I had plugged the batteries in on my on-board charger and I let them charge overnight. I expected to be able to run them all day. But, when I got to the first dock, I was in for a shock – or maybe I should say lack of shock. The batteries were, for all intents and purposes, dead. As it turned out, one was really dead and it had drained the other so that now both were dead.
We fished a few docks, idling around and using my Power Pole to keep us in one place in the outgoing tidal current. We caught a few flounder, but it was work and it was not fun. I moved back inside the Intracoastal Waterway, found some spotted seatrout I could anchor on, and caught a few fun fish to end the short day.
The bottom line on this trip was that I needed new batteries. Or, so I thought.
I made a trip to the Battery Man – that’s the name of his business, as he deals only in batteries. I complained about the batteries being less than two years old and failing. He checked them and told me there was nothing wrong with them other than they needed a good charge.
I was prepared to fight with him about the warranty remaining on the batteries and to purchase new ones right then and there. But for $6.00 he put both batteries on his industrial charger for four days and brought them back. That $6.00 charge saved me about $200.00!
So, I wondered to myself, just why did these batteries go dead – so dead that they almost reversed polarity? I began checking my boat. The only thing I can think happened would be that I had the trolling motor switch on to the lowest position. My motor needs to be turned up to about 50% to get it going, and then I can drop it down to less than 10% and it will run. If I turn the handle to 10%, the blades don’t turn, but the batteries are being drained.
I originally hard wired the trolling motor to the batteries without a cutoff switch, assuming I would turn the motor off at the handle. I did that because at every point where a connection is made on a saltwater boat, there is the probability of corrosion and failure. Every connection on a saltwater boat is a place for failure. I try to reduce as many connections as possible to avoid more problems. Only this time, I believe I may have needed that switch.
So, I am spending my fishing time installing a trolling motor cutoff switch. It will isolate the batteries from any drain. And, while I am at it, I am installing a cutoff switch for my engine cranking battery as well.
I am very glad my battery man was adamant about those batteries, because I was really going to replace them. They are now charged and ready to fish, and I have $200 to spend on something else!
Maybe it’s time for you to install a cutoff switch?
