Small Trolling Motor battery

[bassjunky]

I have a normal size battery for my trolling motor, but since I am running it out of my canoe it takes up more room then I would like, not to mention its d**n heavy.

Anybody know where I can find a lighter battery? I have been looking at lawn tractor batteries and jetski batteries but i was not sure if they would do the trick

[trout sen-sei]

Walmart has a small one and its only $39.99 I believe.

[Water Wolf]

 I have never tried it before but I do know that the batteries for a ATV are nice and small, not sure how long they would last. I do know thought that Minn Kota offers an on-board charger to keep the battery life up. I my self use the Eliminator Solar panel from Canadian tire to keep my battery charging as I go.

WW

[fishryc]

Walmart has a small one and its only $39.99 I believe.

I don't know if a small one will hold enough charge. I just returned a $68.00 really big battery to Wall Mart because it only lasted 30 minutes on my canoe. It wasn't a marine battery, but it had 1050 cold cranking amps which is HUGE. Most cars use 650 to 850 CCA's. Hope this helps-

[fishmix]

fishryc    1050 cold cranking amps which is HUGE. 
        A car battery is designed to release  a large charge in a short time. thats why it only lasted for a 1/2 hour. a deep cycle or marine battery is designed to release a small electrical current over a long time.   CCA is how much electrical torque is provided to the starter to turn the motor. you want to see how many AMP/HOURS the battery is rated for. amp/hours means that the battery will supply one amp of electrical current per hour. so if you have a battery rated for 100A/H it will provide one amp of current for one hundred hours. of course this varies depending on how old it is and if it was maintained.

         I use an deep cycle computer backup battery a buddy got for me. rated for 115 A/H.  been using it for 4 years now. went trolling with two electric riggers and the graph running twice now and a trip to the river using the trolling motor and navigational lights overthe last  two weeks and never charged it. i will say though i do use a solar charger by American hunter designed for a trickle charge. these things are worth the money. $20-$40. solar chargers wont charge a dead battery but i will sustain the life of a charged one and keep it charged.


as far as using an ATV or similar battery make sure it has the correct voltage. i had a lawn tractor that had a 6 volt battery in it. that is not suitable for a trolling motor. also you may run out of charge. don't want to get stuck on the water.be sure to check it first.

bassjunky i know what it is like.when I started boat fishing it was with a canoe and trolling motor. always had to keep the boat balanced because of the weight. trolling motor on one side battery on the other. pain in the a$$.did not like to carry it either.  then i got smart and went out and bought a 14 aluminum with a 20 merc on it. my suggestion is to buy a new or new to you boat. so you can just leave the battery in it.
 its easier to carry the charger than the battery. anyways you can do and go more places with the bigger boat.

[crazycrawler]

There seems to be two sizes of trolling batteries and I use the smaller (car) size in my canoe. It fits out of the way under the seat in my canoe. It is heavy. Someone told me that is because deep cycle batteries have thicker lead plates in them. Mine lasts about three hours at constant slow-medium speed when new and after two seasons I replace them as they gradually don't last as long. I used to use the smaller walmart batteries mentioned above but had to carry two as they only lasted about 1 1/2 hrs each for me at constant trolling speed. When my battery does go it winds down fast for me so to avoid a long paddle back I got a little deep cycle battery as backup this year on eBay. It is very light and about the size of a box of pop tarts. It lasts 25-30 minutes only but that saves a lot of paddling back to where you put in. Don't know yet how long it will last. Sorry I can't give you an alternative to your heavy battery. I know what you mean.

[carpcatcher]

I just read all the reply's on this subject and thought I would give my 2 cent's. I have been using trolling motors for a good while now and have seen many different friend's go thru batteries all the time. they would fish for a couple hours and then put it on a charger. I was always told that a deep cycle battery has a memory so that's how I treated them. If you keep charging them when they aren't drained they will eventually only last a short while. I always use mine at least 8 to 10 hours before even thinking about charging it. I just wander how those solar chargers affect the life of a battery? I feel that batteries are like most other things, you get what you pay for. I once bought two sto-away batteries and alternated them and I used them for almost 9 full seasons of fishing. Unfortunately for Bassjunky's situation it seem's that all the good batteries weigh alot so I'm not sure how to help you out.
          Jim

[crazycrawler]

I would agree with carpcatcher on what he says about getting what you pay for and since he gets a lot more years than I do out of a battery he knows what he is talking about. There is however a different opinion on the charging part. I emailed the manufacturer of my first battery worrying about the memory effect also. They emailed me back that NiCad batterys have a memory but lead acid types do not and the best thing to do is keep them in a high charge state. My gut feeling is carpcatcher is correct but you might want to contact the manufacturer when you get a battery of any type. This may be a small point and whatever works for you is what matters.