Quinte Fishing

Hi Guys, great to read all the posts, Jimbo and I are booked again for the fall tourney and look forward to seeing everyone. I was looking for some advise on connecting my 2 12 volt batteries. I run the one with my 55 lb trolling motor and the second off my 140 Evinrude. If the water is calm enough its nice trolling with the electric but then I have to charge it at the end of the day. I was told 2 options from the marina. I could hook up an isolator to the motor and batteries for about $160 including labour or I could connect the 2 myself with a switch for about $20. I was told the isolator will not drain out my main battery so I don't get stranded. Does anyone have words of advise and is it worth spending the extra if I don't have to.

Just my opinion here.......whether your trolling motor is or isn't a 12/24v system I would just have a 3rd battery on board. First of all its always good to have a spare and secondly your starting battery and deep cycle battery are 2 different animals.....the cranking battery is not desinged to be be drained and recharged all the time. Keep is simple.......just have the extra "Deep Cycle" battery!!

Lance

The problem I found with deep cyce batteries was they took as long to charge as it does to drain them, when a low battery alarm went of I would run the inboard for 1/2 hour and a 1/2 hour later the alarm starts again. With an isolator make sure the batteries are in good shape, a bad battery will act as a power sink hole and keep the others from charging.
I would do what your doing now and charge the batteries with a charger.

ya, don't connect the two. if it were that easy (and cheap) everyone would already be doing it.
G

Just go ahead and head into Walmart. Cheap plus a very good return policy. Pretty well every city of any size has a walmart so if the battery ever gives you any problem while on holiday just find the local walmart for a new one. Also solves the charging problem.

Stay by the fire and watch me catch all the fish Patio. Should be easy enough on your batteries...

Jimbo:)

Myself, I had the same problem. I purchased the extra battey and then I hooked it in series, positive to positive, negative to negative. I only have a 12 volt Minnkota and now I don't have a problem running all weekend on the electric. The other thing to pay attenion to is make sure you have a proper charger for deep cycle batteries. There is a difference.

I picked up an automatic charger from CTC.

_________________
Live life as an exclamation! Not as an explanation.

Thanks for all your input guys, its nice to get other opinions before you spend the money. Judging from the posts I think I'll pass on the isolater, it sounds like I could be creating more problems for what its worth. I always carry extra long battery cables on board for emergencies so when one gets low I'll connect them together. I also have a deep cell battery charger, it works good but slow. I hope the fish are biting at the fall get together like last year. I have my doubts though because up to 2 weeks before last years, the fish weren't biting. Then it got really cold and the fish moved in. If I remember correctly the water was about 38 degrees and the following week the bay froze up. On Sunday it was minus 10 out on the water. Lets hope for nice weather and lots of fish. Keep your hooks sharp!! Patio.

Guys,

Correct me if I am wrong. If you connect positive to positive, and negative to negative, the batteries will be in parallel. You will now have 12 Volts with addition of the two current amps available on both batteries.

If you have the space, you can run a 12 volt 55 lber at low to medium all weekend long on two batteries. A good onboard dual changer with 10-15 A output can charge both batteries overnight easily. New batteries every 3-4 years guarantees you have good batteries. Also install a dual Altus battery monitor so you always know the levels of your batteries. Keep battery water levels up and keep battery connections clean. Sounds like alot of trouble. Most of us don't get alot of time on the water. Good batteries systems on you boat ensures you enjoy the time you do have.

Good Luck,

BATMAN