Battery Help! I’m lost (New Boat Owner)

[KrzyyImportz]

I just purchased my first boat, a 2012 Tracker Pro 165. I’ve only taken it out once for a brief time, but everything overall has been great. The only thing I’m a little confused about is the battery situation (picture attached).
 

The battery at the top of the image is a very large “Universal Battery,” which I’m assuming means it’s a deep cycle? It is only connected to the other Universal Battery on the left, which is a slightly smaller battery. Lastly, there’s the cranking battery in the bottom right.

 

I don’t know what kind of a setup this is, so I’m not sure what kind of charger I need. I can attach more images if need be, but any help is appreciated. 

[WRB]

You have 2 older trolling motor batteries wired in series to produce 24V and 1 newer 12V cranking battery to start your outboard run your electrinics and livewells.

You can look at batteries to determine make, type and date they were sold. You may need to test the batteries for voltage out put under load.

The type of batteries and sizes shoukd be labeled on each battery. Deep cycle marine, group size and brand.

Tom

 

[Jig Man]

The 1 wire is a jumper wire which connects those 2 batteries to make 24 volts.  Ideally the should be identical and of the same age.

 

With 3 batteries you need 3 chargers.  A 3 bank onboard charger would be best instead of 3 stand alone ones.

 

Did you buy from an individual or dealer?   Someone should have explained things to you.

[KrzyyImportz]

20 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

The 1 wire is a jumper wire which connects those 2 batteries to make 24 volts.  Ideally the should be identical and of the same age.

 

With 3 batteries you need 3 chargers.  A 3 bank onboard charger would be best instead of 3 stand alone ones.

 

Did you buy from an individual or dealer?   Someone should have explained things to you.

I bought it private through an individual, but I didn’t ask the right question regarding this. 
 

So my trolling motor is a 46lb thrust motor guide which says it only needs 12volts, why would it be wired as a 24v system? Should I get rid of one of them?

[BigAngus752]

1 hour ago, KrzyyImportz said:

So my trolling motor is a 46lb thrust motor guide which says it only needs 12volts, why would it be wired as a 24v system?

I would guess one of two things; either the previous owner intended to wire two 12V batteries in parallel to try to gain twice the trolling time or, more likely, the previous owner had a 24V trolling motor on the boat and switched back to his old 12V when he put it up for sale so he can use is 24V on his new boat.  He likely left both TM batteries in the boat because he intends to set his new boat up correctly with two new TM batteries of the same size and age.  The second example is most likely since we can see in your pics that he put a 50A fuse on the batteries.  

 

You could pull one of the TM batteries or you could wire the two of them in parallel for more trolling time.  I would caution against the latter, however, because your batteries are different size and age and the weaker battery will draw off of the stronger battery and both will die much sooner than they should.  

[WRB]

Look up how set up trolling motor batteries; series and paralell.

Series the the 2 batteries have a jumper cable from negative to positive = 24V.

Paralell the 2 batteries have a jumper cable negative to negative = 12V.

Looking at the photo it appears the jumper is connected negative to negative.

The seller apparently changed to a newer cranking battery and you may need (or should) change the trolling motor batteries or get 1 new group 31 deep cycle marine battery depending on your budget and time spent using the 12V TM.

Batteries and bass boats are on going maintenance issue.

Tom

[KrzyyImportz]

If I were to remove the two old TM batteries and get one new one, can I keep the 50 amp fuse in there or will that need to be swapped out? 
 

I appreciate all the help from you guys, it’s saving me a lot of heartache. I just want to make sure I’m doing everything right. 

Edited November 3, 2019 by KrzyyImportz

[WRB]

Checkout and understand what you currently have, my gues is a 12v battery system for the 12v trolling motor. 

50 amp breaker, not fuse, is OK as is.

Tom

[kjfishman]

Batteries wired in series.  battery 1 positive connected to battery 2 positive and battery 1 negative to battery 2 negative

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=Awr9DuOqHcBd_R8AHmRXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyNXU4MnRsBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjkwNTBfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=trolling+motors+wired+parallel&fr=jnazafzv#id=0&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.louisianasportsman.com%2Fpics%2Fp1233675765.jpg&action=click

 

The picture looks like it it is parallel. As others stated you could use just one battery. Then buy a 2 battery on board charger saving you money on both. 

 

 

[Tennessee Boy]

You can charge two batteries wired in parallel as one with one charger.  My first boat was wire this way with a 46lb trolling motor on a Tracker TX17.  I used a traditional external battery charger to charge the trolling motor batteries as if they were one battery and then the next day I would charge the cranking battery.  If I didn’t have time to charge the cranking battery I didn’t charge it and never had a problem.  The motor kept a pretty good charge on it.  The two trolling motor batteries gave me way more capacity than I ever needed.  One time on a trip, the power at my campsite was not working so I couldn’t charge overnight.  I was able to fish two long days without a charge and had plenty of power at the end of the day.  I’m thinking one TM battery will be plenty for you but of course it’s always better to have too much power than too little.

[Way2slow]

The two batteries in the rear are connected in parallel, not series.  If you look at the terminal markers on the batteries, Red is going to red.  They are only producing 12VDC in that configuration, but twice the amp hours a single battery would provide for over twice the run time of one battery.  There is also a large circuit breaker for them sitting at the corner of the front "cranking" battery.