Electric Motor Batteries

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buzzdog
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Electric Motor Batteries

Post by buzzdog »

G'day Team,
I'm finally looking at getting a 12v Xi5 Motor Guide in the very near future and considering my options of AGM batteries to power it. I was wondering what type of battery and size, owners of both Motor Guides and Minn Kota's on this forum have decided to go for? Some of the names I've heard being thrown around are Fullriver, Exide and a few other no name brands off ebay. Is there a general rule for brand and or size when using in conjunction with an electric motor?

Would be keen to hear peoples pro's and cons of current and past batteries they've had powering their electric motor.

Cheers

Buzz


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NathanL
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by NathanL »

depends on your usage. I went with two normal n70 size wet cell deep cycle lead acids for my boat.
Work perfectly fine for me and get me 2 full days usage without charge before starting to slow down a bit, they've been in there getting close to three years i think and still work just like the day I put them in. I expect they will last a fair bit longer.

oh and did I mention less than a third the price of AGM's.

AGM's can be charged alot faster and apparently last longer though
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by buzzdog »

Sorry, I should have mentioned that my boat is only a little guy; Bermuda 410 Salmon, light as!!!
I plan to use it fir a range of different activities such as trolling, flicking at drains and anchoring.

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Once Bitten
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by Once Bitten »

Buzzdog, I've had a minn Kota 55lb ipilot for about three years now and it is awesome! You just can't beat the spot lock and the auto trawl trail functions for both Inshore and offshore fishing. I've got mine powered by a thumper 130AH AGM battery which I bought at the same time as the MK. Gives me at least two full days of fishing fun and I've never run it empty yet. For a 55lb electric they recommend at least a 100AH battery. The AGM batteries weigh a bit, but they are robust, they don't leak and they are maintenance free! The missus calls the MK and battery set up a marriage saver... See what happens when they sheet themselves...
... <NAUGHTY{ ... <NAUGHTY{ ... <NAUGHTY{

My missus wants to buy me a GoPro...she said I need it... It's like a black box recorder for fishos...
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by buzzdog »

Once Bitten wrote:Buzzdog, I've had a minn Kota 55lb ipilot for about three years now and it is awesome! You just can't beat the spot lock and the auto trawl trail functions for both Inshore and offshore fishing. I've got mine powered by a thumper 130AH AGM battery which I bought at the same time as the MK. Gives me at least two full days of fishing fun and I've never run it empty yet. For a 55lb electric they recommend at least a 100AH battery. The AGM batteries weigh a bit, but they are robust, they don't leak and they are maintenance free! The missus calls the MK and battery set up a marriage saver... See what happens when they sheet themselves...
Yeah nice.
It seems that a 120ah battery is the going choice among electric motor enthusiests. Weighing in excess of 30kg, having a battery of this weight up the front of my boat would serve as a counter-weight and keep the nose of my boat down.
I had a look at the 210ah batteries and those bad boys weigh in excess of 70kgs!!! I couldn't believe how heavy they were....
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by jabsy »

I bought my AGM's locally in maybe 2012? they came with a 12 month warranty and lasted maybe 18....

Last time round i bought them from "Home Of 12 Volt" in SA, $330 for the 100AH and $340 for the 120AH, with free delivery and a couple of free volt meter/cig socket doodads. Probably twice the weight of the locally bought AGM, and still going strong 15 months later.

My advice is to look after them and they should last a long time. Dont let them get below 30% capacity, and charge them with a purpose-designed AGM charger. I use a C-Tek DC-DC charger when on the road.

Use the table below and you should be OK.

12.7 Volts = 100 % Battery capacity remaining
12.5 Volts = 80 % Battery capacity remaining
12.2 Volts = 50 % Battery capacity remaining
11.3 Volts = 30 % Battery capacity remaining
10.5 Volts = FLAT - Battery requires immediate recharge
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by Scottie5.3 »

Agms are ok but twice the price and weight
Ive got 5 years out of normal sea master mfm50s
Try the all rounder(half deep cycle-half start) variant of sea masters. We use them on a lot of boats without any issues.
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by ronje »

G'day Robert

Jabsy is on the right track.

Anything other than true deep cycle is a compromise and make sure that whatever AHrs they quote is at the 20 hour rate.

A lot of hybrids (marine) or cranking batteries are happy to quote AHrs but its rubbish. If the battery talks about CCA, MCA or CA , its not a deep cycle no matter what they try to tell you. Lots of marine batteries quote CCA and RC (reserve capacity).

Most of the manufacturers these days tell straight out fibs about their products.

The most commonly available brand that doesn't tell fibs is Century. What they advertise is exactly what you get. Wouldn't touch Exide with a long pole.

A proper lead acid deep cycle gives you the best way of telling the state of charge ( hydrometer and/or discharge load). But u've got acid floating around in the battery and hydrogen given off on charging.

An AGM is much more convenient maintenance wise but a bit hard to tell state of charge hence Jabsy's voltage measurements. Better off getting a $30 load discharge meter to test. Pay a bit more for AGM but pretty convenient. Need slightly different charging arrangements to your existing cranking battery. Use a separate DC-DC smart-charger of 30 amps or so to charge it properly

Anything from 90 - 110 ahr should do. Anything bigger costs a lot more and is a lot heavier.

http://www.dcbattery.com/faq.html
Last edited by ronje on Wed Sep 02, 2015 4:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by Old Mate »

Buzzdog, Just get on Ebay mate. I just fitted out my new boat with the Motor-guide XI5 80lb. On Ebay I got 2 x Power AGMs (that's the brand name) 130 amp hr for $290 each delivered to Darwin. They are the largest AGM battery that will fit into a battery box. Same size as an NZ70. Freight took about 7 days.

Go the AGMs from the start you wont look back. Like has been said before they last longer, charge quicker, have heaver plates inside and can be mounted any way and will not leak.

These batteries are the same as the ones that they sell at IOB marine but for about $50 cheaper.
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by buzzdog »

Hey guys,
I'm definitely looking at getting an AGM battery and the 120-140ah size is probably what I'll settle for, now it's just deciding on which brand to get.
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by Old Mate »

Power AGM
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by buzzdog »

Anyone heard of this brand? Comes with a 3 year warranty.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 55&alt=web

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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by jabsy »

Look good, price is OK, but wont fit in a battery box. Never heard of them before.
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by ronje »

Think that they're a generic chinese battery made for markets like Aus. Chinese manufacturer makes up battery to standard specs and puts whatever name the client wants on the case.

Pro Power is one name used. Another name is Giant Power. Same battery - different brandname.

As deep cycle they can act as a starting battery providing you use a battery that's higher capacity ( 20% or more) than the job you need it's deep cycle characteristic for. Doesn't work the other way round though

125 AH is a bit more than what you actually need so should be ideal to supply the extra cranking amps ( if you need to) that a proper starting battery would normally supply with its larger surface area plates.

Price looks cheap so may be build quality question. But how do you know that unless you cut it apart?

Got a DC-DC smartcharger for it or are u going to use it standalone and recharge it at home or similar?
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Re: Electric Motor Batteries

Post by buzzdog »

Ah gotcha, I don't mind paying the extra money for a quality product.
I believe I found the battery Old Mate was talking about.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 71&alt=web

I also found the full river batteries

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 13&alt=web

Which I've been told are a really good battery.

I plan to use the battery in conjuntion with a dc-dc charger and isolator, well thats the plan.
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