New boat this year keeps leaving me dead in the water

[SandHillEyes]

This would be like me blaming the boat dealership for selling me two cheap grade group 27 trolling motor batteries that wouldn't make it all day using the trolling motor..... I did not expect the dealership to inform me of this, as this was something I had already considered, as should anyone buying a boat. Instead I opted to use them for a year and then upgrade to expensive group 31 agms that would last two days on my own accord. As for running down the starting battery by using electronics, of course it will, they put the minimum sized battery in just as most dealerships do unless you specify otherwise, and no, most don't ask you. To combat running mine down I installed a group 29 and made it a habit of starting the motor every now and then for a few minutes, haven't had problems since. And since a dead starting battery was brought up, this is something a boat operator needs to be vigilant of, the dealership sells you a set-up with no idea on how you will use it or take care of it, and they usually put in batteries on the cheaper end. Its a necessity that you monitor your battery voltage and usage on the water, make sure you check the water in it, be sure its getting charged properly, because once out in the middle of the lake, its your issue, unfortunately. 1 year ago we had some guys on a local reservoir go out with a sub-par battery, one of the windiest days of the year, boat died on the far end of the lake with the wind blowing them straight into the dam and had zero boat control, took about 15 seconds and 3 waves to sink that boat, 2 men managed to swim to shore, the boat owner did not make it... Whatever you do, make dang sure that battery is good and has a good charge.

[Darrenf442]

When i bought my boat they had one cheap *** little battery to run everything off of. 2 sonars, live well running and some tunes and battery was dead after about 3-4 hours. Good thing i was only 1/2 mile from the dock and the terrova took me back. Slapped in a 4th battery and everything runs off it and not off my starting battery. Then i installed the switch that directs the charge to the starting battery first and when its charged to directs the power to the accessory battery. Never had an issue after that.

This may not be what you want to hear , but for a couple hundred bucks you could be trouble free. I could have fought the dealer about it but i figure id rather be fishing then fighting the dealer who was useless in the first place ( my experience ).

[40fish]

Was it a new battery? If it has failed already then there should be some type of warranty even if pro-rated that you could take advantage of. What brand of battery?

I run a single Interstate 31 series AMG 7 battery...AMG batteries are made to handle deep cycle duties along with cranking the main motor. I have been running two Humminbirds Helix 9 & 10SI, oxygenator, livewell, and baitwell all on timers without any issue. I never unhook the oxygenator through the fishing season as it doesn't operate unless you have water in the livewell high enough to turn it on. You also don't need an inline fuse...Read the directions and you will see it has an internal fuse. There is a small light that is on as long as it is hooked to battery. I'm not the average fisherman...I'm on the water a lot with only two weekends this year not on the water since ice off. My average fishing day on the water is 8-10+ hours running electronics. The key to battery life is charge with high quality charger made for the battery type you are using. You have to be faithful about charging batteries as soon as possible after use...

To your thought about the dealer...You have to decided if the battery is a deal breaker or not. I always use caution in these situations because you never know when you might need to go back to them. Maybe negotiate a larger battery asking if they would split the cost with you and install the battery.

[Bobby Winds]

OK, I'm not sure what a oxygenator is, maybe you can give me more details on this later.

But here's my set up for the last two years and I have never had a dead battery.

All of this is running on my starting battery which is a group 24 DEEP CYCLE battery that also starts my E-TEC 90 HO (really a 115 detuned to 90 hp).

Two livewells running on the same pump but hooked up to a timer that comes on every 3 minutes for 30 seconds or so.......this keeps my Emerald Shiners alive and also takes care of my catch. No problem keeping my bait alive and fresh this way.

One HDS7 Gen 2 touch unit at the helm

One LMS 520c unit at the bow which is networked together with the helm unit

One AM/FM radio

One VHF radio

Also the engine is connected to the HDS7 unit via Engine Interface cable to display engine info

All of the above is running when I'm perch fishing and the main motor is NOT running.

I will note that I also have a on-board charger that is ALWAYS plugged in when I'm not fishing. This insures my batteries are well maintained and fully charged for another great day on the water.

I also run the same stuff when walleye fishing either using my main motor to troll OR my Minn Kota Power Drive unit but that is hooked up to a separate 24 volt system. Again, never a dead battery.

[CMesserschmidt]

If memory serves me correct, an oxygenator only has power when the circuit is made. The circuit is made by water in the bait well or live well.

Maybe I am wrong.

[WallyWarrior]

Originally Posted by MACH

If memory serves me correct, an oxygenator only has power when the circuit is made. The circuit is made by water in the bait well or live well.

Maybe I am wrong.

If he is using it for bait, the tank is probably full all day, thus running constantly. I think I would want a switch and have some control of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bobby Winds]

Originally Posted by Mark Komo

I thought now days the GPS was not drawing juice. The old lowrance LCX25HD GPS drew juice. Figured that out the hard way.

Depending on your space for battery storage, I absolutely loved my Perco switch. I had one for starting, and one for electronics & starting. If one was drawn, I just switched the Perco to the other. If I parked the boat, eg, I had on water storage at Buffalo Small Boat harbor, both batteries were off and plugged in. I thought it was a great idea.

The old GPS units had separate GPS puck antennas that required it's own power source and should be connected to a on/off switch so that when you turn off your Depth Finder/GPS unit you could also cut off the power to the puck antennas thus preventing a power drain AND also preventing the puck from burning out. Now with the new GPS units and built in antennas, they are both cut off from power when the unit is turn off. HOWEVER, if you have a NMEA 2000 backbone system you would still need to turn off a cut off switch to play it safe.

On the part of having both batteries turn off while the boat sat in the water could be a huge mistake if for any reason water entered the hull when no one was around and the auto bilge pump couldn't turn on. It would of been better to at least keep one battery on and the boat plugged in so the on-board charger could maintain the battery AND the bilge pump from disaster.

[Darrenf442]

Link for the Oxygenator. I will be putting one in my boat next year.

http://thmarine.com/th-marine-produc...xygenator.html

[AllenW]

""Well now it is musky season, and I ran the oxygenator this weekend to keep my suckers happy. We drifted around the lake for 3-4 hours dragging suckers and what do you know? The battery is once again dead. ""

I've had better luck keeping suckers and any minnow bait alive by watching the live well water temps, adding a bit of ice if needed, in fact I found a Styrofoam cooler worked best, warm temps seem to kill minnows quicker than lack of oxygen.

FWIW

Al

[Bobby Winds]

Originally Posted by Darrenf442

Link for the Oxygenator. I will be putting one in my boat next year.

http://thmarine.com/th-marine-produc...xygenator.html

OK, after reading about this on this website I hardly believe half of what they claim. But if you have a extra $150 to put in your boat go for it. My livewell with timer brings in fresh water every 3 minutes and works like a charm with no dead battery in the middle of the day.