Trolling motor batteries

[Snaggin Wagon]

Bought a new Lund 1775 last year. First time using it on Erie was yesterday. Have a minnkota Terrova. 120 Lb thrust 24 volt. Using group 27 interstate deep cycle batteries. Lasted about 3 to 4 hours trolling. Are the lithium ion batteries worth the investment? A pair of group 31’s will fit? Any thoughts?

[jdeezay74]

Bought a new Lund 1775 last year. First time using it on Erie was yesterday. Have a minnkota Terrova. 120 Lb thrust 24 volt. Using group 27 interstate deep cycle batteries. Lasted about 3 to 4 hours trolling. Are the lithium ion batteries worth the investment? A pair of group 31Â’s will fit? Any thoughts?

Even upgrading to AGM style batteries from lead acid will help im assuming thats what you have now. Also consider getting a on board alternator that will charge your trolling motor batteries while engine is running minn kota & power pole make them. it hooks up to motor alternator and is dedicated to charging the trolling motor batteries when engine is running so when you make a run to a new spot you could be charging you batteries right on the water. Lithiums are very nice and pricy. i did the minn kota and AGM odessey group 27s i can fish all day and still have some battery left. I just think that being able to charge your batteries on the fly on the water is the way to go.

[BearcatScott]

I have a similar boat, Prov 1775 with a 24v Terrova. I went from Group 27 to 31's and I can get maybe 5 hours if I'm trolling exclusively with the batteries and keep it around 6.5 or less. You gotta troll with the wind though to keep the current draw low.

I have 90HP 4 stroke, which will troll about 1.9 - 2, so what I do from this time of the year on, is use the gas motor to propel the boat and leave the Terrova at 4 and use it to steer. Batteries will last at least a full day, maybe more doing that. I may upgrade to Lithiums in a couple years when I need new batteries but they are pricey.

[Iowawalleye]

Are you sure they were fully charged? I fish a smaller body of water and on 3 to 5 they will last at least 8-10 hours. I have the 27's Interstate.

[Snaggin Wagon]

IÂ’m pretty sure they were fully charged. I was running the motor about 70% power.

[Ltrain]

Bought a new Lund 1775 last year. First time using it on Erie was yesterday. Have a minnkota Terrova. 120 Lb thrust 24 volt. Using group 27 interstate deep cycle batteries. Lasted about 3 to 4 hours trolling. Are the lithium ion batteries worth the investment? A pair of group 31’s will fit? Any thoughts?

Okay first you have to know what you have- a 24 volt Terrova is 80lb thrust with an amp draw at about 56 at full throttle. Also you have to figure out runtime vs what batteries you have. Your Interstate batteries have a RC at 160 min. If you're running at 7, that's 70% of max so .7 x 56 = 39 amp. Your rc is 160 so 160/39= 4.1hrs. So that's about exactly what you're observing in the real world.

Easy answer to your lithium question. Lithium batteries of the same amp hr run about twice as long as lead acids. They also give full voltage till almost fully discharged. Lead acids are considered dead at 50% discharge and give diminishing voltages. You may have noticed that you might troll at a 5 setting to get 1.2 mph but an hour later you have to turn it to 6 to maintain the same speed. That's the nature of lead acid batteries. Not so with lithium.

Also if you went to group 31lead acid they have a rc of 200 so 200/39 = 5.1. hrs.

I'll also give you the benefit of running a 112 lb thrust 36v motor- the 112 only has to be run at a 5 to attain the same speed as an 80 at 7. It's amp draw is slightly less at 52, so .5 x 51 is 25.5 using 160 rc group 27 that's 6.25 hrs of runtime and with 200 rc its 7.85 hrs of runtime. That's pretty significant and with comparable lithiums- it's double that.

Hope this helps

[JERRYA]

All good info here. For comparison sake: I have a 1880 Ranger Angler with a Ulterra 24V 80 Lb thrust group 27 batteries. Started out trolling with just the TM - couldn't reliably get all day out of the batteries even running with the wind. If you are planning to mostly troll the best solution is to bite the bullet and get a kicker motor. I got a kicker and now use it to push the boat and the TM to steer. We can easily go all day running the TM at 2-4. With the iPILOT it is very easy to continually adjust direction - this is really nice when the lake gets crowded with boats. I first considered going with bigger batteries but felt that would just add a little more time and not be reliable for all day. And as the trolling gets faster 2.0-2.5 and you try to run that TM over 5 it's just not going to last. Your batteries are only a year old - no need to replace them - better off spending the money on a kicker IMHO.

[Herkimer]

JerryA,
Same here, let the 9.9 hp push my 1875 Lund Tyee, steer with my Minnkota Ulterra. Erie guide Juls mentioned to keep running speed on Ulterra not over 3.0 mph…lasted me 10 hours, lots more than needed for my day of Erie trolling. Trolling motor Ulterra, 36 volt (3) battery 27’s.

All good info here. For comparison sake: I have a 1880 Ranger Angler with a Ulterra 24V 80 Lb thrust group 27 batteries. Started out trolling with just the TM - couldn't reliably get all day out of the batteries even running with the wind. If you are planning to mostly troll the best solution is to bite the bullet and get a kicker motor. I got a kicker and now use it to push the boat and the TM to steer. We can easily go all day running the TM at 2-4. With the iPILOT it is very easy to continually adjust direction - this is really nice when the lake gets crowded with boats. I first considered going with bigger batteries but felt that would just add a little more time and not be reliable for all day. And as the trolling gets faster 2.0-2.5 and you try to run that TM over 5 it's just not going to last. Your batteries are only a year old - no need to replace them - better off spending the money on a kicker IMHO.

[slimshady]

Bought a new Lund 1775 last year. First time using it on Erie was yesterday. Have a minnkota Terrova. 120 Lb thrust 24 volt. Using group 27 interstate deep cycle batteries. Lasted about 3 to 4 hours trolling. Are the lithium ion batteries worth the investment? A pair of group 31’s will fit? Any thoughts?

I have a 20 foot Lund Fisherman with a 24V/80# thrust Ultrex on it., two size 29 Marine batteries from Walmart. I had a 24v/80 Terrova for the past 10 years. Always trolling downwind, I could troll up to 1.5 mph for about 6-7 hours, no problem, especially if there was a little tail-wind. On a dead-calm day, I will lift the big motor all the way up to reduce the drag. That helps a ton. I can get 1.4-1.5 mph at a 4 or 4.5 speed setting. I try to never keep it above a 5 setting very long, or I will burn it up pretty fast. If there's a decent tail-wind, I leave the big motor down as it helps as a rudder and keeps the boat straight. If I need to go faster, I fire up the kicker and still use the TM for minor speed adjustments and steering. I also like to hit the "rabbit" button here and there to trigger bites. Works great.

On days when I know I am going to be trolling all day and I may be pushing the limit of my batteries, I will bring along two of those portable "jump-starters". I can get another couple hours of trolling in by using those to add some life to batteries that are almost dead.