other ideas.

[ragnar]

Maybe bigger yes. But at idle it should not be running battery down. Check your connections on battery. I don't have a lot of outboard Exp. But something is wrong if its not keeping up with that small of a draw. Maybe just battery going bad or stator in motor.

[crappieslinger]

I have a 27 cranking from Wal Mart for my big motor and 'toys' as HaleDamage said. It's a year and a half old. I've never had a bit of trouble cranking my motor over, but when I troll at idle for a half hour or so, the voltage goes low enough to shut my Structure scan off. I luckily switched my structure scan (LSS-1) module so I can shut it off and still run my regular sonar and GPS. Any thoughts on what is going on? It seems to help a little bit when I shut my radio off and keep my livewell pumps off, but it will still drawn down low enough. When I go faster than a trolling idle, I draw enough volts/amps to run everything. Do I need a bigger/better battery? That's the plan first thing next year unless someone else has any other ideas.

From the information you have provided, it does not sound like you need a bigger battery. A battery is nothing more than a storage for electricity. If you do not have any problems running everything until after running the motor for a half hour then the problem is in the charging system. Either the charging system is unable to keep up with the demand or there is a parasitic draw when the engine is running that the charging system is unable to keep up with.

A bigger battery will only prolong the issue. The charging system cannot keep up with the demand so adding more reserve amps will only magnify the problem.

[crappiedoc]

From the information you have provided, it does not sound like you need a bigger battery. A battery is nothing more than a storage for electricity. If you do not have any problems running everything until after running the motor for a half hour then the problem is in the charging system. Either the charging system is unable to keep up with the demand or there is a parasitic draw when the engine is running that the charging system is unable to keep up with.

A bigger battery will only prolong the issue. The charging system cannot keep up with the demand so adding more reserve amps will only magnify the problem.

'slinger, Don- 2 cycle outboards to my knowledge require more than idle speeds to stop using and start recharging power. My 150 Merc needs 1200rpm to start charging, most Opti's require over 3000rpm's to achieve a charging state. Opti's and other performance motors require a minimun 1000cca to start. Throw in some battery drawing electronics while idling and such and the big drain is on. Some even are using a extra battery now for these reasons. Check your engine spec's and electronics and keep those trollers charged

[crappieslinger]

'slinger, Don- 2 cycle outboards to my knowledge require more than idle speeds to stop using and start recharging power. My 150 Merc needs 1200rpm to start charging, most Opti's require over 3000rpm's to achieve a charging state. Opti's and other performance motors require a minimun 1000cca to start. Throw in some battery drawing electronics while idling and such and the big drain is on. Some even are using a extra battery now for these reasons. Check your engine spec's and electronics and keep those trollers charged

I have owned quite a few boats and all of them except my current one have had 2 strokes on them and I have never had any trouble keeping the batteries charged while running at idle. Up until 3 years ago all we did was troll. Day in and day out we trolled all day long and never above an idle, many times at night with lights on. Everything from a 1978 150 horse Evinrude, a 2001 50 horse Johnson, a 2006 90 horse Mercury, a 2009 50 horse Yamaha and now a 2011 4 stroke Mercury have been able to troll all day long at idle speed with all of the electronics on without ever draining the battery.

I stand by my statement that if the battery is draining within 30 minutes, you have a charging issue. There is absolutely no reason ANY well serviced motor should not be able to run at idle without discharging the battery. Even a chain saw can produce enough electricity at an idle to continue running.....

[crappiedoc]

I have owned quite a few boats and all of them except my current one have had 2 strokes on them and I have never had any trouble keeping the batteries charged while running at idle. Up until 3 years ago all we did was troll. Day in and day out we trolled all day long and never above an idle, many times at night with lights on. Everything from a 1978 150 horse Evinrude, a 2001 50 horse Johnson, a 2006 90 horse Mercury, a 2009 50 horse Yamaha and now a 2011 4 stroke Mercury have been able to troll all day long at idle speed with all of the electronics on without ever draining the battery.

I stand by my statement that if the battery is draining within 30 minutes, you have a charging issue. There is absolutely no reason ANY well serviced motor should not be able to run at idle without discharging the battery. Even a chain saw can produce enough electricity at an idle to continue running.....

Oh yea, I DO agree with you. Something my friends Opti occurred was eerily similar as stated above. We would go out, 30 mins later, all sounds the same. Battery would show charged, it was about 1 yr old. So, we started doing some investigating. This is how I found out what I said. Turns out, he wasn't flipping his main switch after use and through time his active GPS on his electronics was slowly draining his batt and degrading the batt. He would charge before going, but the damage was already done. Or, as a QA friend of mine at Exide said, it also could have in the plates internally of the batt, which would be a warranty issue generally. He said "bad batts" problems usually show up around 1 to 1-1/2yrs after purchase, so get the 2yr warranty for sure (full replacement). So, I guess what this means is, have the batt load tested and check the specific gravity of each cell. Excellent post brother

[tdinges]

Sounds to me what everyone is leading towards (but won't come out and say it) is that I need to start talking on my wife to get a new boat!

No, the weird thing is it only draws it low enough to not run my structure scan. Everything else works fine. When I turn my structure scan off, it never shuts down the regular sonar and GPS or the radio, and I've never had any trouble starting it. I just got some new TM batteries this year...I may swap one of them for my cranker (if they are similar in size) and see if it's a battery issue.

Seems like if it were the stator it would not charge my battery at all, and I would have trouble completely drawing it down, right?