Power supply for electronics?

[MickD]

Anyone know if there are any problems supplying the depth finders off one of the 12 volt batteries in a 24 v trolling motor array.  Better to have it go dead than the starting battery.

[YUT18]

I would not recommend hooking up your depth finder to the batteries that are connected for 24v.  Once you make the series 24v the thought of them still being 12v should be out of the question.  Recommend hooking your depth finder up to your breaker panel and set your settings to display low voltage warning.  Another option if you are worried about draining the crank battery would be to connect 2 batteries for a 12v series (connect + to + and - to -).  This will give you enough power to run all of your electronics and still have enough juice to crank the main. 

[Wayne P.]

Yes you can get 12V from a 24V system. Just connect to ONE of the batteries.

Did that for over 20 years using a 24V trolling motor on a jon boat.

You may get RFI doing it that way.

Right now I am powering a 12V relay with one of the batteries that powers a 24V transom trolling motor. The relay is used to turn that motor on via a switch at the bow, been doing that since 2009.

[MickD]

4 hours ago, Wayne P. said:

Yes you can get 12V from a 24V system. Just connect to ONE of the batteries.

Did that for over 20 years using a 24V trolling motor on a jon boat.

You may get RFI doing it that way.

Right now I am powering a 12V relay with one of the batteries that powers a 24V transom trolling motor. The relay is used to turn that motor on via a switch at the bow, been doing that since 2009.

I had the trolling motor and electronics on the same battery for 18 years on my old boat, but it was just a single 12v battery.  Worked fine.  But now with a 24 v two battery array I wasn't sure whether I was missing a potential problem.  I'm not sure I want to screw with the wiring.  I'll put the appropriate low voltage warning into the depth finder and carry a jumper cable with me in case I screw up, for at least the short term.

[mooneyes]

8 hours ago, YUT18 said:

I would not recommend hooking up your depth finder to the batteries that are connected for 24v.  Once you make the series 24v the thought of them still being 12v should be out of the question.  Recommend hooking your depth finder up to your breaker panel and set your settings to display low voltage warning.  Another option if you are worried about draining the crank battery would be to connect 2 batteries for a 12v series (connect + to + and - to -).  This will give you enough power to run all of your electronics and still have enough juice to crank the main. 

Not calling you out, but your post is full of incorrect  information.  Not sure if you just used the wrong words or misunderstood the question, but you should edit your post for accuracy.

[YUT18]

17 hours ago, mooneyes said:

Not calling you out, but your post is full of incorrect  information.  Not sure if you just used the wrong words or misunderstood the question, but you should edit your post for accuracy.

A recommendation is simply a recommendation and is not omission of correct information.  I know you can hook up to one of the batteries that is set for a 24v series, but I personally do not recommend doing so.  Keep in mind that my post "recommends" not hooking up to one of the 12v that are part of the 24v series.  I simply stated that hooking up to a breaker panel is one of many methods to use and adding another battery to the crank battery in parallel (not series my bad) is another option. 

[MickD]

2 hours ago, YUT18 said:

A recommendation is simply a recommendation and is not omission of correct information.  I know you can hook up to one of the batteries that is set for a 24v series, but I personally do not recommend doing so.  Keep in mind that my post "recommends" not hooking up to one of the 12v that are part of the 24v series.  I simply stated that hooking up to a breaker panel is one of many methods to use and adding another battery to the crank battery in parallel (not series my bad) is another option. 

I am interested in why you do not recommend it.   What is the risk?

[YUT18]

The risk is minimal in my opinion.  You may experience slight interference if hooking your finder up to one of the batteries.  My personal preference is to wire electronics directly to the fuse panel (located under my console) which is powered by the deep cycle crank battery.  I prefer this for two reasons (1) Saves time; If I pop a fuse while fishing it is easier to reach under the console and replace  v. having to climb over all my gear  just to dig around the rear compartment for an inline fuse, and (2) eliminates the risk of losing electronics; having navigation is important to me, especially, when I'm on a new body of water.  By having it hooked up to the crank battery you will always have power to your electronics, unless you ignore the low voltage warning.  I recently had a bonehead moment and had my low voltage warning turned off on both of my humminbirds.  Needless to say I am glad I had jumper cables on the boat to save my 6.

 

 

[J Francho]

15 minutes ago, YUT18 said:

deep cycle crank battery

 

It's one or the other.

[J Francho]

I think the best solution here (which is what I did) is get a bigger battery.  I also tend to turn my console unit off when I'm not driving.  I can't say that I've ever had a problem running out of juice, running off the cranker.  I recall trying to run off a single deep cycle that was for the troller, and every time I stepped on the thrust button, the screen would get wonky.

[mooneyes]

4 hours ago, YUT18 said:

A recommendation is simply a recommendation and is not omission of correct information.  I know you can hook up to one of the batteries that is set for a 24v series, but I personally do not recommend doing so.  Keep in mind that my post "recommends" not hooking up to one of the 12v that are part of the 24v series.  I simply stated that hooking up to a breaker panel is one of many methods to use and adding another battery to the crank battery in parallel (not series my bad) is another option. 

 

On 6/7/2017 at 7:10 AM, YUT18 said:

  Once you make the series 24v the thought of them still being 12v should be out of the question.   Another option if you are worried about draining the crank battery would be to connect 2 batteries for a 12v series (connect + to + and - to -).  

I understand your point, this was the point of my post.  You can still easily get 12V from  a series 24V circuit.  The second you caught yourself.  Not a big deal.