Low Life Battery

[Lotech Joe]

I use an electric trolling motor on my jon boat, and I don't like having the battery at my feet. So, I put the battery forward of the middle seat and it helps to balance the boat. (Not all the weight at the stern) I've been using jumper cables to run power from the battery to the motor and now I find that I have enough power to get to the middle of most of my local lakes, and not enough power to get back. My guess is that the jumper cables create too much resistance and the battery runs down too fast. Do you suppose I'm right about that? Do you think I'll get longer battery life if I put it back at the stern? I used to be able to go around Waitts Lake twice. Now I can barely make it 1/2 way around once. Sometimes I can't see the obvious. Gettin' old I guess.
:bigsmurf:

['OL GREY DOG]

sounds like a batt prob not a conductor prob ...did you load test it ?

[hewesfisher]

Just reading your subject, I thought you were complaining about a "low life" battery! [lol]

Instead, you have a battery with not much life.

Joe, like 'Ol Grey Dog mentioned, you might want to cart that battery to a local auto parts store and have it load tested. It's possible your battery just doesn't have the capacity anymore due to age and use. Having it tested will tell you what condition your battery is in.

As to how you connect it, I would suggest running a couple lengths of 8awg from the bow of your jon boat back to your motor instead of jumper cables. Install a fuse or circuit breaker in the positive lead and then a terminal block at the other end to connect your trolling motor leads to. Would be easy to do, and would be a cleaner way to get power to the back of your boat. With wing nuts on the battery terminals, you'll still be able to remove the battery for storage/charging. I've got the tools and would be happy to help if you want to do this. Just let me know.

[The HAWG HUNTER]

Never set the battery on concrete this will reduce the batterys life very fast. Always charge as soon as you can after use, with the winters we have check your batterys weekly for charge cold weather will kill a battery.

[stryker17]

one thing that I learned in dry camping with a motor home is that the larger cable runing to the battery is the better, we run '0" cable size, also the length of the run has a lot to do with it, if you have a cheep set of jumper cables the wire size may be to small, and a long run will draw the battery down quicker try a larger wire size , this may help............

['OL GREY DOG]

i bought a cheap load tester at H F .....volt meter tells you a lot...it can be used to track down bad equipment or circuits....hook it up with every thing turned off...fire up 'em 1 at a time and it will show you the voltage drop/load....and yea the jumper cable thing is kinda sketchy ....they can be tested with a load tester too bye the way

[rjn cajun]

As stated above check the battery. I did the same as you last year. Moved my battery to the front instead of the back to get it out of the way and plane faster. I didn`t see any loads go down due to the length at all.

[hewesfisher]

Never set the battery on concrete this will reduce the batterys life very fast. Always charge as soon as you can after use, with the winters we have check your batterys weekly for charge cold weather will kill a battery.

Check out the battery myths here and you'll see this is no longer true.

stryker17 - Joe's jon boat is 10', maybe 12', so using 0awg is huge overkill. That cable will deliver 90 - 100amps at a 3% voltage drop up to 30'. The 8awg will deliver 50 amps at 3% voltage drop up to 10' and 30 amps up to 15'. Knowing the thrust rating on Joe's trolling motor would be helpful, but I doubt he's pulling anywhere near 20 amps when he's using it, so the 8awg would be a good choice. Using marine grade wire and terminals, proper connections at each end, sealed with adhesive lined shrink wrap and he'll never have a problem.

For more info on marine wiring, check out this BoatUS tech guide - http://www.boatus.com/boattech/cable.htm

[BentRod]

Addressing the jumper cable resistance, if you are getting a lot of resistance that is running down your battery, then that stored energy has to be dissipated somehow, usually in the form of heat, so if you're cable or terminal is getting hot (and I mean really hot), then that would be a sign. If not, then it's probably the battery getting old and not holding a charge. My old battery did this when it was on it's way out. I'm betting it's the battery. Just my 2 cents.

