Battery Problems

[GPaquette]

After about 4 hours of fishing with the live wells going my main battery will die. I do run two 10.5" Humminbirds and power poles but I still expect my battery to get me through an 8 hour tournament. Is this common or should I buy a new one. I'll start shutting off electronics if it comes down to it but it's not the ideal situation.

[Skulley]

How old is your battery??  Running all that equipment requires the biggest battery that you can get.  If your battery is 4 or 5 years old it may be time for a new one.  If you do decide to buy a new battery, buy the biggest one you can especially since your running all that equipment.  Bigger in your case is going to be better.


BD                                   

[djkimmel]

What size, brand and type of battery is it?

Are the connections clean and tight?

Is it attached to your outboard also and what size outboard?

[Bender]

I'm running three color screens (two 5" and an HB 997) and they killed my old battery within a day easily, especially with the livewell running. I got a new, bigger battery and it hasn't gone dead in a day yet but it does need charging after a day of fishing when I don't run the big motor much. I think that the big screens and SI must put a heavy load on the battery.

[GPaquette]

The engine is a 250 merc. we bought the boat from D&R Sports and they said it was one of the best batteries you can buy. It was JVD's old boat so he may have burned up the battery.

[fiker]

Check the water level in the battery as well.  Only takes a couple of minutes. 
And water's cheap. 

[SethV]

The engine is a 250 merc. we bought the boat from D&R Sports and they said it was one of the best batteries you can buy. It was JVD's old boat so he may have burned up the battery.

Might be a "good" battery - but what kind is it?  MCA and reserve minutes?  I never trust a dealer if the just say it is "one of the best".  I don't want "one of the best" - I want the "best".

I also run a 250 ProXS and 4 GPS units.  Only battery that is good enough for me is the Die Hard Platinum D31M.  Anything less is toast if I am runnin and gunnin - and in hot weather I like to keep my livewells on constant.

[Bender]

I am running a DieHard Platinum Marine too, but it's just a Group 34 or 29 I think. The 31's don't fit well in my little boat.

[djkimmel]

Get a 31 size battery if you have the big screen graphs. I use a Deka Marine Master flooded (wet cell) 31 and have never run out of juice in a day despite all the extra stuff I run on it nowadays. I use a dual purpose battery so it can start the motor and run my trolling motor once in a while on 36v since I have a 24/36 motor.

I usually run the trolling motor on 24v but sometimes I need the 36v boost. And sometimes I run it quite a bit on 36v putting more pressure on that start battery. Still okay. I can count on it. I like that.