TNReb Posted April 9, 2018 Posted April 9, 2018 I've recently purchased my first boat, so please forgive the ignorance... I have two batteries for the trolling motor, and another crank battery. My LED deck lights and LED black lights are hooked to the trolling motor battery. I have a Solix 12 hooked to the crank battery. I rarely fish all day. 8 hours is a long trip for me. Should I consider moving the Solix to the trolling motor batteries, or add a 4th battery? I went out for the first time with the Solix today. After about 2 hours I got an alarm than the battery voltage was 9.8. I cranked the motor and putted around for a while. The voltage came back to 12.1. I've got the crank battery on a charger tonight. The last thing I want to happen is for my fish finder to kill my crank battery. Quote
Maggiesmaster Posted April 9, 2018 Posted April 9, 2018 Wire it to the trolling motor batteries. Also, check the condition of your starter battery. It shouldn't go down that quickly. Quote
Super User Further North Posted April 9, 2018 Super User Posted April 9, 2018 23 minutes ago, TNReb said: The last thing I want to happen is for my fish finder to kill my crank battery. While I'm not too worried that will happen, I did have an instance where the charging cord for my trolling motor remote developed a shot and took my cranking battery down to nothing. It was a loooong ride back to camp on Lake of the Woods on the trolling motor... To avoid that, I went to the electronic equivalent of "belt and suspenders", and isolated my electronics from the rest of the boat. I dunno if it was a great idea, but it had a positive unintended consequence: the imaging on my fish finders has never been cleaner. Can I prove it was because of the switch? Nope. Do I care? Nope. ...and I have built in back-up if one system goes Tango Uniform. Quote
Super User iceintheveins Posted April 9, 2018 Super User Posted April 9, 2018 I use a little portable sealed acid gel cell 12 volt for my bow mount fish finder. Eliminates the need to wire it to another battery and create a mess of wires. Quote
Super User WRB Posted April 9, 2018 Super User Posted April 9, 2018 You don't want your sonar unit connected to the trolling motor battery or batteries because they will definately change voltage as you use the TM. It sounds like your cranking battery wasn't fully charged or is going bad or poor connections. A good group 27 deep cycle marine cranking battery should run your 3 amp sonar all day and still start your OB. Jumper cables are cheap insurance or a jump start charger is small and lighter then a 4 th battery. Tom 1 Quote
TNReb Posted April 9, 2018 Author Posted April 9, 2018 9 minutes ago, WRB said: You don't want your sonar unit connected to the trolling motor battery or batteries because they will definately change voltage as you use the TM. It sounds like your cranking battery wasn't fully charged or is going bad or poor connections. A good group 27 deep cycle marine cranking battery should run your 3 amp sonar all day and still start your OB. Jumper cables are cheap insurance or a jump start charger is small and lighter then a 4 th battery. Tom Thanks. It may not have been fully charged. I have it on a charger tonight and will keep an eye on it the next couple times out. Quote
Junger Posted April 9, 2018 Posted April 9, 2018 Does or is your engine suppose to charge your cranking battery? Quote
Super User TOXIC Posted April 9, 2018 Super User Posted April 9, 2018 9 hours ago, WRB said: You don't want your sonar unit connected to the trolling motor battery or batteries because they will definately change voltage as you use the TM. It sounds like your cranking battery wasn't fully charged or is going bad or poor connections. A good group 27 deep cycle marine cranking battery should run your 3 amp sonar all day and still start your OB. Jumper cables are cheap insurance or a jump start charger is small and lighter then a 4 th battery. Tom This. Your Troller batteries should have nothing else attached to them. All accessories including pumps. finders, lights, livewells, radio, power poles/Talon, etc., are wired through your cranking battery. I suggest you put a separate fuse panel in for those connections and a jump switch just in case you wear out your cranking battery. That is why you want the biggest baddest cranking battery you can afford that has the required MCA's for your specific motor and enough RC to run all of your accessories. I do know some that run 5 batteries on a 36v trolling motor system 3 for the TM 1 for the cranking and 1 for accessories. Normally 4 is enough if you get the right batteries for the job. Quote
Super User Jig Man Posted April 9, 2018 Super User Posted April 9, 2018 Your cranking battery needs to be very good as it is soooo important. I can run aerators, power poles, and 3 sonar units all day long and still have lots of juice to start my engine. Don't skimp on the cranker. Quote
Super User Further North Posted April 11, 2018 Super User Posted April 11, 2018 On 4/8/2018 at 9:07 PM, WRB said: You don't want your sonar unit connected to the trolling motor battery or batteries because they will definately change voltage as you use the TM. On 4/9/2018 at 6:52 AM, TOXIC said: Your Troller batteries should have nothing else attached to them. All accessories including pumps. finders, lights, livewells, radio, power poles/Talon, etc., are wired through your cranking battery. I suggest you put a separate fuse panel in for those connections and a jump switch just in case you wear out your cranking battery. That is why you want the biggest baddest cranking battery you can afford that has the required MCA's for your specific motor and enough RC to run all of your accessories. I do know some that run 5 batteries on a 36v trolling motor system 3 for the TM 1 for the cranking and 1 for accessories. Normally 4 is enough if you get the right batteries for the job. Agree...and you're just asking for interference of some kind. ...I am one of those five battery guys...Belt and suspenders, baby...belt and suspenders... On 4/8/2018 at 10:52 PM, Junger said: Does or is your engine suppose to charge your cranking battery? Depending on where the OP lives, and the lakes he fishes, the main motor may not run enough to charge the cranking battery. I deal with this because most of the lakes I fish don't allow a long enough run on the main motor to charge the starting battery. On the lake I fish the most, I can run from one end to the other at 35 MPH in well less than 10 minutes, so most of my hops are a minute or two at most, with one 7 minute run back to the dock at the end of the day. No way the starting battery is going to get charged under those conditions. Quote
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