Having recently been loaned a GALAXY KAYAKS POER34lb
electric trolling motor I decided to do a few experiments in to how
long batteries would last using this motor my idea was not to use
ultra expensive or heavy batteries .
using the motor not to replace the paddling but to augment it say
when your getting back to the start of a drift so you would paddle
as normal to the fishing ground then while fishing use the engine
the idea is that by using the quicker engine it would keep you
fishing for longer in the target zone while out on a day out
i used a variety of things in my
experement
the power meter of the GALAXY KAYAKS
POER34lb
All the tests were repeated
2 times the figures for each time was slightly different but I took
a mean average from each separate test to get my figures
No load experiment
This is done by fully charging the batteries and running the motor
out of the water on dry land
Under load
This was dome by fully charging the batteries and running the motor
on a still water on a kayak at a constant speed of 3 which is just
over half power on the engine
Each run of the experiment was done until the red flashing light on
the charge meter started to flash indicating battery change
needed.
12 v 7ah battery
No load figures are 17.20 minutes
Under load 9.04 minutes
12v 17 ah battery
No load 45.16 minutes
Under load 29.09 minutes
I found this really interesting to see that the 17ah battery
outlasted the 7,0 by almost 3 times as long
so having say a couple of the 17ah batteries could give you 1 hour
aprox of running time now taking in to account tide pressure I
would imagine you would get a full 40 mins run time from 2
batteries in the sea which is a long time if you are using the
motor in short bursts to get back to your drift start