Hey everyone, seeing a lot of new anglers buying their first electric trolling motors or kayak setups. I want to save you guys from the most common mistake beginners make: Running the motor at 100% throttle.
A lot of people think they need to buy massive, expensive batteries because their motor dies so fast. In reality, it's usually just bad energy management. I recently hooked up some GPS telemetry and a shunt to my setup to show exactly what happens mathematically.
- Full Throttle (The Mistake): The motor pulls a massive 19.0 Amps. At this point, the hull reaches its limit and just pushes water. You barely go any faster, but you drain your battery incredibly fast.
- The 'Sweet Spot' (The Fix): By dialing the speed back just a little bit (losing maybe 1 mph), the power draw drops all the way down to 5.8 Amps.
The result: You save roughly 70% of your battery capacity. That is the difference between having to paddle back to the ramp at noon, and being able to fish for the entire weekend on a single charge.
I attached a short video of the real-time telemetry so you can see the math in action. Before you go out and spend $500 on a giant battery, just find your hull's sweet spot!
What setups are you guys running this season? Let me know if you need help calculating your battery needs.
Posted by PoemRealistic1013