Are Duracell AGM 31 any good to runA 112 ulterra?
has anyone had experience with these? $179 at Sam’s club.
Are Duracell AGM 31 any good to runA 112 ulterra?
has anyone had experience with these? $179 at Sam’s club.
My experience has been to not suggest/recommend an AGM for trolling motor usage. It is a great battery for the cranking/accessory system since it charges quickly and seems to always give voltage like it is fully charged. This is the downfall for a trollingmotor battery. Even though it seems to be giving voltage like it's fully charged, it is discharging as the day goes on. When it is discharged, the battery is dead -- nothing. With todays smart trolling motors they have to have full voltage to run efficiently, so when it is discharged, even though it doesn't seem to be, the trolling motor will start doing strange things. I suggest staying with Lead/Acid for the trollingmotor, or Lithium's.
John
John, you sure seem to know a lot for somebody with only five posts!!!Thanks for everything you do for us, and hang in there.
I'm up to 8 post now. Going to try and get Al to transfer post count, but doubt he can. BTW, I'm hanging.Originally Posted by granite
John, you sure seem to know a lot for somebody with only five posts!!!
take care
Hmmm, on balance I think I trust the experience and wisdom of somebody who's been on the "real life" end of this debate rather than the info offered by a manufacturer trying to sell a product. I have a Duracell (DEKA) AGM running my electronics, and I think they make great batteries, but to paraphrase your signature line, I would submit that J. Jones is your "one good test" versus the manufacturer's "thousand expert opinions". He's literally seen countless real people with real problems and has, by all accounts, done a great job solving those problems. I really don't mean this to sound as dickish as it does, but I'm not going to spend time trying to massage it into something more palatable. It's just another admittedly non-expert opinion.
I had a set of 4 Duracell Group w31 AGM batteries from Sam's, 1 for cranking, 3 for Fortrex troll motor and replaced the cranking battery at 6 years old. I charged them with the 4 bank 10 amps charger that came with the 2008 Ranger Z20 by Duel Pro.
I have been running 3 Duracell agm batteries for my 112 ultrex on an electric only boat. I have fished for 12 hrs without any problem returning to the dock (600 acre lakes) 3 years and still going
Last edited by MJMJ; 09-19-2020 at 12:54 PM.
So there you go... I also used these for trolling on my 112 fortrex. In this case you can use both inputs on the subject, east penn is a top tier battery manufacturer and stand behind their products. This is not your Wally World special.
Benchmark AGM for starting and TM. Compare the specs and warranty. Not cheap.
Does AGM offer any advantage over a regular Lead acid deep cycle in trolling motor use to justify the cost and added weight ?
No mait.
Compare the specifications and warranty.
Do you mean flooded wet cell?
1994 201 Champ re-powered with a 250 HO G2 E250LHAFA 05438419
I would go with what John Jones suggests. His experience regarding trolling motor setups on what works the best is what I would take. Im going with Northstar batteries and ordered their dual purpose AGM for my starting/electronic battery. Like the Odyssey battery they are not cheap.
Here’s my experience. I ran regular wet cell batteries for both cranking and TM for years. I generally needed to replace them every 3 years.
I upgraded my electronics and quickly learned that my Group 24 battery wasn’t up to the task. I replaced it with the Duracell 31 AGM and was so pleased with it that a year later when it was time to replace the 27s on the TM I went with the 31 AGMs. I hadn’t heard of problems using them for the TM and my experience has been good with the Xi5. I have a new boat being built and will be using them with an Ultrex.
I do value John’s opinion but I don’t quite understand what he is saying. I have voltmeters on each of the TM batteries and they show the drop in voltage under load and then they recover when the load is removed. It does draw down over the course of the day.
I also like not having to worry about topping the water off.
2006 Triton TR196 w/ 200 Optimax \ 2021 AlumaRyder 1860 w/ 200 Rotax
This odyssey/east penn comparison has been done before on here. The east penn branded agm31 is also expensive. This is why once it was figured out that east penn was making the Duracell’s and it’s the same battery for a $100 less then the east penn branded ones, “Everyone jumped on the Duracell’s”. I’m confident to say if lithium’s didn’t come down in price, 90+% of all of us would be using the Duracell’s for everything...
Been running Duracell AGM’s for my Xi5 for over 3 years now and recently replaced it with an Ulterra. Batteries are holding up great and hold a charge with all day use.
Yes, we refer to flooded wet cells as Lead/acid, because that is what "powers" the battery.
The AGM battery will definitely work for trolling motor applications and to those that are using them with success, good for you. It is a good battery. What I am saying, due to real world use that I've seen, AGMs (not just Duracell or DEKA or East Penn) will discharge throughout the day, depending on the battery usage. On a Lead/Acid, you can tell it is discharging by the "seat of your pants" as you're having to turn the trolling motor up for more power as you stay on the windy point. This prepares you for a discharged battery towards the end of your fishing trip. An AGM discharges the same, however the thing that makes them great for Cranking and Accessories (the ability to deliver voltage as if it was fully charged) is the drawback of the Trollingmotor side. With an AGM, when you're on that windy point and the battery is discharging, you don't "feel" it discharging, then once it hits a point, the battery is dead -- I mean it delivers nothing. If/when that happens you can't recharge it like a lead/acid. You have to jump it to a known good battery to fool the charger into seeing a good/discharged battery before the charger will turn on and start charging. This is called a slave battery that you jump to. Once voltage builds, then you can remove the slave and continue to charge. Most fisherman will say the battery is dead/gone/damaged/unable to take a charge, etc and try to return it, when it is just discharged. Also, todays GPS trolling motors require a higher voltage to continue to work properly. Remember, on a battery, 12.5 is a dead battery and 12.75 is fully charged. An AGM specs are a little different since it has to charge at a higher rate. Not all onboard chargers will charge at that rate. This is just a few of the reasons why I don't recommend an AGM for trolling. Again, to be clear, I didn't say it wouldn't work -- I said I don't recommend them due to some issues that a trolling motor brings out.
John
Thanks for the detailed information, John. Based on that I will pay close attention to the SOC of the batteries.
Are you familiar with the Dual Pro BFG? If so do you think that it adequately represents the charge?
2006 Triton TR196 w/ 200 Optimax \ 2021 AlumaRyder 1860 w/ 200 Rotax
An optima d31 battery weighs 59.8 #s. Times 4 is 239#s!! Holy crap!! You guys are running 4 of these??? No wonder you can't find the right prop!!
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