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36 volt XI5 with brand new Duracell agm31 batteries(3) will only last 6-7 hours. I am running a 521 ranger and pulling crankbaits at 1.8 mph avg. which I am running it pretty constantly. Is this all I can expect to get or does something sound wrong? Went to the 36 volt so I would hopefully end this problem. Thanks in advance for any advise
Does each battery have it's own charger, including the crank battery? If not, they have trouble getting charged. If you have one bad battery, the others will act the same, so you might charge them up and take them in for a test.
Minn Kota 4 bank charger, 3 brand new agm31 batteries, shows green in the morning and runs good in the morning, just goes dead
I think something sounds wrong. I have a 21' skeeter with a 24v terrova, can pull all day 1.8-2.0 mph. Would think the boats are similar in weight.
I could be wrong easily. Some of the smart guys will be along shortly. I would think the 36V would last way longer. Hopefully we will both learn something.
Either one of your batteries is going bad or getting water in foot of trolling motor. What size wire is run to your trolling motor and length of wire? Have you checked batteries? I know a Minnkota would go at least twice this long if everything is working properly. Not sure on Motorguide but assume it's close.
Found one battery not charging but to 25% after a night time charge. It would charge fully or at least say it was fully charged after a week on the charger Gonna swap that battery and see if it helps, just annoying because the batteries are only 2 weeks old. Wiring s the same as what came on the boat new.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappielimits
Another possibility might be that one bank on your charger may not be working.
Any time you have one bad in a bank it will suck the charge out of the other ones. Could have been bad from the factory.
Checked all 3 batteries with a volt meter today, after half a day fishing yesterday and no charge on them, two were just above 12, and the one I figured could be bad was at 11.4, after plugging the charger in the two went to 12.4 pretty quick and the suspected bad one went to around 12. Maybe I should have monitored them for a few more minutes but I'm hoping that one battery may be the cause of my problem?
Probably. 11.4V is a long way below 12V in state of charge, but both indicate very deeply depleted batteries. 12V is 75% discharged, and 11.4V is below 100% discharged on East Penn's chart.Quote:
Originally Posted by Super D
Your batteries should be getting to 12.8V after they have been fully charged and allowed to sit a few hours with the charger off. I'm suspicious that you may have a charger issue. What kind of charger do you have?
It's a min Kota charger not even a year old, started to pop the foot off to check for water tonight and found some line in there, in the meantime, charging the batteries up and gonna check voltage, hopefully that was the problem, sounds stupid I know, but don't overlook the smallest things. I'll be posting my results when they are confirmed. I still have my doubts about 1 of the batteries though
You can also swap the bad battery bank on the charger with one of the other batteries. If the problem moves to the other battery, then your charger is bad. If the problem stays with the same battery, your battery is bad.
Since the battery has been discharged to an excessive degree, it could be damaged and not recoverable. The AGM batteries can be discharged a little more than lead acid without causing damaged, but it does sound like the one battery may have a bad cell..........Swapping them around is a good idea, just be careful you don't ruin another battery.
Even with line on there, the batteries should have drawn down evenly. You most likely have a charger or battery problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Super D
I have now swapped the battery to a different bank on the charger, and after disconnecting each battery from the series, the charger will go from a solid red on top to a 25 percent yellow normal charging solid light on all 3 agm battery banks. Before I unplugged to switch the battery charger around, 2 of the three were showing full charge and all 3 batteries tested at about 13.5 with the charger on them. Trying to get ahold of minn Kota service center but they are having phone difficulties. Any new ideas?
Let them charge for at least 24 hours, then unplug the charger and let everything sit for 6-8 hours and measure the voltage on each battery again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Super D
They charged 24 hours, unplugged, plugged in, same problem the charger was showing. Called Minn Kota, and they are sending me a new charger. Hopefully this fixes it
Got my new charger yesterday and before installing I checked voltage on all 4 batteries and all were right at 12.8ish after not seeing a charge in 6 days. Installed the new charger ad set each bank to battery type and it works like it should and showed full charge within matter of 30 minutes. Going out this weekend to see if I have any improvement>>>
I'm going in a different direction here; with battery issues solved, you are pulling a BIG boat with a lot of weight for a long time. I'd be shocked if everything mentioned about is taken care of that you are going to see a lot more time trolling before you discharge your batteries. You can trim your motor up to where the skeg is just below water level when you start trolling and should see and improvement.
A bass boat buddy of mine was trolling with me recently. The lake was choppy so I had the lower unit farther down in the water than I normally do when trolling. He asked me if it really made a difference? When I trimmed my motor up to its normal trolling height, I picked up 0.4-0.5 in boat speed over my normal 1.7. When the cruise control on my Terrova dropped the motor speed to get back to 1.7, I saw my motor setting drop from 4.5 to 3.5. Over the course of a long day trolling, that would mean several more minutes of trolling before battery discharge.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdux
This is is the kind of answer I was looking for, however at least 95% of the time I trim my motor up, just as you stated. I know guys that pull big pontoons around with 36 volt trolling motors too, but hopefully I will figure something out.