boat battery question

[goteeboy]

i have a question about battery hook ups in my boat.

i have one cranking and one deep cycle.

 

of course the motor is hooked up to cranking, and i know the trolling motor is on the deep cycle but what about everything else?

such as all the boat accessories like the stuff on the switch board (lighting, horn, bilge) and what about the fish finder, cranking or deep cycle.

 

thanks.

[Roy]

There are exceptions but the general rule of thumb is that everything is powered by the starting battery except the bow mount/transom mount electric trolling/positioning motor.

[goteeboy]

i'm sure there wil be more responses throughout the day, but what's the rationale for that? i ask because my logic (or lack thereof) would think that you don't want to drain the cranking battery lest you end up on the water unable to start the motor...

 

thanks

[lew]

If your outboard motor has an alternator it'll be charging your cranking battery whenever it's running so that helps replace the juice your using while running your accesories, whereas the deep cycle isn't being replenished until you plug it in at the end of the day.

 

Your troll motor could also cause interferrence on your sonar unit too if they run off the same battery.

 

Always a good idea to carry booster cables in your boat incase your cranking battery goes flat, then you can get a jump from the deep cycle to get you home.

[hirk]

Roy and Lew are 100% correct,everything off the starter,always

[irishfield]

Roy and Lew are 100% correct,everything off the starter,always

 

Unless it's a Verado.. which is supposed to be wired with a dedicated battery independent of all other stuff. Mine still has a few light draw things on it.. but not much. The rest are all on the kicker's battery (which also gets charged by the Verado when it's running). Nothing on the deep cycles but the bow mount as mentioned already.

[PERCHER]

I added an extra battery and a battery isolater to run all my acc off of this way I always have juice to start my main motor.Acc include 2 electric riggers fish finder stereo and other junk.The reason I did this is because when I am trolling all day on my kicker nothing is getting charged.

Dan

[skeeter]

they are correct.

if your cranking battery goes dead ,

 

then just PULL START IT....

piece of cake....

and you wont be stranded..

[HTHM]

they are correct.

if your cranking battery goes dead ,

 

then just PULL START IT....

piece of cake....

and you wont be stranded..

But what if it is a 250 merc?? Hard to pull I would think

[irishfield]

Even my 25 Honda Albert... no pull rope and a lot of work to get stuff off to use the emergency rope (and I'm told you'd probably never get it going with that)

[skeeter]

not hard at all to pull start.

1- make sure the keys turned ON

2- put it on fast idle so when it starts it revs up and doesnt stall.

3 -make sure you have your balance and a good stance.

as soon as it fires up there will be no resistance to the pull rope and if your not ready you can can azz over tea kettle--lol

 

ive pull started my 150 merc and my 150 johnson very easily.

some times my 9.9 feels harder then the 150's

 

when you first pull it you will feel the resistance and about a foot of rope comes off and thats when it fires up so all the resistance is gone

immediatly so make sure you have both feet firmly planted---lol

and make sure no one is in the way of the pull rope when it comes off the fly wheel- unless they need a good whipping--lol

 

if your not quite sure then give it a couple of practise pulls while the battey is good, then you will know how easy it is if you ever need to do it..

[skeeter]

irishfield --- you can start that motor easily.

tracker has a 50hp 4 stroke and i showed him how easy it was last summer out in the middle of the lake when his battery pooched..

he also thought like every one else, that it would be impossible.

now he knows ........

all he has to do is call me when he needs it started--lol

[irishfield]

I'm sure it is Dan... but I'll row the sucker before I take the time to tear the top off that thing to get at the pulley. Rowing is good for ya... especially with a 16' steel boat ! lol

 

Some of the newer/larger engines won't start that way. Anything with a computer won't. Verado won't even try to start if below 11 volts to the control circuits.

[2 tone z71]

I'm sure it is Dan... but I'll row the sucker before I take the time to tear the top off that thing to get at the pulley. Rowing is good for ya... especially with a 16' steel boat ! lol

 

Some of the newer/larger engines won't start that way. Anything with a computer won't. Verado won't even try to start if below 11 volts to the control circuits.

