electric trolling motors daft questions

[corsican dave]

i'm finally looking at a minn kota endura c2 30 motor for my canoe.

i'm thinking i will need a 85ah - 110ah deep cycle battery (leisure battery). am i right in thinking i'll also need a specialist charger for this? ideally i'd like something that could re-charge the battery overnight. is this realistic?

any recommendations for batteries & charger? i really don't want to spend a great deal of money (i've just taken a 30% pay cut) but i'm also well aware that you get what you pay for

what would you go for on a tight budget?

[Bobfly]

Dave,
I have a Minn Kota (ex Fred) and I bought the battery annd charger from Tayna who are very good to speak to and big suppliers of "leisure" batteries which are the deep cycle type you should use as you say. One at 110 Ah would take you for miles. They do chargers and all sorts including the "quick release" clips for the motor leads if required. They would do an Enduroline 90Ah for about £88. The Swedish made Ctek conditioner and charger is about £60. It all adds up 

https://www.tayna.co.uk/leisure-batteries/

[corsican dave]

yep, it's a fecker eh?  :roll:

[arawa]

I have 110ah deep cycle batteries as house batteries on my boat. I can hardly lift them! There are lighter versions - which usually means they will last fewer charge cycles but even these are heavy.
But a canoe is so easily driven I would be surprised if you need anything as large and difficult to handle. I suggest trying first a small lighter cheap (second hand or borrowed?) leisure battery (good price at Go Outdoors) and see if it gives you enough range before spending on a 110ah heavy duty battery. If it turns out you do need a more substantial battery I have had good experience with golf cart batteries (bought from Tanya). I use a Ctek charger but equally good is an identikit version from Lidl which performs as well at £15 instead of £70 for similar size. A small Ctek (or similar) will not fully charge a largely discharged 110ah battery overnight and a large one is expensive.
I have learned a lot about batteries on my boat!!

[Highlander]

I do not see why a standard 12v battery charger from Halfords would not do the job. Around £20 if I remember right I bought mine from there last season but have only charged my battery once. Halfords do the quick release clips. The clips on the Minn Kota will not fit a UK battery as I found out when I bought mine last year.

Tight Lines

[Lochan_load]

Alan you should give it a wee charge now and again or it will gub up, they don't like being left inactive as I've found out  :roll:

[Bobfly]

I was told by the Tayna battery folks to use a conditioner charger for best life for the battery, and keep it topped up.

[corsican dave]

thanks for all the advice, folks. i've decided to suck it up and get a 10A charger on the advice of someone else who uses it for the same purpose. not cheap at £60, but will charge the battery overnight. come the summer, if we have one this year, i'll expect to be out at least two or three nights a week so i think it'll be worth it in the long run

[Lochan_load]

Might be worth giving John part time a shout for advice on batteries dave, the estate have quite a few for different things so he might be well placed to say which ones are the best, most reliable etc

[johnsd]

Ctek is the charger I use very slow charge suits me gives me 6 hours on 14 ft boat 90 amps battery use it three times a week during the season