Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Trolling Motor Batteries

Does anyone have any helpful hints or suggestions for the recharging of trolling motor batteries and transporting them?

I have a trickle charger. Everytime I charge a battery up, I seem to get some discharge. I do top off the battery with distilled water, but maybe I'm filling it up too much.

Also, every time I carry these batteries back and forth from my pond, I double bag them in garbage bags, yet I always seem to get some leakage into my car. When this gets wet (with water), I'm pretty sure the carpet in my car will dissolve where the battery leaked.

Thanks.

Sunil, get a plastic battery carrier or container. Boat, sporting goods or maybe even battery sellers will have them. If you are unfamiliar with them, visit a boat dealer and look at the gas and battery area. They are standard equipment.

If you have a soldering iron or know someone who does, you can get a cigarette lighter plug and a couple of large alligator clips and then you could maintain the charge while you are driving to the pond. Just another thought.

Bob

Cabelas sells battery boxes that will solve your problem. The battery is sealed inside and the box has external terminals to allow you to charge or use without having to access the battery directly. I have been using them for years and they are really great. Mine also have a external meter showing the current charge status. Go to cabelas.com and search battery accessories. Hope this helps.
JIm

Thanks guys. I knew you all would know.

Sunil, for best results and longest life, charging at a low to moderate rate of about 10 amps is preferable, finishing at 1 or 2 amps if possible. Sometimes trickle chargers of 1 to 2 amps will not bring the battery up to full charge, at least not for several days. Continue using distilled water, but don't fill past the level of the filler neck that extends down into cells. A battery in fair condition may self-discharge by about 15% a month in hot weather. Your carpet may be toast, but in future, if you get acid on your clothes, etc., pre-clean with baking soda and water solution and wash immediately.

Has anyone tried the Optima coiled cell batteries?The yellow top is a deep discharge type but they all are a gell cell type that can't spill and are reported to be great, just get the proper type (marine starting, automotive, deep discharge).

All answers are good and correct. Gel Cell or absorbed glass mat, or immobile electrolyte is good technology for use in enclosed environmental conditions. They do not vent hydrogen gas or spill acid, but are rather expensive and are difficult to find in amp hour rating sufficient for long trolling times. Most sporting good stores, academy, cabellos, etc should have sealed lead acid batteries, which should not spill. A good automatic charger , which reverts to trickle will save lots of battery money. Charge at 1/10 its amp hr. rating, ie, 80 amp hr. battery at 8 amps, then trickle at 1 amp.
Money spent on a good sealed lead acid may save 30-35 bucks if your wranglers/levis get eaten up by acid.(Or worse).

Trojan is one of the largest manufacturers of deep cycle batteries. Trojans are used in many golf carts.Their web site at http://www.trojan-battery.com/Tech-Support/BatteryMaintenance.aspx has lots of info on battery care, recharging, etc.
Frank

the best battery to buy for trolling motors are from your cable tv company.i have a friend who gave me one 3 years ago,cable company's will not use the batterys more than 1 are 2 years then they take old batterys out of power supply's and replace them with new one's.not sure of the name brand but they are 15% larger than normal battery and they use them for stand by power supply's.we probably go fishing 5-6 times before we would have to recharge battery.about 2 years ago i put a small 1 amp solar charger on the battery and since then i have never charger it.

Outdoor, is that a 1 amp SOLA or solar charger.
A 1 amp,solar panel is 15 watts, and are pretty good size from what I have seen. It would take a couple days to put 20 amp hours of juice back into the battery. Dont keep us in suspense, what is the name and model# of battery?

i will post everything i can find about battery,i will go to property within the next day are so.only thing i know is it came out of a stand by power supply unit and it's about 4-6 inches longer and 2-3 wider than a normal battery.

Three things that I have learned about batteries.

One they discharge at a rate of one amp a day just setting around not being used. Two I have been told that you should charge a battery at the rate that it is discharged. Third I have bought a battery maintainer. It is made by Pulse Tech. It actually cleans the battery. What it does is it cleans all the lead plates in the battery of all the sulfates and change it back into electrolite. A clean battery will charge faster and last longer with this on. I have it on every vehicle and battery that I own. I also by used batteries for my trolling motors at the lake and put it on and they seem to last forever.

The new technolgy batteries that Burger mentions are great advancements. For those of us who continue to rely on lead-acid batteries, Jim's battery box suggestion might be the most practical.

Many automotive and marine batteries are marketed as "maintenance free" or "sealed." Most deep-cycle lead-acid batteries, however, have easily removable caps, because full discharging and recharging tends to evaporate some of the water. While some lead-acid batteries may be marketed as "sealed," any lead-acid battery I know of must have vents. These batteries may be spill "resistant," but I wouldn't turn them on their sides for very long!

The SOLA sounds interesting.