Help w/ charging trolling motor batteries pls
Hello,
I just purchased a Marine Maxx 29 60 pound battery from Wal mart. It says 125 amp hours I think. I don't care what the Marine Crank number is, or the cca.
The salesman told me to only charge it on trickle charge...thats 2 amp manual on my little charger. So I never will know when it is fully charged. he said NOT to charge it on 10a automatic because it is designed differently than a starting motor. I don't get it. So what?
Guess two questions. What is a good amp hour rating for a trolling motor battery to use?
And how does one maintain the charge in a trolling motor battery?
I recently capsized my little 8' Pond Hopper boat and lost my battery.
When I went back out to look for my gear in another boat my battery went dead and the wind blew me to the far end of the lake and the wrong side as well.
So I bought two 75 amp hour btty's..thinking will take boaf on my boat. When one goes dead I will know where I stand and have the back up. Total weight 80 pounds!
My friend told me to take them back and just switch to the Marine Maxx 29 they have which weighs 60 pounds. I thought Group 24 size was all that was necessary for trolling but I really do not want to have a dead battery on board anymore. That experience was not fun.
I am not an experienced boater or battery charger. I wish I had asked for a battery recommendation on here before I purchased the battery.
Any comments and/or suggestions would be appreciated.
I used nearly that exact setup
for several years and always used a trickle charge. The battery last longer when pushing around a small craft like that. I used that battery with 30 40 and 50 lb transom mount trolling motors on both an 8' bass buggy and a 16' canoe. 8 hrs is a good starting point for charing. I have cheap charger that does 2 and 10 amp and automatically turns off when the battery is charged. Look into that. I think I only paid $20 for it.