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Trolling Motor Batteries


Fatherof4

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Hello All.  Purchased my first ever flats boat.  18.5 Maverick Master Angler.  Have owned saltwater boats for over 30 years.  This is my first with a trolling motor.

I know ZERO about trolling motor batteries.  What to buy, regular deep cycle vs AGM.  I know zero about AGM's as well.  It is a newer (2017) Minn Kota and is a 24v volt.  About all I know about it.  Any and all advice, what to buy,  why or why not, etc.  I doubt the trolling motor will get used very much, a few times a year, at most, with LONG pauses in between..like even months in between uses.

Thanks for the help.

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Nice boat purchase! I favor AGM primarily due to low maintenance and ability to remain on a charger for longer term storage.  I know wet batteries can also be on a charger long term but I am just more comfortable with the AGM.  I have two odyssey group 34for my 24v minn Kota and another of the same for the house battery.  I have a minn Kota 3 bank charger.  I too have months between uses, unfortunately, and have had no battery issues for the 3.5 years I have had them. 

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Fatherof4,

Hello from a father of 5.   Man, first of all, GREAT purchase!   You just bought the Cadillac of Flats boats.   I've owned two of them, and am basically re-buying my second one with the work I'm putting into it.  They really are special boats.  

As for the TM, is it an Ipilot or hand controlled?   If I-pilot (has a remote,  looks cool, impresses women, wards off jetskiiers), I would challenge you to try it out a little before you relegate it to  the EUDIE ("extra, unnecessary draft increasing equipment") category.   It's an anchor, a co-pilot, and a charter captain all in one.   

As for batteries, I've run AGM and I've run wet cells.   To be honest, I'm not sure the AGMs were really any improvement over the wet cells I have.   I did find that Streetside auto.com had the best prices on Optima bluetop AGM batteries for whatever reason.   The group 27s or 34s should be fine, but check the measurements/dimensions before you buy.

Do me a favor, since my own MA is still under the knife for restoration, post up some pics of your new sled in the Maverick - Vintage Maverick photos section!

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I buy my batteries at Sam's Club. Group 34 AGM for $130 each. I would suggest you also buy a 3 bank on-board battery charger. The worst thing you can do is leave the batteries idle for weeks or months. The on-board charger will keep all 3 batteries fully charged and they will last much longer.

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Thanks all. I appreciate it. I bought the Maverick that was in the for sale section of this website. It was the 1996 MA with dual rod lockers. Been piddling on it, changing plugs, the lower unit oil, new cranking battery, and general cleaning. Gonna buff the sides this weekend. 

It is an I-pilot and self deploying from what I understand. 

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1 hour ago, D-linesider said:

Sams club sells Duracell AGM batteries. By far the best bang for your buck. They are re-labeled Deka batteries for a fraction of the price. They are literally the same battery from the same manufacturer off the same assembly line just different decal.

This...

Chuck  😁

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  • 6 months later...

Time to replace cranking battery for F150.  Best battery for the money?

Boat sits for months at at time.  I turn the battery switches off but the Stealth still has that little LED light that stays on and likely drains the battery.  My current Exide Cranking battery has been in the boat for exactly 3 years.  Spent 3 days in the Glades and had to start from the Battery 2 backup almost every time.  Cranking battery wouldn’t come close to turning turning the motor over.  

Danny at Stealth says just stick with the cheapest Walmart marine battery.  Probably is spot on but I keep thinking I need something a little more substantial but after this last trip, a cheap walmart battery would have been just as effective as my nice Exide acid battery.  

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If you're using the batteries for a couple of hours an outing get a good wet cell battery like interstate.  I use my 24volt system the same way a couple hours at most on an outing.  Mine last over 3yrs .  Charged up after each trip on board charger is a great way to painlessly keep them up to full charge.  If I was going to rely on the troller for all day use my answer would be a AGM or lithium ion , which are big bucks.

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20 hours ago, rubble said:

Time to replace cranking battery for F150.  Best battery for the money?

Boat sits for months at at time.  I turn the battery switches off but the Stealth still has that little LED light that stays on and likely drains the battery.  My current Exide Cranking battery has been in the boat for exactly 3 years.  Spent 3 days in the Glades and had to start from the Battery 2 backup almost every time.  Cranking battery wouldn’t come close to turning turning the motor over.  

Danny at Stealth says just stick with the cheapest Walmart marine battery.  Probably is spot on but I keep thinking I need something a little more substantial but after this last trip, a cheap walmart battery would have been just as effective as my nice Exide acid battery.  

I’ve had good luck with Sams, group 31 AGM batteries.  I use two for my trolling motor and one for my cranking  battery.

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  • 2 years later...

Fatherof4, Welcome and congrats on the purchase.  I recently bought a new battery for my house battery X2Power, it is on the higher end of the batteries but it comes with a 4 year warranty.  Now when my current batteries go out for my Troller which is a Minn-Kota i-Pilot 24v, I will replace with the new X2Power batteries.  The performance I experienced just in noticing how my VMax starts was amazing.  Another thing to think of is what do you have on board for charging those puppies? You want to make sure that you have a good onboard charger system.  I recently upgraded from a Minn-kota charger to the NOCO Gen 5.  Extremely pleased with it's performance as well.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm a late to the thread but here is my install in an HPX-S. I have three batteries and an onboard NOCO Genius 3 bank charger under the console. All of them are Ionic Lithium Iron Phosphate. House battery is 125AH Dual Purpose Deep Cycle with 900 cranking amps. Trolling motor batteries are two Ionic 12V 50AH Deep Cycle in series for 24V. All three of the batteries weigh a total of 67lbs. I'm pretty sure the Noco charger weighs just short of a ton.🤣

Batteries.jpg

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