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In the market for a new battery for the bow thruster, 12V MotorGuide unit….
I've heard a few good things about the Kirkland batteries at Costco….
don't know a lot about batteries and would welcome any advice …want something decent but don’t need the best
I just bought a new Kirkland for my 24V Motor Guide troller. It's too soon to tell,but,the price was sure right (27aH @ $179)
Lots of options. Lead Acid marine deep cycle or Lithium Iron Phosphate. The lithiums will run about 3X the price but the difference is you can cycle them right to zero and not harm them. That means a 100 aH lithium actually gives you 100 aH of usable capacity vs 100 aH Lead Acid really only gets you 40 or 50 aH of capacity or you risk severely shortening the life of the battery. The lithiums are also much lighter (less than half of the lead acid for the same capacity) and easier to move around as a result.
I run 200 aH (2x 100 aH 12V in paralell) of lithium on my Zodiac. That is enough that i can run my electric motor for 8+ hours and can fully charge them overnight and good to go again next day. Plus they do double duty as back up power for the cottage. I bring them into the cottage and connect a pure sine inverter to provide one 15 amp 120V AC circuit during outages. Keeps the people with devices happy (millenials and gen Z with their xboxs).
Does anyone know a good solution to charge lifepo4 from a truck ?
Keep researching about it and different sources opposite things: all good vs damage alternator
It may be inefficient but i am certain this would work and not damage anything. Keep the truck running and connect an appropriately sized pure sine inverter to the truck battery via booster cable. Then plug in an AC charger to the inverter designed to charge Lifepo4.Quote:
Originally Posted by newbiehunter
Alternator on a truck is designed to charge lead acid. Lifepo4 requires a higher DC voltage to charge correctly and likely would not charge properly/fully if connected in any direct fashion.
Heard you guys had a good time a few weeks back. Nice.
A DC to DC charger is the best option, but only charging while running. And not a cheap option.Quote:
Originally Posted by newbiehunter
Did you really mean 27ah??? Thats an awfully small battery, especially for a trolling motor. Gives you realistically 13ah of usable power without trashing the battery which isn't going to troll you very far.Quote:
Originally Posted by trimmer21
Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Species8472
It was n awesome trip [emoji16]
Yep,I have two in series that work quite well. I'm getting 8 hrs continuous run time and recharge after every time out. Most of the time,though,I use the troller for positioning keeping me on weed lines or drop offs, then, I can use it for days.Quote:
Originally Posted by FishHog
Which boat are you using ? Where (lake or with river stream)? Wind conditions?Quote:
Originally Posted by trimmer21
What is the trolling motor trust poundage?
I run a 17' back troller with 25Merc 4 stroke. Big lakes like Scugog,Rice,Big Rideau and Bernard, Otonabee River/Trent Canal. The troller is a Motor Guide 48lb on a bow mount. The boat's older with all the goodies and a new Merc,but,it works better than most new rigs and takes high water like crazy.Quote:
Originally Posted by newbiehunter
So double 27ah in series gives about 8 hours runtime for 24V motor.. wow. That's amazing!Quote:
Originally Posted by trimmer21
I am in "deep dive" research now about whether to invest into Minkota endura max 12v +100ah lifepo4 battery
To be installed in 17ft canoe for a week (or 2 week) trips to northern rivers with pretty strong current. Essentially the idea is to motor upstream and drift down however cannot figure out the charge situation (no shore power) and whether it would give a sufficient runtime for 10-15km (total) upstream runs.
Any experience/advise?
That distance upstream against the current will use up a lot of juice,for sure. Without shore power to recharge,I think you'll likely have a problem. Take an extra battery and maybe run a generator to recharge?Quote:
Originally Posted by newbiehunter
Next time your out test the voltage on return and see what charge rate your at. If below 12.06 or 50% don’t expect those to last very long. It will work but dramatically shorten the life of the batteryQuote:
Originally Posted by trimmer21
Will do. So far,so good,though. My last battery was a Nautilus that I used for almost 12 years before it would no longer take a charge. The second Nautilus I'm using for lights,pumps and engine start that's 5 years old is still strong. I have two 27aH batteries on a separate system for the troller,another Nautilus (5 years old) and the new Kirkland. I've had great service from them all. I believe the key is to charge them after each use to keep them up.Quote:
Originally Posted by FishHog
So my Zodiac has +/- 40 km range with 200 aH of 12 volt LifePO4. It is 13 feet long with 5 foot 6 inch beam and weighs 250 lbs empty. Against current I have no idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by newbiehunter
Motor is a 55 lb thrust Minn Kota
You should compare to a 2.5 to 4 hp short shaft tohatsu or similar as that may be a better option.
Also max speed on a trolling motor no matter the thrust is about 8 km/hour. So at max throttle the best speed will be roughly 8 minus the current speed in km/hour when against the current. If current is faster then 8 you will go backwards.
Coincidentally 8 is also about the max speed 2 guys with good technique can paddle a loaded canoe.
Low speed is not a problem at all. (I don't think they current is above 8kmh on rivers we use it on)Quote:
Originally Posted by Species8472
Originally, also considered a gas motor, however the weight/maintenance and had me arrive to electrical with large batteries
Thank you for the info though.
Good to get to real field numbers for comparison [emoji16]