Printable View
Duracell Ultra BCI Group 31M Deep Cycle Marine & RV Battery - SLI31MDC at Batteries Plus Bulbs
Does anyone have experience with this battery? Richard Gene told me this is a good one. I just got a 54lb thrust trolling motor motorguide to go on the back of my jon boat.
Next I will be searching for a decent fish finder with DI for around $300.
The battery has 105ah which I read on the Motorguide PDF is what is needed. The trolling motor is FW-HT model, which I believe is a few years old. It reads that it is 12V, Kwatts 0.34, Kilos 9.40.
They recommend a 50 amp manual reset circuit breaker #MM5870. Do you all run one also or just hook it directly to the battery and go fishing?
I am sorry if some of my questions seem dumb to you all, but this is my first rodeo doing this. I just don't want to run out of juice with my kids on the water.
Another question; do you recommend an on-board portable battery charger I can connect to it to keep it charged up? I have the Battery Tender 800 for home.
It's a good battery, yes. You will want to install a circuit breaker. You will also want another small designated battery for your fish finder. If your using the trolling motor as the primary means of powering the boat I wouldn't venture out to terribly far until you figure out run time on a full charge. You may possibly need two 12v batteries ran in parallel if you plan on making longer runs from the ramp. Another thing to take into consideration is since you mention kids and I'm talking about more batteries is the total weight capacity for the vessel, you do not want to exceed that.
Thanks. The lakes I fish are small. If we break down, they'll come out and get you. I was planning on getting 2 batteries (1 being a back up like a group 29M) in case the Group 31 gets low. I was going to get a small battery for the ff too.
I'm curious; why the circuit breaker though? I been out with a few people and they just hooked the TM directly to the battery and we were fine. I'm just curious what this is needed for?
It's a safety mechanism just like with all electronics. Protects your motor in case of something happening, you never know you could accidentally manage to arc the the positive and negative terminals accidentally. I have ran a 12 volt TM hooked directly to a battery as well. The breaker is just cheap insurance, if your not worried about possibly messing up the trolling motor then you could chance it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiggah
A friend of mine gave me this Motorguide 54lb thrust for free. I am planing on getting the Garmin Striker 5 SV, as I am into DI. I like to see what's under me as I dip trees a lot of fish structure. I don't do too much trolling jigs and minnows. I like to tight line off the side of the boat too. But mainly the trolling motor will be full speed only for about an hour or two just to move me from spot to spot, and then of course on the way back to the ramp. Mostly I'll be still fishing. I don't mind buying a small battery for the fish finder, but I am reading I need a arsonal just to fish LOL. Thank you for your input. I've asked questions before and not really gotten anything back.
Your welcome. And I don't think Garmin has a sv unit in a 5" model. My advice would be looking into a 7" unit that has side image, down image and basic 2d sonar. You could run this unit in split screen and utilize 2 of the 3 options on one unit. Keep an eye out in the classifieds, used smaller units are selling cheap. A lot of folks even unloading 9" Garmin units to upgrade to 12 inch.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiggah
Hook it up and go fishing. Your over thinking this. Just fuse the locator
Thanks guys! I am an over-thinker for sure! Lol ... I just don't want any problems.
As for this fish finder though, I am looking at this Garmin Striker 5DV. It looks cool. I don't know how to read SV haha.
If you know anyone who is selling one for a good price, let me know please! I am searching refurbished ones too.
Always good to have a reserve battery or a back up. I took a plastic bass buggy to the back of a lake. I wasn't thinking that the wind was hitting me in the back and I zipped along to the back end about 2 miles from the launch. On the way back the wind was giving the trolling motor a workout. Battery was done about half way back. Bass buggies don't paddle very well at all especially into a head wind
The circuit breaker is placed at the positive post at the battery. It is there to protect the WIRING not the motor.
In case of a short in the motor it trips to prevent the wiring from melting and/or catching fire. Always a good idea.
In the case of a minor fault it would possibly trip and might preserve the motor but 95% of the time it's there to protect the wiring.
I use an older model Motorguide foot control 54lb. I bought my 25 series battery from Wal-Mart and it works very well for cranking and fishing. I do run a circuit breaker and use it as a off/on switch when not on the water. I keep it on a Battery Tender all year, however I do check the distilled water level every quarter..
Absolutely correct! I would like to add: No one cares about the wiring itself, its that when it melts down, the insulation throughout the length of wire melts away, the wire then cuts through any plastics, other wires etc and other wires melt down and plastics burn. Metal arc's, even stranded copper wire can weld to aluminum etc. Oh, and then batteries can explode. This is my industry, I've seen it. If you don't get a $15 breaker online at least use fuses. (but make sure you have spares in the boat).Quote:
Originally Posted by SeaRay
Also I would consider running 2 smaller batteries (in parallel) over one super heavy and huge group 31. A group 24 is going to be around 80ah and two would give you 160ah(ish). They can be spread out to distribute weight, and way easier to carry. Also two in parallel will help to prevent over discharging the battery and a more consistent run time throughout the day. Always charge back up as soon as possible. On board chargers are convenient, not better or worse (they're mostly just water resistant). Also 2 batteries in parallel can be recharged with a single bank charger. You want a good charger&maintainer that's 3+ amps (6-8 amps ideal). An 800ma tender is not good for charging, only maintaining. 800ma is .8 amps, anything 1.5amps and below is a trickle charger and basically for maintaining already full batteries.
A "good" charger works in phases, runs at high output until battery reaches something like 80% then powers down until about 95% then trickle charges and maintains to 100%. I think all the on board chargers do this but cost way to much, I put quick connects on my charger and keep it dry. Some day I'll splurge.
Parallel means you use an adequately gauged wire and connect positive from batt A to positive on batt B (and subsequent batteries if you go crazy), then connect the negative on batt A to negative on batt B. Connect your TM or devices to the pos/neg on either battery like normal.