need help on how long a trolling bat. lasts

Ive been throwing around an idea for a 3 wheeled bicycle powered by 1 or 2 trolling motor deep cycle batteries. One thing I need to know is how long does your charge last on a 12, 24 and a 36 volts trolling motor in hours. Anything you can give to me like what setting the trolling motors on and how long it lasts is what I need. This little commuter would be to go on runs where traffic isn’t high etc. The little trolling motor I have runs about 3 hrs on a 12 volt charge at around full open. With a chain driven transmission like on a 10 speed bicycle driven by a high output trolling motor battery it just might be what some people need for short commutes. Whats it take to bring a 12 volt deepcycle to a full chage in electricity, 25 cents? Maybe it would go 75 miles on that one charge, Id like to build one and find out. Any help would be appreciated in how long you can run your trolling motors, what voltage they are, what thrust they are and how long it takes to recharge the battery or batteries. Thanks in advance.

Crap Batteries – full draw about 3 hours.

Big Premium Batteries – Trojan – about 6.5 hours on full draw with a trolling motor.

The idea of going 12V, 24V or 36V lets you get more power with less strain on the battery – allowing you to run for much longer periods between charges. I have run my 36V trolling motor batteries for a 3 day weekend in Canada- camping. I never had to run the trolling motor at greater than 3 setting (no wind)

Dog.

I think the trick is, to re-capture any un-used power, from your batteries. I have had an idea, for about 20 years now and I posed the question here, probably about 4-5 years ago, and 1 guy (an engineer) thought it might work, but he was in the process of getting hitched and was gonna pick it back up after his wedding… forgot about it I gues… Anyways, I have always thought about 12V power for, say a fishhouse… a decent 12V deep cycle will last about a day, running just a light and maybe a fan occasionally. I thought, what if you could get a 12V motor, have that belted to an alternator(like from a small car) and the battery powers the motor, that turns the alt, that powers the lights/fan/whatever and the excess voltage, goes back to the battery to recharge it. I know eventually, the law of motion says, the battery will go dead, but is it possible for that to be after 3 days ? Just something I have been thinking about… I actually have procured an alt and a motor… heck I got the battery, just need to figure out how to assemble and wire Any thoughts ??

big G

G! That better not have been a shot at me.

What you describe is a perpetual motion machine. (these always seem to make great sense in your head) Fact is, you can’t create energy at the same rate you use it. It goes against every energy conservation law.

Sounds like you need a solar panel. Its now amazing what photovoltaic cell tech has come to. Much different and cheaper than 5 years ago.

Nope, not you Matt… your not hitched ’til next week I know, the perpetual motion thing is what the other engineer said too (pesky nerd rules )… but I am not looking for perpetual… just extending the time that it takes the battery to drain.

big G

System efficiency would cause the eventual collapse. The motor running the alternator to charge the battery along with accessories would take more out of the system then the alternator could put back in. It would be a balanced system since energy cant be created or destroyed, but you would also have to consider the heat given off from the system from the change in energy from one for to the other, i.e. why electrical appliances have cooling fans. The getting it working isnt the problem, its maximizing efficiency, like with solar panels as mentioned above, they only convert 20% of all absorbed energy. Atleast you probably wouldnt need a heater