What kind of battery would a 50 year old Shakespeare Sigma 15 pound five speed trolling motor need?
Printable View
What kind of battery would a 50 year old Shakespeare Sigma 15 pound five speed trolling motor need?
It's probably a 6 volt. You could probably use a 12 but speed would be faster and wiring might not be up to it.
I don't remember TMs that ran on 6v, so any 12v battery should work fine. Heavy duty TMs in the 70s could use either 12v or 24v, so if there's any indication this motor had that capability, you could use 2 12v batteries in series. The best batteries for all TMs, regardless of age, are deep cycle.
Cray- I'll defer to your experience or recollection of the TM products available during those years.
I know they made one that had a switch for 6 or 12 volts.
One thing I remember about the old TMs is they are extremely inefficient and will drain a battery in no time.
SeaRay
I don't think it was so much the TMs as it was the batteries. Like the ole saying "they don't make them like they use to". In this case thats good as the old batteries didn't have much reserve power.
Pflueger made one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Barnacle Bill
Thanks guys. I filled up a trash can of water and hooked it up to my car battery and it started right up. My dad says he hasn't tried starting it in forty years. It was just sittin in the basement.
Gonna try to take it out on the boat saturday morning to try her out. I guess I can get one of these 6 or 12 volt batteries at walmart?
And then came Maximizer....with it's own set of problems...RF interference...:(Quote:
Originally Posted by SeaRay
Rickie
I started using Shakespeare trolling motors as far back as 1957 and every one of them were 12V. The very best TM I ever owned was a 6/12V Eagle manufactured by Byrd Industries in Dyersburg TN. It had an unbelievable amount of thrust for it's time. Powered by 2 six volt golf Cart batteries it would run for hours and hours. It also had an unique foot pedal that I loved. The huge flaw in the system was it's fragile motor. The armature had a small shaft that would bend too easily causing the seals to leak shorting out the motor. They were sold to a Japanese company (Tohatsu??) and I haven't seen one in years. It is too bad some American company didn't take the design, fix the motor problem. I would buy one today!
I also had a Byrd 12/24 hand control. Like you said they would run forever on batteries. My motor shaft bent and leaked. Called them and they sent parts for free and i repaired. Moved to Ark couple years later and Magnet came loose. Called and they had me send motor to plant in Ripley. they replaced entire motor and shipped back to me for free all it cost me was shipping to them. Sold boat to a friend over there in 1990 and he is still running it. Another good motor i had that i really liked was a Silvertroll made in Minnesota. They were foot control with a short handle on the head it had a slip clutch built into the steering head so you could use it either way. I dont know if they sold out or just went out of business but that was also a well engineered and built motor. I have a old Phluger up in the attic that was probably built in early 70's that is a 6/12 that still works but it was tough on batteries.
Thanks for the advice guys.