Yes I remember my 115 E Tec-hnologicalcrap was like this no problem starting ,it just dident like to shut off

 

Oh my bad the best Batt $ can buy are Optimas dont waste your hard earned dollars on anything else

Edited April 15, 2009 by North East Shark

[Jackie]

I used to run all the accessories off the starting battery, and only the trolling motor off the deep cycle too. But I find that my fishfinder/GPS (Lowrance LMS-332C) draws too much power off the starting battery that if I don't move my boat around often, I might have problem starting the engine up near the end of the day. Also starting batteries aren't supposed to be drawn power continuously for too long, or they may get damaged permanently. So my solution is to hook everything to a battery switch which connects to both the starting and the deep cycle. Usually the deep cycle is all I need for a day's fishing, including starting the engine. But if it gets too low, I can always switch to the starting to crank the engine, and then back to the deep cycle to charge it up using the alternator when the boat is running. This way, I'll always have the starting battery as a backup so that I won't get stranded on the water. I don't notice any interference on the fishfinder by connecting the trolling motor to the same battery.

[MASTER BAITER]

Your cranking battery should not be drained or used for long periods of time as this may damage the battery. Having said this, some would be confused that hooking all your accessories to this battery would be the wrong thing to do. Lew mentioned a great point that the electric trolling motor may, and probably will, interfere with your sonar. One of the things I do is set the alarm on my sonar at 10.5 volts, this way I can start the motor and give the battery a quick charge for ten minutes or so. This will not give the battery a complete charge, but enough to run accessories such as sonar, lights, live well, and bilge pump. Love the site and keep up the great work!!

[Muskieman]

Dedicated trolling motor battery...

for the back and electronics a Marine Dual Purpose is best ... cranking power at the end of the day and an amp hour reserve for electronics..

Marine Cranking Batteries are not designed for sustained 12 draw...

 

RFS

[DanD]

What I’ve done, is to install a two battery, battery switch with an off and both battery position.

That way regardless of what I’m doing, I can switch to what’s required.

If I happen to drain one of the batteries; I can switch to the other or have both batteries on line to get me out of trouble. Also while I’m powered up I can charge both batteries.

I did have a small issue with the fish finder and VHF radio; while using the trolling motor; but a few automotive style capacitors (condenser) seemed to cure the problem.

I connected the capacitors across the power feed and ground of the finder& radio and a third at the trolling motor. The capacitors are cheap and can be had at any automotive supplier. As long as the kid behind the counter, knows what a condenser is; yes I’m talking old school, points & condenser. LOL

Another good thing about the battery switch is that you can shut all power off, when leaving the boat.

The only bad thing is that you should never switch batteries with the main engine running. There’s a chance of a power surge from the charging system; that could hurt the electronics’. There are isolators for the charging system but I never worried about it; I’m almost always the one at the controls.

 

Dan.

[Jackie]

Dand, you can still switch battery when the engine is running; just make sure that you don't go thru the "off" switch. E.g. go from "1" to "both" to "2" or vice versa. If you go thru the "off", the alternator fuse will be blown, unless your battery switch can handle that .

[DanD]

Jc2ho, I agree with you (in part); the slide contacts of the three power positions are very close and you can’t feel or see the momentary break in the connections.

I’ve forgotten a few times and switched batteries, while under power and got away with it.

I’m still concerned with voltage surges; so I connected my lab scope to the charging system's output circuit and tested what it was really doing.

Sure enough you can see a small voltage spike on the scope; kind of like a hiccup on the trace line. The faster you rotated the switch the smaller the spike; but it was always there.

I’m not sure how much of a spike it would take, to let the smoke out of the electronics; so I try my best not to switch batteries with the motor running.

I’m not all that worried about the VHS radio or fish finder; it’s the control module (computer) under the hood of the Honda, which scares me.

Maybe I’m just being paranoid; but its $800. for this box and she’s not going to run without it.

 

Dan.

Edited April 19, 2009 by DanD