how long will my minn troll?

[-Henno-]

Just took my new Minn Kota RT 55AP out for the first time today. I am mainly gunna use it for chucking plastics around the creeks and canals but today Palmy reef was the mission for one last crack at the mackerel. After not turning a reel I decided to tow some yakkas or pillies. I thought 'Why not?' and put the electric into use. It worked a bloody charm. The autopilot for this kind of stuff even out in the blue was great! I could line up between two anchored boats tweek the heading a bit and it grabs that heading and I could virtually sit back and have a snooze.

Thing is this. After about an hour of trolling on about a power setting of 6 out of the range from 1 to 10 the little built in battery tester was showing only one lit block out of four, ie 25% full. I know this is a rough meter but does this mean with the battery I'm running I'll get only 1 to 1.5 hours of trolling? Now to answer any questions I am running a 100a/h massive Geltech battery from the US. It was fully charged. I was not running anything else except for my nav lights on the way out this morning.

The instructions for the Minn says "As a general on the water estimate, your 12 volt motor will draw one ampere per hour". If this is wrong by a lot and it is say drawing 2 amps shouldn't I still be able to get 50 hours trolling out of a 100a/h battery.

I'm off to Awoonga later this year and I'd hate to think I have an hour or so electric trolling before it's back to camp for a recharge or turning on the stink motor.

Anybody running one of these and if so how long are you getting out of what size battery?

Thanks again guys
Mark

[ShaneJ]

The RT55 can draw up to 45amps! I'm not sure where the 1amp comes from that you speak of

[-Henno-]

I got that quote from the instruction pamphlett that came with the motor.

Where do u get 45 amps from? That would make the little wires it came with get a bit warm I think.

[ShaneJ]

This page gives all the specs: http://www.minnkota.com.au/motor_selection_guide.cfm

[-Henno-]

Wow, that explains a lot then. 45 amps is gunna drain it quick time.

I'd still like to hear from some guys about how long they get out of their's though. Should I just get another battery for the extended trolling trips?

[-Henno-]

Anybody with any feedback at all on how long they get out of their electrics?

[Roo]

45 amps at full throttle. less throttle= less amp draw. probably want another battery if doing extended trolling.
I havn't done any trolling yet with mine and the auto pilot has a mind of its own so i can't really help with battery life apart from this.

100 amp/hr battery will not give you 2 hours running at full throttle.

you'll notice the speed/thrust from the motor reducing as the battery voltage drops to about 10.5 volts. this is about when its time to recharge. if you run batteries too low they will sulfate and lead to damage. I'm not 100% on all the facts here as i am no expert but suffice to say you will need to consult a proffessional to work out your requirments.

roo.

[JT]

Mark - when you tested the charge remaining was the electric running? With mine I have found that if I test it while its on I get a reading of around 25%, if you switch off the electric & the auto pilot you should get a true reading. When I do this it usually shows three lights (75%). I run a 80 a/h gel cell battery and can use it for two sessions over a week end no problems.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

John

[-Henno-]

Good point John,

Now I come to think of it, it may have been running.

What's a rough idea of how many hours your two sessions would be?

[BrandonH]

Hey Mooks, the electrics can be great for trolling, I have a stern mounted 40lb Minn and my dad has the same as yours (older model without the metre). in my 12 foot tinny i can troll around at about speed 3-4 for half the day without any dramas (bow mounted 55lb). Dad runs 2 Trojon batterys and we rarly need the 2nd one, they are 130ah. I have 2 amptech 120ah batterys. on one of these in the 12 foot tinny with my 40lb i can put around the creeks nearly all day!! and when atached to the scanoe i can get a full day out of it without needing a paddle!!

by the way what size boat are you running?

Things that make a difference..

Size of boat, the smaller the less power you use.

Current, if your trying to push into the tide/current you will drain the battery very quickly!! Was in my dads boat (4.35 Hornet trophy) on a dam once and were trying to get back to the ramp using the electric. we had about 20-25 knot winds slowing us down and it took the remaining charge out of the battery we were using all day as well as 3/4 of charge from one of mine and that only took about 20 mins!!!!

Battery size, Gel batterys are said to be very good but i think if your planing to troll a lot at Awoonga and are wanting to use it to travel in lu of your stinker (awoonga is HUGE!!) get yourself a couple of cheap 120ah batterys and see how they go.

Cheers
Brandon...

[macca5]

Mooks If the motor draws 45amps per hour and you got 1.5hrs run time you will be down to about 25/30% left in the 100a/hr battery. If the geltech battery is deep cycle then you should run it untill its is nearly flat as that is what these batteries are designed for, they will not sulphate or damage. the life span of deep cycle batteries is rated on the amount of recharges ie approx 500 for a lead acid and double that for a gel battery. Therefore if you charge them at every opportunity you will decrease the battery life. If you have any questions try calling Craig at Alco batterries in slacks creek, he has a wealth of knowledge on these deep cycle batteries.
macca5

[JT]

No worries Mark,

2 sessions would be 10 - 14 hours total, but most of my fishing is up in the canals of the Nerang, so I usually mooch around with the electric just ticking over (level 1 or 2) with the occasional high speed run at level 10 to cross the canal. The boat is only a 4m hornet trophy so it is not affected by wind much either which means less speed changes.

Cheers

John

[-Henno-]

Thanks for all that guys.

My little 3.9m Dehavilland is carrying a fair bit of weight with my huge bulk, the missus, the battery and a 25 merc plus gear.

I don't know whether I am running a 100a/h or larger now I come to think of it. I'll check again tomorrow.

I have not been letting the battery run completely flat macca. The guy at battery world that sold it to me told me I didn't need to. Hmmm. More research methinks.

[-Henno-]

Macca5,

I went to battery world today for another battery related matter and mentioned the fact that you had posted that gel batteries should be run flat to maximise their lives. The woman there disagreed and even rang Alco batteries at Slack creek who backed here up saying that they should in fact be recharged after each use and that running them flat would 'work' them more than they need.

I could not remember the name you mentioned while I was in the house but will ring Craig myself sometime this week to get to the bottom of the 'to charge or not to charge' mystery.

[gogecko]

Let us know what your research says mooks. Im looking into the same thing cos I just got a minn mota too.

Im thinking about running a second battery for it, and the guy at batteryworld said all I need is a 'maintence free' sealed battery that wont spill if its tipped over. I have no idea what gel or deep cycle batteries are.

Andrew