I have an 18' Skeeter with a 55 lb thrust Minn Kota All Terrain. I replaced the battery with the biggest thing I can find. I still am only getting about four hours out of a complete charge. It was suggested that I add a second battery. Does the four hours with a brand new battery sound right? It seems a bit short to me. Any help, suggestions, ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much

def. not right unless that motor is just very enneficient and power hungry. what kind of speeds are you running it at and do you know the amp rating for the motor and also the amphrs of the battery?

  Battery is 115 amp/hr. The motor is five speed and I mostly just use it on the two slowest speeds.

If you replaced with the biggest battery like you say then that just doesn't seem right. I am only going on the experience I have had with electric motors nothing as big as 55lb thrust

Are you sure you have a deep cycle battery and not a starting battery?

  Yes sir, brand new deep cycle, 115 amp/hr. I can't figure this out lol

are you charging it right?

Yep, using a 12 volt automatic charger

You need to define 4 hours of use. Do you mean 4 hours of intermittent use at lower setting, or w.o.t. at high settings.

That's a lot of boat to be moving with a 12 volt motor. Get a second battery.

  Basically it's about four hours at the low settings. I just bought a second battery. If I'm not mistaken, isn't there a way I can hook them together. Positive to positive and negative to negative if I remember right?

Yes, positive to positive, and negative to negative.

However I would suggest running JUST on the new battery for one trip to compare capacity.  If the new battery performs significantly better that would suggest your first battery was faulty and should be replaced.

You should be careful setting up your batteries as a 24v. If you motor is only rated as a 12v then you may blow up your trolling motor. I know a buddy of mine that did that and he had to replace his trolling motor and they are not cheap!!!!

JMPO

-Nitroman

  I was told that if I do positive to positive and neg to neg it isn't making it 24 volt. It's making a big 12 volt. If I did positive to neg then it would make it 24 volts. Not sure how true this is if anybody has more...

Yes, that's correct. Positive to positive, negative to negative. All that's doing is tying the two batteries together and it's still 12 volt.

I agree.  4 hours sounds short for low speed.  Do like Ann Marie said and compares the newer battery to the new battery.

And check battery charge before buying it.  If it is somewhat discharged while in the store then it may be damaged.

I just went through the same senario. Turns out the seal in the lower unit of the trolling motor leaked and water got in to the electric "guts" of the unit. This causes an inordinate amperage draw and consequently shortened battery life. Eventually the unit will burn out completely. Most likely right in the middle of the best fishin' day you've ever had.

P.S. The fix cost me $180 for a 70# thrust Motorguide unit.

A 115A/hr battery is pretty low rated, a Walmart 29 series is 205-215 and Trojans 31 series are 225 A'hr Also a 55 lb is pretty small on a 18' boat .

2 Walmart 29 series pos to pos & neg to neg will yield 12 volts with twice the capaicy.

FYI they are $64.99 and have a 18 month warranty.  MAxxMarine is the model.   Replace every year under warranty if ya know what I mean.