Smart Marine Battery Box
The Newport Vessels Smart battery box has been a great addition to my fishing boat accessories. You may think that a smart battery box is not useful. however, I have found it to be a pivotal part of my fishing gear. in the past, I’ve been in some situations that truly required a battery box but I was a kid and you know how kids are.
Since you are here you are obviously interested in protecting your assets. a battery is a volatile object and it should be safeguarded at all times. In this blog post, I will go over all the fine details that come with owning a marine battery and a marine battery power center.
Newport Vessels Smart Battery Box
I purchased this battery box for my inflatable boat and trolling motor. It has excelled my expectations and continues to go strong.
What Is A Battery Box Used For?
A battery box has one simple attribute. This is to protect the outside world from the battery that is on the inside of the battery box. In the past batteries used to be vented IE open to the air. this allowed a different type of oxidation to happen and also for spillage. Even with a closed battery, you can still have leakage at the end of its life.
I personally had this problem when I was a kid and I had a 12-volt battery in the back of my 1992 Chevrolet Blazer. One day I went to get the battery and underneath was no carpet. Let’s just say that wasn’t the nicest surprise I’ve received in my life.
Do Boat Batteries Need To Be In A Box?
If you read above you would know that you definitely need a battery box for your marine battery. If you’re as foolish as me when I was a kid you may end up with no carpet in your vehicle as well. Another danger is that the corrosion and leakage will somehow get in your food your hands, your eyes, and your face. This is even more dangerous if you have children around. Always do your best to safeguard yourself and your family.
Portable Power Box
Minn Kota Trolling Motor Power Center
Most fishermen that own bass boats or ocean boats will have a compartment that will hold a battery. This will not require a marine battery box because the compartment is the Box. If you have an open air boat like my inflatable boat that it’s different. The battery is exposed to the environment and two other people which makes it a safety hazard. When I talk to a local Marine police officer they didn’t mention that this was a regulation. However, it is better to be safe than sorry.
How Do You Know When A Marine Battery Is Fully Charged?
There are several ways to know when your marine battery is fully charged. the easiest way is with a marine battery power box that has a charge level indicator. this will allow you to see pretty close what the level of charge is. The best way to figure it out is with a battery charger.
Schumacher SC1360 Battery Charger
Making sure your deep cycle batteries are charged is extremely important when you are out on the water or want to increase the longevity of your purchase. Schumacher provides you will all the options you need.
This will give you an approximate level of charge while you’re actually charging the battery. Remember to charge your battery every couple of months if you aren’t using it. if you are using it try to charge it a couple of days before if you go out on the water.
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Marine Battery Power Box – Group 27
When I was looking for a Marine battery for my marine battery power box I chose a group 27 version. this is the highest rated version for the Newport Vessels smart battery box. what are the best parts is the fact that only cost around $100 for a battery of this size from your local retailer.
Let it be known that not every Marine battery is of the same caliber or quality. I would do diligent research on the different brands and how well they have performed and charged overtime. You should also figure out how well they contain themselves before they eventually will leak out.
newport vessels marine battery box
Interstate
I personally went with the Interstate Battery. I did my research and I figured out that this battery was the best one I can find in my local region. I have some choices from some overseas brands or places that sell Auto Parts or Interstate Battery Plus battery center.
The cool thing about interstate is that it has a battery plus Center that only sells batteries. I haven’t seen a place like this since Radio Shack. everybody knew what they were talking about and we’re very happy to help you. I also like to be very cautious because I only have a trolley motor for acceleration. Therefore, I bought two group 27 batteries. Why did I do this? I don’t like to get caught out in the weather or in the middle of the water with nothing but a paddle. I simply don’t like paddling because I went out to fish not to get a workout.
Duralast
Duralast was a company that I saw at the AutoZone. They are probably sold at other Auto Parts stores. when I did my research online I found that many people were not happy with Duralast batteries as a whole. In particular, people were really upset with the car version. the marine battery version didn’t have too many reviews but the ones that were there were not good.
For the simple fact, I did not go with this company. It was going to be about $15 cheaper per battery for this option. If you have experience with Duralast and you should probably try them out. I personally am enjoying my Interstate Batteries and they have been performing quite well.
