What trolling motor upgrade

Yoron · Aug 18, 2024

Just a heads up—Mercury has a bulletin out saying Lithium as a starting battery voids their warranty. I don’t remember what the concern was specifically (my first lithium battery was on my motorcycle 14 years ago).

…and back to the topic of TM’s—I’ve got an old MK 40# foot pedal on my 1542; really want spotlock and remote. For those who have gone 24V, what stands out as the best reason for 24V vs 12V on smaller boats?

LDUBS · Aug 18, 2024

Ray Clark said:
I have my doubts about the issue simply being a deep cycle battery used as a starter battery for a small outboard. My small deep cycle marine battery has been fine for that use, and it's now in its fourth season.

It says deep cycle on the battery case and has a stick picture of a boat on it, fer cryin' out loud!

Age of the battery could be an issue. What I would do: Take it in and have an auto place do a test on it. Or fully charge it at home then let it sit for 24 hours and then check the voltage with a multi-meter. If the voltage has dropped significantly just sitting there, particularly if it has dropped below 12V, then the battery is likely too weak to be relied upon.

I will admit that I'm easy on my battery; the small lakes I fish with that boat are mostly navigated with the trolling motor. The battery is only used to crank the engine maybe 6 times over the course of a day. It's also hooked to an onboard battery charger when I recharge the LiFePO4 battery I use for the trolling motor.

Thanks. I asked because it is commonly said, except for the dual use ones, not to use a deep cycle as a starter battery (marine use). I have no idea why some say that.

airshot · Aug 18, 2024

davidj65 said:
Thanks. I seem to have a hard time even locating a small dedicated marine starter battery. Everything I see is dual or deep cycle.

Look for a small ATV or wheel chair battery or even a lawn mower battery. I have a small wheel chair sealed battery from Amazon that has been awesome for the past almost 9 years ! For a small OB it would be perfect. 12v 18ah and has run my trolling motor I use in small ponds, also runs my 12v boom sprayer for two hours while spraying mine and neighbors yards. Granddaughter used in in her hot wheels for a couple years....much faster and more than double the run time. Used it to jump start my 25 up lawn mower on many ocassions. Best part is, 40 bucks delivered to my door...of course that was over 9 years back but I still see them advertised on Amazon.

Billy H · Aug 20, 2024

UPS man brought me a present yesterday.

thill · Aug 21, 2024

Oooooohhh..... Aaaahhhhh...

Nice...

flatheadsteve · Aug 21, 2024

Billy H said:
UPS man brought me a present yesterday.

View attachment 122360

Your going to love that! I've had mine for 2 years now and it still impresses me. The only thing I don't like is the one button on the remote fob that is instantaneous full throttle. Accidently hit that bass fishing one time and almost threw us all out the boat.

Billy H · Aug 22, 2024

flatheadsteve said:
Your going to love that! I've had mine for 2 years now and it still impresses me. The only thing I don't like is the one button on the remote fob that is instantaneous full throttle. Accidently hit that bass fishing one time and almost threw us all out the boat.

Got it out on the water today. Definitely a learning curve. From what I can tell so far I’m going to enjoy this motor. Nice having it networked to my graphs. I punched a waypoint from my graph in and the T- motor took me straight to it. In spot lock it kept me where I wanted to be but the motor was constantly turning left right way more than I think it should sometimes a full 180 degrees. After I got home I checked things out and found the spot lock gain on ten. Dropped it to two, will see how it does next time out. Thing is ultra quiet.

flatheadsteve · Aug 22, 2024

Billy H said:
Got it out on the water today. Definitely a learning curve. From what I can tell so far I’m going to enjoy this motor. Nice having it networked to my graphs. I punched a waypoint from my graph in and the T- motor took me straight to it. In spot lock it kept me where I wanted to be but the motor was constantly turning left right way more than I think it should sometimes a full 180 degrees. After I got home I checked things out and found the spot lock gain on ten. Dropped it to two, will see how it does next time out. Thing is ultra quiet.
View attachment 122372

Were you using the foot control or the fob? I have completely removed the foot pedal off the boat and solely use the fob now that I'm use to it.

Billy H · Aug 22, 2024

flatheadsteve said:
Were you using the foot control or the fob? I have completely removed the foot pedal off the boat and solely use the fob now that I'm use to it.

I was using both. I was flipping a jig in the pads today for a while so the pedal was a must doing that. I used the fob a good bit as well. That pedal is touchy

flatheadsteve · Aug 22, 2024

Billy H said:
I was using both. I was flipping a jig in the pads today for a while so the pedal was a must doing that. I used the fob a good bit as well. That pedal is touchy

There is a way to adjust the sensitivity on it but I'll be damned if I remember how Lol I want to say it's in the settings menu on the fob but I may be thinking of something else. You may already know this but the battery life indicator can be changed from the 3 bars to a numerical value which Is much better for keeping track of how much you've used. I had it for almost a year before I figured that out lol

thill · Aug 23, 2024

That looks like an awesome trolling motor. Did you find a good deal, or was it standard pricing?

Billy H · Aug 23, 2024

thill said:
That looks like an awesome trolling motor. Did you find a good deal, or was it standard pricing?

Standard price. Pretty sure you’ll never see these get discounted, more likely go up in price. That is untill the next big change comes about.
Trollingmotors.net sells tax free ( unless you’re in Texas) and free shipping. Got mine in 2 days.

airshot · Aug 23, 2024

Billy H said:
Got it out on the water today. Definitely a learning curve. From what I can tell so far I’m going to enjoy this motor. Nice having it networked to my graphs. I punched a waypoint from my graph in and the T- motor took me straight to it. In spot lock it kept me where I wanted to be but the motor was constantly turning left right way more than I think it should sometimes a full 180 degrees. After I got home I checked things out and found the spot lock gain on ten. Dropped it to two, will see how it does next time out. Thing is ultra quiet.
View attachment 122372

I have a MK motor with spot lock or whatever they call it. Mine adjusts the speed needed on its own depending on the conditions. I do not use the pedal on mine as I have heard it can be very tricky to get it to work correctly. The FOB is so easy...

What trolling motor upgrade

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