kshays Posted August 16, 2020 Posted August 16, 2020 I recently acquired an 86 bass boat in really good shape. To start with I will list what it has. - trolling moter - 100 hp johnson motor - hummingbird fish finder - 2 live wells - bilge pump - aerator - lights - battery charger So nothing extreme, but just the essentials I assume? Right now it has 2 batteries. One is a cranking battery with 1000 CA and the other one is a deep cycle with 140 minute reserved capacity. I tested the voltage on both batteries with nothing on. Cranking battery registered 11.69v and the deep cycle was 12.69v. My question is what would be the best configuration? How many batteries? What should run on each battery? The group of the batteries? After researching some I found most people use 2 batteries for the TM and another one for lights, instruments and motor. Also, the cranking battery at 11.69v I would think needs to be replaced? Thanks! Quote
moguy1973 Posted August 16, 2020 Posted August 16, 2020 The cranking battery needs to be replaced if it's only 11.69 charged. If your trolling motor is 12v you just need what you have. People use 2 batteries for their trolling motors if they have a 24v motor, or they want to run their 12v longer, and they run them in parallel in that case. Quote
kshays Posted August 16, 2020 Author Posted August 16, 2020 Hey Jim, Thanks for the info. I was thinking the same thing with the cranking myself. I'll check tomorrow to make sure it's a 12v TM. So my setup would probably be a cranking battery and a DC battery? What should the cranking have on it and what should the DC have connected? From what I'm seeing the cranking usually has the motor and pretty much everything else and the DC has the TM on it or does it matter as much if it's just a 12v TM? Now the cranking will get to around 12.3 when charged, but as soon as I turn on the fish finder it starts dropping and continues to drop when not charging. I know I've had batteries in the car show 12.2-3 v resting and were bad. Thanks! Kevin Quote
moguy1973 Posted August 16, 2020 Posted August 16, 2020 I have a 24v trolling motor and I only have it hooked up to my two trolling motor batteries. Everything else on the boat is hooked up to the starting battery. 2 Quote
Super User Jig Man Posted August 16, 2020 Super User Posted August 16, 2020 12.3 volts is not a charged battery. 12.6 is needed to be fully charged. You should be replacing that one. When you have to replace the trolling motor battery get the highest reserve capacity that you can find. That is what gives you trolling motor time. Quote
scarter162 Posted August 16, 2020 Posted August 16, 2020 11 hours ago, kshays said: My question is what would be the best configuration? How many batteries? What should run on each battery? In my opinion, use a single group 31 deep cycle (not dual purpose) for the trolling motor and a single group 24 dual purpose for everything else. I once ran two group 31 batteries in parallel for a 12 volt trolling motor, but only one charging bank for both the batteries. It took FOREVER to charge them and I think I ultimately sent them both to an early grave. You could run a second battery in parallel, but maybe only if you have a dedicated charging bank for both? In short, the biggest deep cycle battery you can afford/fit for the trolling motor, and a single dual purpose battery for everything else. Quote
OnthePotomac Posted August 16, 2020 Posted August 16, 2020 I run a group 27 12V (weighs 59lbs) for my digital, variable speed 55lb MototrGuide and never run out of power. My starting battery is a size 24. 12V 1000CCA. and runs the two sonars. Quote
kshays Posted August 16, 2020 Author Posted August 16, 2020 9 hours ago, Jig Man said: 12.3 volts is not a charged battery. 12.6 is needed to be fully charged. You should be replacing that one. When you have to replace the trolling motor battery get the highest reserve capacity that you can find. That is what gives you trolling motor time. Exactly what I was thinking, but did not know if it was the same with marine batteries or not TY! 5 hours ago, scarter162 said: In my opinion, use a single group 31 deep cycle (not dual purpose) for the trolling motor and a single group 24 dual purpose for everything else. I once ran two group 31 batteries in parallel for a 12 volt trolling motor, but only one charging bank for both the batteries. It took FOREVER to charge them and I think I ultimately sent them both to an early grave. You could run a second battery in parallel, but maybe only if you have a dedicated charging bank for both? In short, the biggest deep cycle battery you can afford/fit for the trolling motor, and a single dual purpose battery for everything else. Thanks! So each battery should be isolated from one another correct? 3 hours ago, OnthePotomac said: I run a group 27 12V (weighs 59lbs) for my digital, variable speed 55lb MototrGuide and never run out of power. My starting battery is a size 24. 12V 1000CCA. and runs the two sonars. Thanks OnthePotomac! I could be wrong, but I'll need to go check in a bit to see if I can trace what is going to where. I was thinking a lot of the stuff such as livewell/bilge pump/lights were on the deep cycle. I'm pretty sure the motor is on the left battery which is the cranking and shows the low voltage because I went to test it out Friday night and after an hour or so I could tell the lights were dimming bad whenever I would start the motor. Ty! Quote
scarter162 Posted August 17, 2020 Posted August 17, 2020 7 hours ago, kshays said: 12 hours ago, scarter162 said: In my opinion, use a single group 31 deep cycle (not dual purpose) for the trolling motor and a single group 24 dual purpose for everything else. I once ran two group 31 batteries in parallel for a 12 volt trolling motor, but only one charging bank for both the batteries. It took FOREVER to charge them and I think I ultimately sent them both to an early grave. You could run a second battery in parallel, but maybe only if you have a dedicated charging bank for both? In short, the biggest deep cycle battery you can afford/fit for the trolling motor, and a single dual purpose battery for everything else. Thanks! So each battery should be isolated from one another correct? Yep, 100% isolated/independent from one another. The only thing powered by the bigger trolling motor battery is the trolling motor; everything else the dual purpose Quote
kshays Posted August 17, 2020 Author Posted August 17, 2020 Just now, scarter162 said: Yep, 100% isolated/independent from one another. The only thing powered by the bigger trolling motor battery is the trolling motor; everything else the dual purpose Thought so, but wanted to make sure TY! Kevin Quote
kshays Posted August 17, 2020 Author Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) 19 minutes ago, scarter162 said: Yep, 100% isolated/independent from one another. The only thing powered by the bigger trolling motor battery is the trolling motor; everything else the dual purpose A battery such as this scarter162? https://www.autozone.com/miscellaneous-non-automotive/marine-battery/duralast-27dp-dl-group-27-starting-marine-battery/107676_0_0 It's not AGM however looks like. Kevin Edited August 17, 2020 by kshays Additional Info Quote
scarter162 Posted August 17, 2020 Posted August 17, 2020 Yep, that's a good example of a dual purpose battery that you could use for starting the motor and powering everything except the trolling motor. I use flooded lead acid batteries just like this one. My dual purpose is an Exide 24dp I picked up at Home Depot; the trolling motor battery is an Interstate SRM31 Quote
kshays Posted August 17, 2020 Author Posted August 17, 2020 4 hours ago, scarter162 said: Yep, that's a good example of a dual purpose battery that you could use for starting the motor and powering everything except the trolling motor. I use flooded lead acid batteries just like this one. My dual purpose is an Exide 24dp I picked up at Home Depot; the trolling motor battery is an Interstate SRM31 Good deal. Thanks Quote
kshays Posted August 19, 2020 Author Posted August 19, 2020 Got a new DP battery and tracked down all wires going to the batteries. Re-crimped all wires with new terminals and heat shrink tubing, sanded all connectors down to a shine and re-located batteries. After hooking up the wires correctly to each battery I made sure everything worked like normal. Batteries voltage at resting right now are 12.8 and 12.7 Took it out on the lake today and it was much better seemed like! I guess it's time to make a new post about upgrading fuel lines since it's an older boat. Ty! 1 Quote
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