Others
There are some other brands that you can find in local retailers like Wal-Mart and BJ’s and Etc. However, I tend to not like these brands at all because I don’t know what kind of service and quality they provide. For the most part, they come from places like China or… actually maybe just China.
I tend to like to go with products that have some kind of track record no matter where they came from or people simply are the cheapest. fortunately, your battery is not where you want to keep out. It will leave you stranded if you choose to save money instead of thinking about the future. If so your future will be you paddling several miles back to shore.
My co-workers laughed when I said I was going fishing on a work day…But when they saw my catch of the day!
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Components
There several cool components to the Newport Vessels Smart battery box for trolling motors. Will you think about a smart battery power box you were thinking that maybe this is only made for fishermen. You will find that there are several things for the everyday person to use when they’re out in the water doing whatever. what are the coolest things that the fact that it’s really easy to use and to figure out.
The only thing that they don’t talk about is how to plug in the terminals. So let me give you a very quick tutorial on that. the positive Port is red. this port has a plus symbol on it. the plus means to add and when you’re adding a line to the battery this is the one you do first.
When you’re removing the trolling motor from the battery you want to minus. the minus symbol is only negative Port which is black. this is the part you want to remove first. and she can see you never want the negative black port connected without the positive connected as well. If you end up touching the red Port when only the black Port connected to the battery you will become part of the loop. Please don’t make this mistake.
newport vessels marine battery box
Charge Level Indicators
The charge level indicator on the smart battery box is done in 25% intervals. This allows you a very quick view of the charge level of your battery while you’re using it. If the light is solid you’ll know that it has 100% of that 25% remaining. If the light is flashing you know that that 25% has less than 100% of it filled.
For example, when the 75% light is flashing that means that you have somewhere between 50% and 74.9% battery life remaining. This type of education will continue until you reach 25% flashing. I personally got to slow and it did start flashing at 25%. You will notice that this percentage will change based on the power level that you are trolling motor is pulling on the battery. The smart battery box is making an estimation of how long it will last at that current amperage.
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12V Battery Box With USB
What are the coolest things that the battery box has is a USB port. If you are carrying your smartphone this is very important. Not really cool when you’re on the water and when you need to make a call or text or check your email or whatever and you want to have power. Find a power bank for your phone can’t be a nice way to extend life but you have a battery sitting right next to you. So now you’re able to utilize that power not only for the trolley motor but for other accessories like a phone and other things said you’ll see below.
12V Accessory Port
The 12-volt accessory Port is something that you’ll use it for you have a sonar unit for your fishing boat. I can’t really think of anything else that would use this port but I’m sure there are some accessories you can buy for a boat that you can utilize as well. You could possibly have an inverter and then plug that into a computer or a DVD and CD or HD TV and watch the game. I feel like I’ve seen this on some TV show when somebody did something like that but that’s up to you to try.
newport vessels marine battery box – usb and 12v accessory port
10 Amp / 60 Amp Breaker Switch
There are two breaker switches on this 12v battery box. The 10 amp breaker switch is made for the USB and 12-volt accessory ports. the 60 amp breaker switch is made for the terminal Port where are your trolling motor is connected. If the breaker switch is tripped and it finds out that the voltage amperage is above the regulated levels it will turn off the ports.
This is very important if you want to maintain the life of your products. It will not only help the phone that’s plugged in there or the Hummingbird sonar unit but it will also protect the phone and the hopefully Interstate Battery that you have purchased.
Vent Ports
It’s important that a marine battery box has vent ports installed on them. Every single battery has a tiny bit of off-gassing even if it’s a close battery. It can happen over a long period of time. If these gases are allowed to build up it could cause damage not only to the marine battery box but also to the battery itself. That is why most 12-volt marine battery boxes are created with those ports in them.
Colored Terminals
The terminal ports on this battery box are color-coded as they should be everywhere. It’s important that you not only see the plus mark, but also the color of the terminal when you’re working with. if you can’t tell positive from negative you could be met with a very troublesome problem.
