Battery Question?

I have been running through cranking batteries and trolling motor batteries since I bought my boat 3 years ago. I have an 07 Basscat Pantera II with a 200 optimax. It has the same on board 3 bank charger that came on it when it was manufactured. Cranking batteries and trolling motor batteries only seem last about a year plus or minus a few months. Last cranking battery issue, last October I went and bought a big interstate marine cranking battery (one that was coming in the new tritons at the time, I asked a friend who had one for the model number). I have been buying cheaper trolling motor batteries, I bought the academy exide 31 series deep cycle for a while, but have had so much bad luck, i am going to change the the everstartt through Walmart just for the 2 year warranty.

So to my question, does anybody else have to replace batteries once a year or do I have an issue somewhere?

Batteries usually last me 3-5 years. Just replaced some that are over 5 years old and were still good. They were weaker than new batteries but would still get it done. I buy Deka but have run Interstate. I would look into the charger. Overcharging will cause them to go bad fairly quickly.

I use the Walmart brand and have had 1 go bad under warranty. The boat I have now has Interstate. They've been going strong for a couple of years now. If you consistently have short life spans on them then it is something on your end. Do you charge right away after use and do you keep them maintained between uses?

Batteries last me SEVERAL years.

You must not be charging them as soon as you get home. And you also need to leave the charger plugged in anytime you are not using the boat. It goes into maintenance mode. Also, check water levels monthly on the batteries after charging.

I do charge them when I get home, sometimes not right away, sometimes it make a couple days before I remember to plug them in, I also do not check water levels until I have an issue normally. Could be some of my problems. Im going to get 3 new ones, Ill probably go with interstate for the cranking battery again and probably ever starts for trolling batteries and take better care of them. Then if I'm in the same situation a year from now, Ill look into replacing the charger. I appreciate all the suggestions.

Sounds to me your charger is not working properly or doesn't shut off when batteries is completely charged. My charger will shut down completely and when it comes back on, just maintains a trickle charge to the batteries. I leave my charger plug in all the time.

Waiting a few days before you put them on the charger is shortening their life span. Just start plugging in the multi charger right when you get home. Make it part of your routine like chocking the trailer.

How many days are you out on the water? I fish twice a week and am in my trolling motor the majority of the 6-12 hours I’m out there per week This would be different for someone who only goes out once a month.

I have a reminder in my phone calendar to check my water levels every month at the first of the month. Without that reminder I would never think about them.

I got tired of replacing the on board chargers years ago and bought chargers for the troll motor batteries and a battery maintainer for the cranking battery. I just replaced the charging battery after 7 years and my troll motor batteries are 4 years old now. I check water level every other month.

If the charger is not going into maintain once its fully charged it could be boiling the water out of them pretty quick. If you get new batteries, might be a good investment to get a new charger as well, especially if its the charger that was installed in '07. I always replaced my "water" with battery acid, same stuff it comes with. Distilled water in a pinch.

I will start charging as soon as I get home, I normally fish every weekend. I pulled the battery out to take to the store, water levels were fine. It is 1 yr and 1 month old, hopefully they can give me a discount since I just missed the free replacement.

I have a 2011 P2. I was having the same problem with my trolling batteries...not cranking.

The little square plastic breakers going to the battery was the problem on mine. I busted them open and the metal inside them was almost totally corroded. You might check those.

This here. If you do this and still have issues then it's the charger. I'm using all Walmart batteries and get a minimum 2 years on the TM battery's and 3-4 on the cranking battery that's with lots of use.

Although deep cycle batteries are designed to be used for things like running trolling motors, etc, there is a limit to the number of "cycles". That limit is usually between 30-150. Yep, that's a big range. I recommend you find out about your particular battery. That leads to the next question. What's a cycle?

Generally speaking, a cycle is how many times you allowed your battery to fall below 50% charge before you recharged it. If you want long battery life, don't let it drop below 50%. Sure, your battery can last all day long. But, you'll find that a battery that is regularly discharged 80% lasts about half as long as battery that is discharged 50%.

Batteries are NOT as "forgive and forget" as most people think. Deep cycle batteries are designed to provide consistent power much longer than the cranking batteries; however, it's not without limits. These batteries can be abused by, simply, thinking all you have to do is recharge them, and they'll last as long as the manufacturer says they will.

So, make a effort to not discharge your batteries below 50%. A discharge of over 50%, every once in a while is OK. Remember, you have 30-150, or so, of those before you battery will no longer recharge.

That leads to the next question, for a twelve-volt battery, 50% must be 6v, right? WRONG! 50% is 10.5 volts. If you get to 10.5v, or below, that's a "cycle".

I hope this helps.