Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | 3-5 years is typical. There are manufacturer's who make 10 year, and even 15-20 year deep cycle batteries.
Battery life is affected by many factors, most importantly are depth of discharge and then charging.
All lead-acid batteries are designed for specific purpose - don't use a starting battery on a trolling motor, its not designed for low rate, long duration discharges. They will work for an emergency, just not as well as a deep cycle battery.
Battery life has two components, and they do interact - cycle life and useful life (years). Cycle life is just what it sounds like - the battery actual wears out from each deep discharge. Most deep cycle batteries are good for 100-300 discharges (usually listed as cycle life in the manufacturer's data sheet), e.g., number of discharge's where + 80% of the available capacity has been removed. If you fish a lot, you could wear out the battery in 1-2 years. The battery didn't fail you, you didn't select the right AH size for the application. If I were guiding, I would have the biggest battery I could fit into the battery space. It might even be smart to trade lure space in the boat for battery space.
Cycle life and useful life are greatly affected by how the batteries are treated after discharge, i.e., how they are recharged. The affects of recharge abuse are usually not reversible and the end result is always the same - premature failure.
Always recharge the battery as soon as you can, no matter the depth of discharge. On overnight trips a 100ft extension cord is a good accessory to have in your truck with your charger(s), if you don't have an on-board charger.
Size your charger to your expected battery use. If you expect to deep discharge every day of a 7 day trip, you need a charger sized to get that energy quickly back into the battery while you are off the water. F.ex. a 100AH battery needs a 10A charger to get the battery back up to reasonable capacity in ~10-12 hrs. A 5 amp charger just can't do it in that time period. I have two 100AH wet-cell batteries and have two (12V-15A) chargers.
Urban legends abound about batteries, especially in the fishing/boating world. NEVER, EVER, leave a battery in a discharge condition for longer than 24 hrs - as Martha would say: Its a bad thing!
Have fun!
Al
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