Thankfully this is all regulated by the US government and you shouldn’t have to worry about whether this is available on the product or not. Just remember the process for hooking and unhooking your trolling motor to your Marine battery.
newport vessels marine battery box
Strap
You’re a Newport Vessels smart brain box for the trolling motor that comes with a handy dandy strap that keeps the battery packs together. The strap is connected to the top and the bottom with nice little guides. If you’ve ever bought a cheap battery box before you’ll notice that they don’t have these guys. If they do have the guy to have the screw them into the battery box which does two things I don’t like.
One of those things is the fact that you have a hole in your battery box so if it does feel you could still leave stuff outside the battery box. To you incorporating screws into the bottom of the battery box which may cause the battery to be punctured. Obviously, these two situations aren’t the best so I choose to use one that doesn’t have screws in it and has the guys already provided
Non-Slip Feet
Having non-slip feet on a battery box can seem underrated. If you have a boat floor that is really slippery like my aluminum floor and my inflatable boat this is a great thing. The non-slip feet will grip the aluminum and not move no matter what happens in the boat. This is important so it doesn’t slide under the seats and hit me in the ankle or anybody else which is obviously a hazard. Also this prevents it from moving so doesn’t rip the cables out of it that are connected to your trolling motor or your phone or any other type of device you have credit to 12-volt accessory port.
12V Battery Box Waterproof
Newport Vessels does state that their battery box is waterproof but we know that I has that ports. so what is this mean waterproof when it comes to a marine battery box? fact of the matter is if water spills on top of your marine battery box it shouldn’t be allowed to affect the function and performance of that battery and the other electronics that are in the power center. So if water splashes on my smart Power Center for trolling motors it will not affect the USB port, the 12-volt port or the trolling motor.
This makes common sense for a marine device to have this kind of feature. You’ll even noticed that the trip switches are covered in plastic so nothing can damage them so that they function correctly when they need to. This is another reason not to put holes in your battery box because you never know when you might be half thinking and you need that battery to function so you can least go forward fast enough to reach the shoreline before you’re at the bottom of the lake or river or ocean.
newport vessels marine battery box
Issues
USB Port Not Always Functioning
Turn the video review that you saw above I had a small problem with the USB port not functioning. Just before that I plug this in and it did initiate connection with my iPhone 10. it was working just fine and charging for almost an hour but the next time it didn’t work so well. Sunset point in time I haven’t tried it again because I hadn’t found need to.
I will be a little cautious with using the USB port because it does have a limitation on its effectiveness. Nothing is really effective every time but I expected a little bit more quality from Newport Vessels when it came to their USB port and 12v port. The fact that you have to turn on the port by pressing the button is part of the problem that I am seeing. However if you choose to buy one you may not have this problem.
Top Speed May Melt Lead Wires
There were many reports that the wires and terminal leads were being melted when using your trolling motor at top speed for extended amount of time. I tested this out on the Concord River in Concord Massachusetts for about an hour and a half at top speed.
I will say that the ports we’re A little warm and the wires were warm as well. I didn’t notice any melting or frame or things breaking but I do know if I would have gone three hours at that speed something bad might have happened. So I will say you shouldn’t run your trolling motor at top speed for over an hour with this smart battery box.
If you give it a little bit of rest in between these efforts you won’t have any problems. I continue to use this as my main smart battery power center for my trolling motor to this day. I do have a very cheap battery box that doesn’t have any Electronics on it and that is my backup. I have used it to connect directly to the battery in that obviously works perfectly fine at any speed. The wire leads for your Charlie motor are much thicker and higher quality than the ones that are inside the Newport Vessels smart battery box.
newport vessels trolling motor marine battery box being used in an inflatable boat
Conclusion
From using this Newport Vessels Smart battery box in Massachusetts on rivers and lakes and ponds I’ve come to the conclusion that is a great battery box for the everyday Fishman. If you have an open air boat like a Jon Boat or an inflatable boat this could be your next battery box.
I will state that you should get a high-quality 12-volt marine battery that is group 27. You don’t ever want to under size your marine battery. You don’t have to get to like me but if you get a small one and you find that you needed to go on a longer Excursion you will be out of luck. To go with the big battery and with the smart battery box.
Please tell me how you feel this Newport Vessels smart battery box review went. Is this the type of review that you’ve been looking for when it comes to fishing gear? Do you have any suggestions on what could be done to improve this review? You’re always happy to have positive criticism when it comes to our work.
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