AGM 35ah/12volt ?????

[RIng]

hi all . I am getting a Island Hopper 46# transom mount motor . I plane on running one battery under my seat for the motor . I will put one up front for backup . Can I do away with my fish finder battery and hook it to the AMG 35ah/12volt I have in the front ??? thank you Rick

[sb220]

yes

[john from md]

Yes you can but the color units draw more power. If you want to use just one battery, Universal makes a 55 amp which I use in my Trident with a MK endura 40. The Endura circuitry lets me go all day without worrying about running out of power.

Regards,

John

[perch slayer]

I'm about to get a AGM for my minn kota 30 and theguy at west marine said it would run 6 hours on speed 2

[john from md]

That's probably right since the non endura motors actually waste energy through speed coils. The endura models have electronics that cycle the motor on and off letting your battery last up to 4x more per charge. A 35AH may work for you if you stay in protected water.

John

[Oldbayrunner]

I'm about to get a AGM for my minn kota 30 and theguy at west marine said it would run 6 hours on speed 2

My experience.. I bought an 85ah AGM marine battery which worked ok with my 46# thrust Newport vessel. Here's what I didn't like with mine, first off the AGMs weigh between 50-70lbs or more, mine is rated by the mfg 55lbs. With that weight on my kayak, which is rated for 600 lbs capacity, when I used it close to my seat, along with the motor weight it weighed the back too much allowing for a lot of water through the scuppers, less when I would use plugs. Water would come over the stern when I would land my yak making it more of a pain to bring my yak out of the water because of the additional water not draining out due to using plugs. Mounted up front under my hatch weighed the bow down was not really good in chop making it hard to stear in those conditions, plus allowing a lot of water over the bow. Then factor in the weight of the battery taking it in and out of the kayak is a royal pain. One might get 6 hrs off a charge but from all of my research continuously running a Lead Acid or AGM below 50% will shorten the battery life and I personally wouldn't have been able to get that amount of hrs without running the battery below that. You can use a standard car charger to charge an AGM but it wont charge it to 100% so it would be advised to get a smart charger. Just to mention I do have that new AGM 86ah battery I bought April 1 of this year listed on here for sale. I used it maybe 4 times.

My solution... I bought a 75ah Lithium Iron battery and charger. They are not cheap but for me it was worth going the expense. The lithium is rated from 100% to 0 without damage with the same power output until depleted. The life cycle is between 3,000 to 5,000 which is a lot more than Lead Acid or AGM. I went from 70 lbs to 25lbs in battery weight making both carrying and positioning in my yak much better ( Sometimes I rig it in my bow sometimes behind my seat). I've ran it at different speeds, mostly around 3, continuously for up to 3 hrs so far and not needed to charge it more than 60%. So all in all I am finding this a much better solution for how I have chosen to mount and use a trolling motor.

For those who don't already know if you add a trolling motor, here in MD you do need register it with the DNR.