starting battery woes

so i have 3 year old starting battery. 1100 cca and 175 reserve.

never left me stranded always charged after fishing.
i have a talon, nmea network. point 1 .

and this year i sold lowrnace g3 touch9's and added panoptix ps22. garmin 1222 and 922 . and garmin fuel flow and a minnkota dc charger.

i am now having battery problems. after fishing 3-4 hours no pumps on i get low voltage of 10.8 my garmins. i crank my opti and it turns over very slow but starts. have to idle motor 30 mins then in an hour low alarm again.. i pulled fuse for minnkota dc charger thinking it was sucking juice from starter in trollers with key off . amd it still runs down

had battery tested at battery shop. shows 1000cca with 40 amp load and 1180cca no load.

after i tested for excessive am draw and amps tested my connections. and im drawing 4.2 amps with graphs on.. 5.2 pumps on timer. is that enough to draw cranking battery below 11 v

i tested in between positive leads and battery post.
was i supposed to test ground?

motor alternator charges 14.8v no load.. everything on including dc charger 14.2.

do a need a new battery or consider going with 2 batteries ?

Just based on age and the fact you live in Canada where we have bad winters I’m going to say the battery is shot. Unless they are meticulously cared for over the winter it’s hard to make them last. I’ve had like 2-3 batteries do the same deal. Crank the motor great for a few hours. Then the graphs drag her down and after 4 hours I’m dead. That durcell 31 agm from sams for less than 200 bucks might be worth a shot. Battery issues suck bad and it sounds like nothing has changed as far as motor or onboard charger In the system. If this was me I would buy a new battery.

Have you been topping off the water regularly?

ya water is topped up .and boat stored in heated garage in winters.

Dang these RC numbers. In the olden days I'd figure you took 20 AH out of the battery and if it had 120+ AH you'd be fine.. Now we have RC numbers. Since you have the ability to add water I presume it's not an AGM battery. I attribute AGM technology is a quantum leap forward for a starting/deep cycle battery which it is, no?

Quote:

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i tested in between positive leads and battery post.
was i supposed to test ground?

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Either, as the reading should be found to be the same at both places.

ya not an AGM. my batteries are right on transom. they dont bounce a lot.so i didnt see the need for agms. i fish 75-80 days a year and my trolling batteries have lasted 5 years still strong. i recharge them immediatley every outing.

i brought it in to a battery/solar place i got it from they tested and battery tested same as a new one.i didnt test pumps in water so im probably closer to 9-10 amps draw.
after talking with them
i eneded up adding another deep cycle. and a 4 position 1,2 1&2 and off switch. to chose which is connected to motor.
i connected minnkoat 330d charger and all pumps graphs and talon to deep cycle. cranking battery is just motor and power for minnkota dc charger.

This should Alllow me to never have a no start or cranking issue. since cranking battery only does cranking.

2 day pre fish and 2 day walleye tourney. system worked great. used talon a ton. pumps and graphs all day. 7-4 . never had an issue. its only a small deep cycle a grp 24 but worked awesome.

Good job. Sounds like your original battery was not adequate for the job, but it should have told you that when it was new too.

I have added quite a bit since last season.. biggerscreens and more accessories. and onboard dc charger.