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| Seeking experience/information for expected number of hours with 24V with 27's.
For simplicity: level 4 on constant, 60' shaft all the way down, 19' aluminum boat, going into 5-10 mph winds.
Also, what is worse for the battery charge: pulse on high or constant on low-medium?
Sure there are more variables/questions, but just looking for an average hour use.
Thank you for the help. |
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Posts: 33
Location: St. Germain, WI | I run the pretty much the setup you are describing, I have a Alumacraft touranment pro 185, big wide, heavy boat with a 200 on it. my batteries are optima blue top, some people will say they are junk, but I disagree. I have never run these down in one day, I am sure I could get 1.5-2 days out of a charge. I fish many tournaments, and fished 15 hr days in Canada, plus I fish 3-4 days a week regularly. I use a bank charger and charge pretty much after every use unless I forget. hope this helps |
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Posts: 1184
Location: Iowa Great Lakes | I run a 17' glass boat with 27's for batterys running a 80# Terrova and so far even after a 12-14 hour run the meter still showed 3/4 charge. I also run an on board charger and always plug it in when returning from a days fishing and leave it run untill I go again... |
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Posts: 183
Location: Grand Forks ND | I would say you're good for 24 hours. |
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Posts: 897
| What kind of motor? Terrovas will have an optimizer built in that will get you more use. I'd say in 5-10 mph winds you should be fine all day with a 24V system and new batteries.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is if you take trips up to Canada or fish all day a number of days in a row you may not have enough time overnight to get your batteries back up to full power. I've been in boats where on day 3 or 4 of a trip, after a couple 14 hour days of fishing, you run out of battery juice in the middle of the afternoon because the batteries didn't get back up to full charge overnight.
I think a lot of people under power with trolling motors. Do yourself a favor and skip the 24V on that size of a boat. Get a 36V, 101 and you won't have to worry about this stuff. I can get 3-4 full days of fishing in whatever conditions with my 101 Terrova on a 19' glass boat. Nothing more frustrating than having your batteries run out of juice...especially if you're catching fish. |
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Posts: 272
| This is impossible to quantify, as everyone fishes differently. "All day" for some means 5-8 hours and alot of drifting, anchoring and sitting around at the tavern. To me, all day means 5am until 9:30pm.
Many people do alot of controlled drifting, which you use quick short bursts on the TM and the rest of the time your batteries aren't doing anything.
I will say that this opening weekend, I went "all day" (my version) and we faced current and some winds. I was pretty much on the TM constantly except for a couple times we worked with the wind. "Timmy," as I call my Terrova TM, was on 3-6ish power all day. Literally. I really tried to minimize the time on #6 because I knew it was going to be a long day and I wanted battery life at dark, and so we did more controlled drifting when the winds were that strong, so I was doing mostly 2-6 second bursts on #6 power during that short time we fished that way. But it was windy enough that there was alot of "burst-ing" going on. Otherwise I bucked current or we moved right along casting with 3 guys in the boat. I don't know how long they'd last. I plugged them into 10 amps that night and they were good to go in the morning for another 16-hour beating.
I went from 4:45 that morning until 9:30pm that night on a 24v Terrova with 215 reserve minute 31's, with an amp hour rating of 23amps. This is an important fact that I don't think most folks realize. Not all batteries are tested equally. The standard is a 25 AH test. Some are, most are not.
The batteries were purchased that week.
One thing I will say about Optima batteries as someone who has never owned them, so take it with a grain of salt, not sure what the big deal with them is. Their reserve capacity, which is what you WANT with a trolling motor battery, is for crap compared to alot of other batteries. Not saying the battery itself is crap, but I sure cannot justify myself spending 2-3x the price for ~1/2 the reserve minutes. I don't care how many years the batt is supposed to last or whatever the bragging points are. I'll happily replace batteries every 3-4 years if my daily time on the water is extended by the increased reserve minutes.
Long story short, with 31s and an 80# terrova, I can say that I could set my trolling motor on 3 or 4, set the autopilot, take a 16 hour nap, and wake up to Timmy still pulling my boat. I have an '02 Alumacraft TP. Its very wide, pretty deep and the boat (wet) weighs about 2400 lbs and it is not an overly-efficient hull.
Lots and lots of factors with running time on batteries. Almost gotta fish with someone to really know how they fish to really guage what they mean when they say things. I had a buddy who said they'd troll walleyes with an 80# terrova "all weekend" with his boat. Piled in with him this spring, and the first thing he does is fire up the kicker motor........umm, yeah. Kinda what I thought.
That's what I got.
-EY
Edited by muskie-addict 6/20/2011 6:05 PM
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Posts: 272
| whynot - 6/20/2011 2:11 PM
I think a lot of people under power with trolling motors. Do yourself a favor and skip the 24V on that size of a boat. Get a 36V, 101 and you won't have to worry about this stuff. I can get 3-4 full days of fishing in whatever conditions with my 101 Terrova on a 19' glass boat. Nothing more frustrating than having your batteries run out of juice...especially if you're catching fish.
I'm kicking myself for not spending the extra few hundred to have the 101. For $250 extra for the motor and whatever the cost of another battery would be, you're set. If you work your TM hard, this is definitely the route to go.
-EY |
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Posts: 388
| Depends a lot on conditions, how much wind, how fast, etc but I have been able to go about 2-3 days (rustic camping) before the batteries get to the point where they are noticeably drained. The third day is generally a problem requiring some downtime with place to charge.
To remedy this I bought one of the MinnKota on board chargers that will maintain the trolling batteries any time the main motor is running. This puts me in a position where I can keep the batteries in good condition as long as I have gas in my tank. |
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