Minn Kota trouble shooting?

My neighbor has a new MK Powerdrive 24 volt ipilot
he has 2 new Interstate batteries, and a new MK battery charger.
He is only getting about 4 hours of run time on a full charge, trolling a 17' deep V Tracker, at 1.3 to 1.6, minimum wind (8 or less mph), not on main KY Lake, side creek, very little current.
Batteries have been checked, they are both good, charger is good.
How do check a new MK trolling motor, or do you just "call it bad" and return to MK to check?
i think his run time should be 8 hours, maybe more.
Thanks for any ideas.

What size batteries does he have

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you can check to see how much amperage draw it has. but if its drawing too much the breaker would be kicking out. how did you test the charger? maybe its not charging the batteries to full charge.

Steve

Were the batteries load tested? Are all connections squeaky clean and tight?

After he charged batteries overnight, I then checked each one, they were fully charged, this tells me the charger is fine.
Battery size, the rating is 660 cca, 780 total, deep cycle, I think they are type 31, but will need to verify that tomorrow.
i think his circuit has fuse, not breaker, but could be wrong

Yes to clean and tight
i rode with him today to Mathis battery, they did a quick check, and did not think the batteries were bad, a true load test is expensive, at least at Mathis.

About $ 20-25 for a load tester is about usual.Every body should own one to test their batteries.The value you need to know about your batteries is reserve capacity(RC).
RC is the # of minutes a fully charged battery @80 degrees will discharge 25 amps until the battery drops below 10.5 amps.A standardized rating for a batteries storage ability.....
There is 16 pages,152 posts under "Fishing Electronics and Photography","Who makes the the best deep cycle battery?" on CDC.Lot and lots of battery info.Take a look.
I would bet the trolling motor is fine and the batteries RC is too low.JMO

As far as checking current draw on the motor all you would need is a DC amp meter connected in series with the motor or a DC clamp-on amp meter over one cable.I doubt reading current draw will help you very much.

RC is the number of minutes a fully charged battery@80 degrees will discharge 25 amps until the battery drops below 10.5 volts (not amps as above-sorry).

I just went through this myself, what I learned was my battery charger was lying when it said the batteries were good, secondly learned my batteries were not holding the charge, I’d replace the batteries before you buy a new trolling motor, I’d even test your charger to make sure it’s sending voltage


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lane47

After he charged batteries overnight, I then checked each one, they were fully charged, this tells me the charger is fine.
Battery size, the rating is 660 cca, 780 total, deep cycle, I think they are type 31, but will need to verify that tomorrow.
i think his circuit has fuse, not breaker, but could be wrong

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what was the voltage on the batteries ??? anything under 12.6 volts is not fully charged !!!and is the only thing on the batteries the trolling motor !!! if not it SHOULD BE !!!

Attachment 313954

That chart is great. Thanks for posting it.

If he is trolling for crappie. I have a tracker v18 all fish started out with a 24 volt terrova and 2 31 series Walmart batteries and could only last 4 hours at 1.7 mph. I went to a 36 volt terrova and was good for about 6 or 7 hours but batteries were really drained didn't last long before I would have to replace them under warrenty. I now have a 36 volt ulterra with 3 golf cart batteries I can run at least 8 hours and still have over half my charge left. I did all of my fishing on Kentucky lake until just lately and have moved to JPP. If you can get 2 golf cart batteries it will last a lot longer. Just remember they weigh 85 lbs each and are just a little taller than a 31 series battery.

Don

I have had new batteries that were bad and they tested as good. What I did was charge them check the voltage let them sit for a 4-7 days then recheck the voltage if there is a significant drop the batteries are bad. I had to fight with the place I purchased the batteries at as they would charge them and check them right away so I told them let them sit and then check them, new batteries were handed over.

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Originally Posted by dallman

If he is trolling for crappie. I have a tracker v18 all fish started out with a 24 volt terrova and 2 31 series Walmart batteries and could only last 4 hours at 1.7 mph. I went to a 36 volt terrova and was good for about 6 or 7 hours but batteries were really drained didn't last long before I would have to replace them under warrenty. I now have a 36 volt ulterra with 3 golf cart batteries I can run at least 8 hours and still have over half my charge left. I did all of my fishing on Kentucky lake until just lately and have moved to JPP. If you can get 2 golf cart batteries it will last a lot longer. Just remember they weigh 85 lbs each and are just a little taller than a 31 series battery.

Don

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I agree with Dallman, when trolling at 1.3 to 1.8 takes 3 times as much battery as .6 to .8 I had the exact problem when pulling cranks 4 hrs and it was over I blamed it on batteries got new ones same thing . If your gonna troll at 1. ? And above you better have long lasting batteries.

If you want to troll all day, golf cart batteries are the way to go. I dropped two in my Tracker Pro170 for my Ulterra. Haven't ran them down yet pulling cranks.