Talon killing battery?

[cwalsh]

I bought a 10' Talon last year and installed it on my old boat, as soon as I did I found that my cranking battery would be dead by the middle of the day if I was running pumps, graphs, ect. Before installing I would have no issues in an 8 hour tournament. Fast forward to today where I now have a brand new boat and with a Helix 10si g2n at the console and a Helix 9si g2n at the bow. I fished two tournaments before I could install my Talon and had no issues with making it through the day. I fished my first tournament with the Talon last weekend and found by noon-1 o'clock that the cranking battery was almost to the point where I need to use the jump switch. I turned off the graphs and did some running on the big motor and made it through the day. So two different boats and same results. Has anybody else noticed this big of a change on the draw of your starting batter after installing a Talon? My wiring is negative on the battery, positive on the master power switch and the alarm on a wire in the front coming off the tach.

[Fishysam]

No, something else has changed, amount of livewell pump used go up with the heat? Just put one anchor to each of the tm batteries.

[cwalsh]

It's just a single Talon that I moved from one boat to the next with the same results.

[Fishysam]

Hmm. The draw should be so minor even if you spike down 50 times in a day. Something may be wrong do you have a muti meter? If so I'd unhook the battery from the charger and Tallon and come back in two hours and check volts, then hook up Talon and come back in 2-5 hours and recheck. If there is a drop in volts something is doing something.

[Milo30]

I have seen zero effects on my battery. My FF would run it down really quick so I put all my electronics on a separate battery. Now I only have my engine and talon on the smaller battery. Are you sure your battery is large enough to power everything that you have? I know you said this is happening on a second boat but the talon should have the least amount of draw of anything that you have installed.

[cwalsh]

I hear what you are saying and totally agree. I just found it odd that the same Talon on two different boats had the same results. My boat came with the group 27 Interstate batteries. Like I mentioned I fished two tournaments without it and we caught fish early so the livewell was running on the timer for almost 8hrs and I never turned either graph off and when starting the motor turned over very strong. The next tournament was with the Talon and same deal had a limit early so pump was running on the timer and graphs were left on. It was around noon (7am start time) that I started the boat and noticed the voltage was low enough to turn off both screens and the livewell timer as well. I am going to most likely go to a group 31 but I thought I would check here first.

[Milo30]

Call Minn Kota tech support. It does sound like you have an issue that we aren't experiencing.

[kry29]

I hear what you are saying and totally agree. I just found it odd that the same Talon on two different boats had the same results. My boat came with the group 27 Interstate batteries. Like I mentioned I fished two tournaments without it and we caught fish early so the livewell was running on the timer for almost 8hrs and I never turned either graph off and when starting the motor turned over very strong. The next tournament was with the Talon and same deal had a limit early so pump was running on the timer and graphs were left on. It was around noon (7am start time) that I started the boat and noticed the voltage was low enough to turn off both screens and the livewell timer as well. I am going to most likely go to a group 31 but I thought I would check here first.

I do think you have a problem but a group 27 is not going to cut it fishing tournaments. I got 27s in my new boat and a couple tournaments wore them out because of the drain that got put on them. The cranking didn't last a year and wouldn't even keep my graphs powered all day without any other stuff running.

[cwalsh]

So I did perform a voltage test. First was I unhooked the Talon and took the battery off the charger, turned the master power switch on. 3 1/2hrs later the battery went from 13.01 down to 12.89. Next test was with the Talon after I had green lights again on the charger. Started at 13.16 and ended at 12.86 but I did go a closer to 4 hours with the Talon hooked up. So my final assessment is I don't think the Talon is adding that much additional draw and I just need to get a bigger starting battery.

[JR19]

1000 MCA 800 CCA and 200 minutes reserve run time is what I would look for. To get this kind of power and reserve I would look at a Group 31 battery. Be prepared to spend some $ because a powerful battery with good reserve is not cheap.

[Fishysam]

after your charger shows green and you disconnect everything you need to wait a few hours before getting your base voltage reading as it will be high for a while. neither measurements you have are a point of concern to me, i feel like its just your "small battery" is not new new anymore. i went 12 month on my 27 battery with 4 sonarsnever had an issue, i only have 3 sonars now and l run into power issues as the battery isnt new new anymore.

[cwalsh]

Boat has 7 hours on it so I would think the batteries are still new new. Either way it's not enough so I will upgrade. Thanks for the replies and help.

[Nova Kaw 650]

Boat in sig;
Group 24 AGM starting battery.
2 x Lowrance HDS10's, always on. Structure Scan module, on about 2 hrs a day.
Livewells running all day.
Single 8' Talon, but only cycled 10 times a day on average.
Very little running of the big motor (small lakes).
Big motor always starts. Takes about 5 hours to recharge once at home.

[David Clemenrts]

Have you solved your problem? I have the same issue! No problems until I installed the Talons and I run 31 series batteries.

[flyingwillie]

1000 MCA 800 CCA and 200 minutes reserve run time is what I would look for. To get this kind of power and reserve I would look at a Group 31 battery. Be prepared to spend some $ because a powerful battery with good reserve is not cheap.

You can get those specs I believe on a 27 Interstate cranking battery.....certainly the 1000 MCA because I just bought one. It replace a 2 year old 31 Deka which disappointed me.

[mastergun]

I do think you have a problem but a group 27 is not going to cut it fishing tournaments. I got 27s in my new boat and a couple tournaments wore them out because of the drain that got put on them. The cranking didn't last a year and wouldn't even keep my graphs powered all day without any other stuff running.

I'm curious as to why a 27 is better then a 31 if all the specs are the same?

[kry29]

I'm curious as to why a 27 is better then a 31 if all the specs are the same?

A 27 is not better than a 31. The 31 should have a bigger amp hour rating and I believe a bigger rc capacity. The 31 should last longer under the same amp draw basically