WM Trolling motor battery

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Tom

Tom

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Before we left home for several months, I hooked up a battery minder/tender to the deep cycle battery of my bass boat. Since coming home I checked the battery voltage and found it was around 11.3V. I checked water level and, surprise, several cells were dry. I tried topping up and putting the battery on charge. Nothing changed.

This was a Walmart trolling motor "RV/marine" combo battery. Maybe I need to visit forum member MexRay's battery business to get a better replacement.
 
I think Walmart gets those Evertstarts from Exide, but they also sell the Minnkota label. I used to get decent results from those, back in the day when I had a bass boat.

Minnkota now has a "strategic Alliance" with Trojan and supposedly the batteries are now be designed and manufactured by Trojan.
http://www.trojanbattery.com/Press/MinnKota.aspx
 
This was my first experience with a WM battery. Had a similar experience with a bank of 10 golf cart batteries bought from a large 'local' distributor some years ago. Never had any issues with batteries of various kinds bought from MexRay's company for boats and coaches over nearly 30 years.

Interesting re the Trojan/Minkota alliance. I wonder how their prices compare with 'Trojan' brand batteries.
 
I don't think those trolling motor batteries are true deep cycle batteries.  They are usually a hybrid between a deep cycle & a cranking battery.
 
I don't think those trolling motor batteries are true deep cycle batteries.  They are usually a hybrid between a deep cycle & a cranking battery.
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You're right. I didn't realize/remember that's what I'd bought, but just took a closer look. I remembered WM selling a "trolling motor battery", and assumed that's what I'd bought.
 
I would check the output of the battery minder.  Sounds like it may have an issue and murdered your battery.
Click to expand...

That was my first thought, and I did check it.
 
Looks like I was having a brain fart. The "WM trolling battery" was actually a group 27 "RV/marine" battery, the kind that lots of folks say aren't good for deep cycle or cranking use. When I went to the battery store to replace it, I noticed the date sticker said "7/10", which means it was over 6 years old. Not too shabby.

Now I'm trying to remember what I did with that WM trolling battery that I'm convinced I bought a couple of years ago, and need to check the fleet  ???
 
Aye Lou. Actually, Chris has too many boats for me to keep track of  :)
 
Looks like I was having a brain fart. The "WM trolling battery" was actually a group 27 "RV/marine" battery, the kind that lots of folks say aren't good for deep cycle or cranking use.
Click to expand...

That's all a typical "trolling motor battery" is - an RV/Marine battery with a different label. A trolling motor is actually a fairly high amp load, so the usage characteristics are somewhere between classic "deep cycle" and "cranking", even though the discharge/charge scenario is usually that of deep cycling.

What is the brand name on that battery? Walmart's house (private label) brand is Everstart; but they sometimes sell other brands for specific applications.  I've seen Minn Kota and Mighty Max "trolling motor" batteries there.
 
I am on my second and final WM "Everstart" battery.

My current battery (for my TT) is barely two years old and wasn't charging completely toward the end of last summer.
 
This was an EverStart branded group 27 'RV/marine' combo (deep cycle/cranking) battery. Definitely not the slightly different footprint 12V deep cycle labeled as 'trolling motor battery' that I thought I'd previously installed.

Prior to this battery, I'd installed a couple of golf cart batteries, thinking I'd have more capacity for all-day trolling, and batteries designed for repeated deep discharging. Unfortunately, the design of the battery compartment and hatch on the bass boat is such that I couldn't check/top up water without removing the cranking battery and the other golf cart battery. The result was that I got lazy, and the "inaccessible" battery ran dry a few times, and eventually died.

Storms coming through for several days (started last evening/night), so I'm patiently waiting to go fishing. Maybe I should buy a fishing license  :-[
 
I use a 6 volt Battery Minder on a 6 month old 6 volt tractor battery with cables unhooked from the tractor.  After a 4 months, I checked the battery and it was dry as a bone and completely ruined.  Bought a new battery from Tractor Supply.  Very few 6 volt batteries available these days.  When getting ready for winter, I  unhooked the cables and hooked up the battery minder.  After about two months I checked the battery and it was low on water.  Evidently, the Battery Minder is overcharging the battery.  I'm not using it again.

Bottom line.......your problem could be the battery minder.
 
Thanks Larry. I have several BMs, so I'll try hooking up another one and keep an eye on the water before we leave on our next trip.
 
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