Quote Originally Posted by crappiholic View Post
was right and I learned something today. According to DG, he bought "golf cart" batteries for trolling. I had heard that you couldn't do that. I found out otherwise. I talked to the Trojan folks today and basically what they said was- A deep-cell battery is a deep-cell battery. The main reasons for not using them would be the weight difference and the height. Might have to give them a serious look.
You got to remember that an engineer is always right! Hang around me long enough and you will learn something... LOL

You actually had me a little worried last night when I talked to ya since you thought golf cart batteries could be bad for a trolling motor. I did a little research and couldn't find one negative thing about them. Basically like you said, 12 volts is 12 volts... Now, I could see that if you wired four 6 volt golf cart batteries together your total voltage could be too high. For instance, a fully charged 12 volt can range from 13 to 13.4 volts or so... A fully charged 6 volt can range up to 7.2 volts or so. So if you wire 4 of the 6 volt golf cart batteries to get 24 volts your actually total could range up to 7.2 v x 4 = 28.8 volts. This voltage may be too high on the threshold. I am sure all TM have a range of voltage operation from over 24 (maybe 27-28) down to probably 21 or so volts. The four 6 volt batteries could push the maximum threshold for the TM and end up being bad for the TM.

Now the two golf cart T-1275s I got are hot batteries no doubt. They are around 13.4 volts on full charge (if I remember correctly). So they total 26.8 volts (not subtracting resistance). So they are not as high as four 6 volt batteries...

Actually both of these scenarios may be fine. That is just the only way I could see how golf cart batteries could be bad. I don't know what the maximum threshold voltage is for the TM. All the above thresholds are just estimates off the top of my head to make my point.

Any whooooo... My old 27s had 160 minute reserve capacity at 25 amp draw and these T-1275s had 280 minute reserve capacity at 25 amp draw. I could get 4-5 hours of continuous operation at 1.8-2 mph on my old 27s. These new T-1275s should give me an increase of about 45% so close to double the time 8-9 hours at the same speed. That way I wants have to ever put idling hours on my big motor anymore. The I-pilot always seems easier to maneuver and makes it easier to fish when you are fishing solo.

The down side... They are heavy heavy heavy... About 82 lb each and are taller. The way I see it... If I remove my two 15 lb anchors from the boat I am almost back to normal.. Or leave the gas tank about half full. 24 gallons of gas weighs about 205 lbs... So the weight should not hurt me too bad. Only time will tell.

DoubleG