Terrova Battery Life

[nicktheww2fanatic]

Quick question for you guys on battery life. I have an 18' Crestliner commander with a 112# terrors 24v. Batteries are group 37. Trolling at full speed I'm only getting an hour or two then it slows Way down. Any ideas?

Whole setup is just over 1 year old.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

[natemoen]

Group 37??? You mean 27?

 

[timsmcm]

That sounds terrible. Could be bad batteries. 2 battery setup like that should be lasting all day. I have a 55lb on a single 12 volt battery and it will last 1 1/2 days.

 

[TNtroller]

What are you expecting if trolling at "full speed"?? If full speed is a prop speed of 10, a couple of hours sounds about right. If you need to go at a prop speed of 10 for your style of fishing, might consider getting a kicker motor or a drift sock and use the OB you have.

 

[tomme boy]

Why don't you add another battery for that 36V motor?

 

[nicktheww2fanatic]

Why don't you add another battery for that 36V motor?

Probably off on the thrust. It is a 24v system. I used to get more life out of it.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

[RiverBottomOutdoors]

2 hours continuous wide open? Let's assume you should get more than this, the first thing I would check is for heat on the wires and connections. This would be a sign that you are losing power. Also, the terrova uses two electric motors...the prop and the steering so that might cut down on run time.

 

[onthewater102]

No - Terrova's are very good on battery management. I've got a 12v setup and it'll go all day on one size 29 battery unless it's really windy, then it'll make it 2/3 of the day. Something is definitely wrong.

Check the voltage on each battery immediately after you're done using them then again in 1/2hr or so before you put them on charge.

 

[rotus623]

I agree, something doesn't sound quite right.

As you said, if it is a 24v system, you got the thrust wrong. I have had 2 terrovas. One was a 55lb. thrust 12v system on a 16' aluminum deep v. It was weighted down with a 75hp motor, 30gallon bait tank, and 2 guys. We would use the motor heavily for catching bait in the morning, and then troll for stripers, sometimes 6-8 hours. The battery never went dead on me.

Next boat I got was a 20' dual console with the terrova that I now own, an 80lb thrust 24v system. Same deal, troll all day long, no issues. I run the motor on 1-4 most of the day, with some spurts on 10 here and there to get onto a breaking school when I have 12 lines with live bait out. That system has never let me down either. I have fished 2 days back to back and still not run into any issues.

All that being said, I have never run full blast for an hour straight. If I were trolling that fast (3 mph) I would certainly get a 4 stroke kicker motor.

According to the minnkota website, the 24v motors require a 60 amp breaker and 36v require a 60 amp breaker as well. I actually have a 50 amp breaker on mine and have never tripped it. That tells me that at full blast the 80lb motor uses just under 50 amps per hour at full force. Now take two 100 amp hour batteries. You have 200 amps reserve, but only want to use 100 amps (do not discharge Lead Acid DC batteries past 50% for longevity). You would get about 2 hours run time at full speed.

Verdict is in! If you want to troll at 2-3MPH for more than an hour or two, you need a gas motor!!!!

 

[nicktheww2fanatic]

I agree, something doesn't sound quite right.

As you said, if it is a 24v system, you got the thrust wrong. I have had 2 terrovas. One was a 55lb. thrust 12v system on a 16' aluminum deep v. It was weighted down with a 75hp motor, 30gallon bait tank, and 2 guys. We would use the motor heavily for catching bait in the morning, and then troll for stripers, sometimes 6-8 hours. The battery never went dead on me.

Next boat I got was a 20' dual console with the terrova that I now own, an 80lb thrust 24v system. Same deal, troll all day long, no issues. I run the motor on 1-4 most of the day, with some spurts on 10 here and there to get onto a breaking school when I have 12 lines with live bait out. That system has never let me down either. I have fished 2 days back to back and still not run into any issues.

All that being said, I have never run full blast for an hour straight. If I were trolling that fast (3 mph) I would certainly get a 4 stroke kicker motor.

According to the minnkota website, the 24v motors require a 60 amp breaker and 36v require a 60 amp breaker as well. I actually have a 50 amp breaker on mine and have never tripped it. That tells me that at full blast the 80lb motor uses just under 50 amps per hour at full force. Now take two 100 amp hour batteries. You have 200 amps reserve, but only want to use 100 amps (do not discharge Lead Acid DC batteries past 50% for longevity). You would get about 2 hours run time at full speed.

Verdict is in! If you want to troll at 2-3MPH for more than an hour or two, you need a gas motor!!!!

Thanks for the detailed response! I'm actually getting around 2mph at full speed.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

[skipper123]

I troll 6hrs at about 1 mph on my 80 lb terrova 24 volt, # 6 copper stranded wire and group 24 batteries. At that time I just adjust the speed or set cruise control to maintain 1 mph for another two hours of trolling. At about 8hrs shes giving up the ghost and loosing speed below 1mph. If your running #8 wire on 10 speed for that long you may need to up size that wire especially if its a long run on the wires. Also make sure you use wire terminals that will handle the amperage your pulling. If their getting hot you have a problem.