Canoe battery

[Bad Woodworker]

Hi everyone, I am in the market for a battery for my canoe, man theres a lot out there!! Battery's I know nothing about so here is my question if someone would so kindly clarify for me.
Could someone please tell me what "deep cycle and "AH" means in battery's please?
I need something light and of course something I will get some mileage out of. At this stage I am very confused so any advice would be appreciated. Especially if someone has done this very thing and could point me in the direction of the right battery.
Many thanks,
BW
{It is a 54 pounds of thrust motor and will only be used in still dams to get from point to point.}

[m2c1Iw]

Hi BW,
Deep cycle refers to a battery designed to cycle from charged to flat without damage. AH = Amp Hours refers to storage capacity bit like how many litres in your fuel tank. Bit of reading here may assist.

Cheers Mike

[malb]

Hi, I know my way around batteries fairly well so will come in at this point.

AH is a measure of battery capacity. It is the product of the current it can supply (Amps) and the time (Hours) that it can supply the current for, without falling below it's minimum safe voltage. If a battery could supply 5A constantly for 4 hours before discharging to it's minimum voltage, it is classified as a 20AH battery.

However the plot does thicken. Different battery chemistries and constructions are suited to different applications, which is reflected in the C ratings mentioned in the article mentioned above. If the battery is classified as C20, that implies that the AH capacity is tested over a 20 hour period, so a 20AH C20 rating indicates that the battery is specified/tested to deliver 1A for 20 hours, rather than 5 A for 4 hours.

This does not mean that the battery cannot deliver a constant 5A for an extended period, but does suggest that if asked to do so, it may only do so for about 3 hrs, as the accelerated discharge will reduce the overall capacity significantly.

Equally, a different battery intended for short period high current discharge current may not perform to expectation if used to supply low currents for extended periods, as factors such as self discharge would become significant.

For your application, you need to carefully check the motor manufacturers documentation for their recommendations. Then consider your anticipated run times per charge.

You need to run a sealed battery of some sort, most likely sealed lead acid, possibily a Nicad pack or a Lithium pack. Any non sealled pack will contaminate the dam water, the hull and probably yourself in the event of a capsize. It would also be contaminated and degraded should any dam water enter the battery.

Unfortunately, the sealed families all need specific types of charger for each family, and the use of an incorrect charger can degrade performance significantly or destroy the battery.

If you can come back with some info about peak current and voltage requirements from the motor manufacturer, anticipated run times, and time available to recharge between use, I can try to suggest some batteries, chargers and suppliers. As with most things, there is a significant difference in price, performance and life span between the premium and cheapo varieties with these units. I would anticipate that it would be difficult to get decent performance from a battery under about 20kg weight.

[abitfishy]

Agreed with everything said, in particular the weight. Running a 54lb jarvis walker watersnake or similar will need something pretty heavy. If you are you going to set it up for fishing with sounder etc as well that also sucks more power.

I was going to put a small one (even one of those cheapie kevylor leccys) on my OK Prowler Elite 4.5 kayak, but once I felt the weight of the motor, let alone the battery, I decided to just use my muscles, or the things where my muscles should be.

How big & heavy is your canoe - 54 lb is often used for trolling in 4m (and sometimes larger) aluminium tinnys, do you really need this big?