[FishingFool]

Did you get the longer life last year, or this year before you extended the cables?

Like others said, you can get your battery tested. Or you could remove the extention and see if you get the same length of time.

Most likely, this is a combination of battery and the extention. Most cheap jumper cables are 12AWG. Insufficent. Without knowing exactly what you have and how far of a run, 8AWG would be a good guess though.

[Lotech Joe]

Never set the battery on concrete this will reduce the batterys life very fast. Always charge as soon as you can after use, with the winters we have check your batterys weekly for charge cold weather will kill a battery.

I never store my battery in the garage over winter. I always keep it in the house. Everywhere I store it, I put it on a 3/4" thick piece of recycled rubber. Even when I use the battery I keep it on that piece of rubber.

[Amx]

I put any extra batteries I have on the table. With a piece of cardboard and rag under it to catch any fumes/liquid that might be on/under the battery. The wife doesn't mind.

Oh, I have no wifey.

Oh, the table is out in the garage.

['OL GREY DOG]

i love my AGM batts...hurt like heck when i bought them...but i wont go bk...the 1 thing i didnt expect was how dang heavy they are

[Bodofish]

Never set the battery on concrete this will reduce the batterys life very fast. Always charge as soon as you can after use, with the winters we have check your batterys weekly for charge cold weather will kill a battery.

Sorry dude, not true. Batteries have not been made of asphalt for many years. Todays plastic cases are not porus and could care less what you put them on.

[Bodofish]

Joe,

It could very easily be the jumpers creating the extra resistance. If you want to move the battery up front make some cables by soldering the terminals on the cables. Clamps just don't cut it when you want to run a motor all day. Relatively small contact area on both ends. They work fine for a quick start but not sustained operation.

[The HAWG HUNTER]

My Bad. When it comes to batterys you get what you pay for!:money:

[G-Man]

Joe,

It could very easily be the jumpers creating the extra resistance. If you want to move the battery up front make some cables by soldering the terminals on the cables. Clamps just don't cut it when you want to run a motor all day. Relatively small contact area on both ends. They work fine for a quick start but not sustained operation.

Bodo is most likely correct with his assessment. The clamps on the jumper cables are designed for short periods of intense current draw, don't have a lot of surface area to mate with the battery terminals and do not maintain a reliable connection. Remember, electricity travels on the outside of of the conductor, so the more surface area the less contact resistance. Also, I have seen some pretty sad jumper cable wire in my day. I personally melted a person's cables whose battery I was jumping because they were so thin. For safety's sake, get yourself some 6 or 8 gauge marine grade wire with proper end terminals regardless of your battery's condition. Also, when you route wire, especially wire that will be carrying a heavy load, no sharp bends! Sharp bends in wire are equivalent to putting a kink in tubing and under heavy loads can melt the insulator and cause a fire.

['OL GREY DOG]

volts can shmack the snot outta ya...amps'll KILL ya

[yooper_fisher]

Sounds to me like an old battery, but I don't have too much experience with deep cycle's.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but this seems like a good place to pop in my quick question about this issue. I too would like to put my battery at the front of my raft so I have more leg room. I'm running a 30lb thrust minnkota and I only need to extend my cables another 4' or so, but wiring has always intimidated the heck out of me so I have no idea where to even start to properly extend my wires.

[reddog]

Joe,
Is there a possibility that the battery has a cell or two going bad? This can be easily checked at any Shucks, Napa, or battery shop with a hydrometer. If a cell or two wont hold a full charge, they will drag down the battery's capacity as they work in series. Just something to eliminate. OBTW, what wire gauge is your jumper cable? Anything over 10 gauge should provide ample capacity without too much voltage drop. As the cable from your motor is likely 10ga. Good luck.

Didnt see all of the other great answers when I went to post this the first time. Somebody on here has solved yer problem. Now a matter of pikin where to start.