Trolling motor question

I’m wondering how long my battery should generally last, running at
various speeds?

I have a power drive 55 lb thrust with co-pilot 12v motor, and just
Bought a new battery that is 200 min at 23 amp draw.

Forgot to add,
It’s on a 17 1/2 foot crestliner

I had the same setup. Fishing Walleyes I could generally get a day and a half. I added a second battery in parallel and could get about 3 days. Go figure.

If your having trouble make sure to check your battery. I always had interstate batteries and was very happy with them.

The battery is brand new, I used it on the river yesterday and it was dead in about a hour and a half. I was thinking I may have got a bad battery?

Jimmy wrote:

The battery is brand new, I used it on the river yesterday and it was dead in about a hour and a half. I was thinking I may have got a bad battery?

Was the battery charged before you installed it ? Just because you got new one it doesnt mean it had a FULL charge.

JMHO Jeff

What level was the motor set at? If it was at ten that’s about right. My 55lb Terrova lasts all day at five or six with an Optima but it goes down considerably at high levels. Think my old Powerdrive lasted three or four hours trolling at level five or six.

I guess I just assumed the battery was fully charged when I bought it. I have it on a trickle charge now. I was running it between level 3-5. So from what I’m gathering I should get another battery and 2 should get me through a full day of fishing?

Should get a lot more time out of one battery at that level. I would invest in a good on board smart charger if you don’t have one.

The battery probably wasn’t fully charged. It’s not a bad idea to run two batteries while fishing in current though.

I was down on pool 4, so yes there was current. Thanks for all your input guys!

The size of the boat has nothing to do battery life.

Deep cell batteries are generally rated at a 20 amp draw. This formula will provide an approximation

Ampere Hour Ratings (ah) = This is the number of amps which a battery can deliver for a 20 hour period. This test is also referred to as the 20 hour rate. The larger the amp hour rating, the more power the battery can deliver over time assuming it’s fully charged. Your Battery has ah of 200 ah: so [200 ah / 55 Amps load (at full load)] ~ 3.6 hours.

BTW 200 ah sounds a bit high, could be wrong on this. But as I recall an average size 31 or 29 generally is rated between (130 to 100) ah? Are you sure you don’t mean reserve capacity.

A bigger boat would be harder to move so it should have something to do with how long your battery lasts.

Here’s what I bought. Guy at fleet farm told me this was the best battery for a trolling motor.

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iowa_josh wrote:

A bigger boat would be harder to move so it should have something to do with how long your battery lasts.

No the trust setting dictates how much current is drawn from the battery. If on a bigger boat you increment the setting higher to provide similiar speed (but more trust) then it will draw more current and drain the battery quicker. But the size of the boat itself has nothing to due with the batteries capabilities. The equation I provided was for maximum trust of a Min Kota 55 pound trust trolling motor.

Jimmy wrote:

The battery is brand new, I used it on the river yesterday and it was dead in about a hour and a half. I was thinking I may have got a bad battery?

Their is a chance that the battery you purchased had been sitting around for a long time thus via self discharge was very low on change. I suppose it’s possible that a new battery had a bad cell, but highly unlikely. Give it a good charge with a “smart” battery charger. More than likely it will provide much more life. BTW you can’t go wrong with Interstate. They are reasonable priced and hold up very well.

Trust/Thrust