# Starter Battery for Mud Motor



## jonesy16 (Sep 19, 2011)

What works? Lawn mower battery, motor cycle battery, my RC car battery (just kidding).....seriously what cranking amps should I look for and what size, I can't find anything in the Briggs and Stratton manual.


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## charcoal300zxtt (Sep 8, 2011)

Vtwin or single cylinder, what motor setup are you running? I use an Everstart 29DC marine deep cycle from Wal-Mart to crank over a 24hp Beavertail and it works great. Maybe a little over kill but its nice to use the lights for setting up Decoys and such and know it will start the motor.


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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

Any decent 24 series with 900+ cca. Unless you are running something that pulls a lot of amps at a slow rate like a trolling motor etc. then go with a deep cycle. If not any good 24 series battery will work great.


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## jonesy16 (Sep 19, 2011)

Its the 13 HP back water. Don't want something to heavy.

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## walleyeman2006 (Sep 12, 2006)

unless your shoulders shot ....pull it.....no disrespect meant but that's no big enough to bother with bats
if you have to 500 cca will crank that a long time
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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

jonesy16 said:


> Its the 13 HP back water. Don't want something to heavy.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Didn't realize it was only a 13 hp. 

You running any lights or bilge with the battery? What amp charging system does it have?


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## jonesy16 (Sep 19, 2011)

smoke said:


> Didn't realize it was only a 13 hp.
> 
> You running any lights or bilge with the battery? What amp charging system does it have?



I am running nothing off of it. It just has the small starter/generator. Don't know the exact specifications of what it could crank out off the top of my head. It's just for a 14x36, mostly for shiawassee.


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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

jonesy16 said:


> I am running nothing off of it. It just has the small starter/generator. Don't know the exact specifications of what it could crank out off the top of my head. It's just for a 14x36, mostly for shiawassee.


It is probably a 16-20 volt generator. If you are running nothing off from it, a good quality lawn tractor battery will work fine for that application. 

I have a 24 series deep cycle 950 cca mounted in the front of my rig. However, I am running a bilge, bow/stern lights, several 12 volt outlets, twin 2900 lumen leds, an am/fm/cd player and occasionally a front mounted winch for when I think I can go across dry land and trees! :lol: Plus I am rolling over a modified big block briggs. So I need the cca from my battery, if I don't she don't run at all. No pull start options either. Oars and a push pole if you get stranded. Or a cell phone call to the right person with the right rig!


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## woodsman1977 (Mar 5, 2009)

You've got my # T, I've got the right rig and my fee's are reasonable.

Anywhere, anytime....I'm there


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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

woodsman1977 said:


> You've got my # T, I've got the right rig and my fee's are reasonable.
> 
> Anywhere, anytime....I'm there


:lol: I know for a fact you are ALWAYS up for a little adventure by mud motor J! Come to think of it you towed me back once last year! :woohoo1: But not because my battery was dead! She was takin on watta while I held it up to keep from sinking! :banghead3: Dang beer anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Bellyup (Nov 13, 2007)

Since I have a little experience in this arena (Dads owns a battery company) I can possibly speak to this. 

Smoke, the 24 series is far outclassed by the 27 series and the 31 series. When they start cramming in all those plates for cranking amps, you lose a lot of reserve. So if you want cranking amps, that is great. If you want run time, go smaller cranking amps. A 500CA (remember cranking amps are rated at 70 degrees and Cold Crank Amps, CCA, are rated at freezing) will crank over any marine outboard just fine. We sell them for large inboard offshore style boats as well. However, if you have a hard starting engine, you will want some reserve built into the battery. 

For that 13HP I highly suggest a wheelchair gel type battery. These are the same case size as the lawn tractor batteries, case size U1. They have reserve built in and they are also considered deep cycle. 

In development is a new line of motorcycle size battereis that can handle the duties of a small deep cycle. I use one of these in my racing rig to run the CDI. 

To answer the OP question, you can use your car battery to start the mud motor, your tractor battery, or a marine deep cycle. The starter does not care what style battery it is. If you are running accessories, such as lights, etc, a deep cycle will benefit you when the engine is not running, or of the engine does not have a charging system built in. Most do, but I am not sure on the Mud Buddy. Mine does, but it is 29HP.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

smoke said:


> It is probably a 16-20 volt generator. If you are running nothing off from it, a good quality lawn tractor battery will work fine for that application.
> 
> I have a 24 series deep cycle 950 cca mounted in the front of my rig. However, I am running a bilge, bow/stern lights, several 12 volt outlets, twin 2900 lumen leds, an am/fm/cd player and occasionally a front mounted winch for when I think I can go across dry land and trees! :lol: Plus I am rolling over a modified big block briggs. So I need the cca from my battery, if I don't she don't run at all. No pull start options either. Oars and a push pole if you get stranded. Or a cell phone call to the right person with the right rig!


GEEZ Smoke, I'll bet you can run landing lights for a 747 too eh? Teasing! And people biatch at us Shiawassee guys because we mount winches on our boats....


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## S.B. Walleyes&Waterfowl (Jan 10, 2012)

We have a 10hp Scavenger Back Water Mudd Motor and just use a Lawn Mower Battery most of the time....especially when pulling over dikes.


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## jonesy16 (Sep 19, 2011)

Sounds good...thanks for the info, I plan on getting it on the water Monday or Tuesday next week for the first run. Probably will just pull start it for a while....had to put a new battery in the truck. I need to see how this beast preforms. Any break in advice? Run it light for the first 10 hours!?


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## S.B. Walleyes&Waterfowl (Jan 10, 2012)

Only suggestion if its belt driven. Make sure you have the proper number of shims in so the belt is nice and tight.

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## jonesy16 (Sep 19, 2011)

Nope, not belt driven but I do have shims for the cultivation plate that I need to tinker around with. 

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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

The thing you'll want to do with the cavatation plate shims is get the motor to stay down and not pop out of the water when at wot. Long tails will tend to pop out of the water when you least expect it if the cav. plate is not at the proper angle. When you are breaking it in I would run at varying speeds (rpms) for the first hour or so to make sure the rings are seated good. After that run it however you are going to run. I would change the oil and filter if there is one after 5-8 hours. 

Other than that, enjoy flying through the mud and vegetation! Have fun and good luck with your new rig!


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