Leccie Battery And Charger Advice

[dashe]

Hi Fellow Raiders

I just purchased a jm watersnake bow mounted 54lb motor 12volt.I would be grateful if any body can recommend a battery and charger which is suitable.Also any advice or sites with recommended reading on the topic.

I believe a deep cycle battery is prefferred and discharge below 50% is not recommended but are not sure of specifications.Also can i run my sounder and lights off the same battery.

Thanks inadvance Dashe

[a boat]

Good Morning Dashe, get yourself at least a 90Amp/HR deep cycle battery ( from about $220 to $400 depending on style-less with Fishraider discount) and if you are extending the factory fitted power leads make sure you use the same size or bigger leads. The fitting of the unit will be easy for a home handyman with a few tools and yes your electronics will work fine off the deep cycle. Deep cysle batteries can handle full discharges and recharges better than a cranking battery and they are designed for the type of use an electric outboard needs.

You can buy on board chargers, or use a voltage sensitive relay that charges the cranking battery first and then sends the outboard charge to a second battery-this is the best way in my opinion and at the end of a big day on the water running your leccy all day. just get yourself a 240 volt charger and put battery on charge overnight.

Cheers,

Huey.

[troutboy]

Hi guys, I just put one of the J W lecky motors on laybuy this morning and am in the process of looking for a suitable battery to power it. My motor will only be fitted to a canoe for trolling purposes and I was wondering seeing as a canoe is much lighter than a tinny would I still need such a big battery? Picked up the lecky for $270 for a 44lb thrust unit, cant wait to get it on the water. Any advice on battery and charger to suit my intended purpose will be much appreciated cheers troutboy

[a boat]

Hi Troutboy, get yourself the lightest deep cycle battery you can source. We have fitted a few very light batteries to race boats and they are fully sealed gel batteries that work great, though they are deaer than traditional batteries. If you are in Sydney try ringing Apollo batteries on 9674 6322 and asking the guys there what would be the best battery for your application and then we can order that battery. As for a charger get a good qualtiy one from Repco or the like and you will be fine.

Cheers,

Huey.

[troutboy]

cheers Huey, will do. troutboy

[Davemmm]

Is it better for a battery's life to re-charge with a full blown battery charger or simply keep it topped up with a trickle charger.

I am a sparky but it has been a bloody long time since i went to tech.

Also does anyone know what size fuse to install with a 44lb watersnake?

Dave

[Nolongeramember]

Is it better for a battery's life to re-charge with a full blown battery charger or simply keep it topped up with a trickle charger.

I am a sparky but it has been a bloody long time since i went to tech.

Also does anyone know what size fuse to install with a 44lb watersnake?

Dave

Hey mate. I have a 55Lb Minn Kota and it uses a 50Amp fuse. This should be fine for your Watersnake.

I dont think it makes a lot of difference to the life of the battery which way you charge it as long as you dont go too high on the amps. For a 100Amp/h battery charge at no more than 10amps. For 90Amp/h- 9amps and so on. You can trickle charge aswell but this will take forever on a half flat battery.

[Davemmm]

50amp fuse sounds a bit big.

given that I got mine at a great price and it was the last one in the store I couldnt argue when it didnt come with a manual. Did your paper work recommend a 50A fuse?

Dave

[Nolongeramember]

50amp fuse sounds a bit big.

given that I got mine at a great price and it was the last one in the store I couldnt argue when it didnt come with a manual. Did your paper work recommend a 50A fuse?

Dave

I cant remember, Ive had mine for about 3 years now but I just checked the instructons and they dont actually say anything about using a fuse

Although it does say that it will approximately draw 1amp per pound of thrust on full power. I would have used this as a guide and put in a 50amp.

[squizzytaylor]

50amp fuse sounds a bit big.

given that I got mine at a great price and it was the last one in the store I couldnt argue when it didnt come with a manual. Did your paper work recommend a 50A fuse?

Dave

The recomendation from JW is a 50 amp fuse for the 54lb so the 44 should be around 40amp, Watch the big amp fuses, they are available but for about $13 you can pick up a 50 amp circuit breaker from most marine places. The fuse I had in my boat kept blowing and we tracked the issue down to the fuse "hot spotting" where the fuse doesnt actually blow but the heat generated internally causes the solder in the fuse to melt and break circuit. Watersnake were aware of this happening and made the recomendation to go for the 50amp CCB.

cheers

GT

Edited August 28, 2007 by squizzytaylor

[Guest DV8]

I am not a sparky and I know sweet FA about electronics, however I was told by someone who I believe does know, that a normal trickle charger will not suffice.

It never really completely charges your battery. It was suggested to me to get a 6 stage charger, although due to the cost i haven't done so.

I am also told that the battery will last heaps longer (in terms of years) .

I am sure there are a few teccies that can shed some more light on the subject.

davo

[Boban]

I've got two 225Amp 6volt deep cycle batteries wired in series (Gives you 12V). Total cost about $440. They are US Batteries (US2200) and are used for Golf Karts and a lot of battery powered construction equipment like scissor lifts.

It is pretty hard to drain them. I used them over consequtive days without even a hint of needing a recharge.

I also bought a 15Amp Matson charger ($275). Goes from Bulk charging to Absorption charging to Maintain charging automatically. You cannot harm your battery with these types of chargers like you can with an unregulated charger.

I dont use fuses, but rather a circuit breaker. Murphy's law will ensure that one day you dont have a fuse. With a circuit breaker, you just flick the switch over. Too easy.

[traysexy]

g'day,

as with charging batteries, it is ideal to charge a Sealed battery to approximately 10% of it's capacity and not to give it too much current. Too muhc current, and being sealed may cause the plates to pop, because there is no exhaust for the gasses to escape which is a concern for ANY BATTERY BEING CHARGED!

As stated, if you have a 100amp battery, then 10amp charge would be great.

With a 6 Stage charger, it is exactly that, it will pump it's total capacity [charger dependent], and then in 6 stages when the battery is getting close to full, switch to trickle.

If you can, get a charger that is close to 10% of the batteries capacity.The battery will last longer because there is no sulpheration build up that can occur when you are only 'topping' up the battery.

As most poeple know, just make sure that your charger does switch to to a trickle cause you don't want that hundred dollar battery being useless in the first season.

ta,

pete:)

[pelican]

I've got two 225Amp 6volt deep cycle batteries wired in series (Gives you 12V). Total cost about $440. They are US Batteries (US2200) and are used for Golf Karts and a lot of battery powered construction equipment like scissor lifts.

It is pretty hard to drain them. I used them over consequtive days without even a hint of needing a recharge.

I also bought a 15Amp Matson charger ($275). Goes from Bulk charging to Absorption charging to Maintain charging automatically. You cannot harm your battery with these types of chargers like you can with an unregulated charger.

I dont use fuses, but rather a circuit breaker. Murphy's law will ensure that one day you dont have a fuse. With a circuit breaker, you just flick the switch over. Too easy.

The boys at the local golf shop should be able to help with quality chargers advice as they supply many and they are all for deep cycle batteries. They probably have a few second hand ones from the older larger battery buggies which were good old chargers. Make sure you get a "smart charger" that goes automatically to maintainance charge after fully charging your battery and that way you can connect it up and forget it without worrying about overcharging , cooking it or sulfating the plates whick all will reduce it's life.

Caravan blokes and camper trailer blokes know their batteries and maintainance as well so you local 4 x4 shop if they speciaise might have decent chargers.

Don't buy a cheap nasty charger if you buy an expensive battery.

Pel