Triton Deep Cycle Battery Connections

[ElWhino69]

I'm trying to hook up 3 deep cycle batteries on my 2003 TR19 but I do not know the connection sequence. I had a guy hook them up for me but the output is only 12v not 36v.

I'm attaching pics of the current connections. I would appreciate any help I can get with this.

[jbsoonerfan]

I can't tell for sure what all is going on there, but here is a simple way to wire it.

 

The + TM plug wire to the circuit breaker and then on to the + post on battery A, then a jumper wire from battery A - to battery B +, then a jumper wire from battery B - to battery C +, then battery C - to TM plug -

[Jig Man]

Yeah your pics don’t show enough.  For you to have only 12 volts is has to be wired parallel.  What jb says will get you 36 volts.  Be sure to use large gauge wire for the jumpers.

[Way2slow]

For 36 volts.  Connect the Trolling motors positive Red cable to the positive terminal of battery 1, connect the negative of battery one to the positive of battery 2, connect the negative of battery 2 to the positive of battery three, and connect the negative of battery three to the Trolling motors negative Black cable.  Those small wires for the charger will connect to each individual battery with the red going to the positive and black going to the negative.

 

Batteries 1,2 and 3 can be what ever battery you want to make them so the interconnect cables will reach.

 

Now, is that one new battery connected to two older batteries or does the picture just make it look that way.  Reason I ask, when running batteries in series it's very important for all batteries be of the same age, size and type, it's best if they even have the same lot number.  If not it can cause problems with their load distribution and basically kill the stronger battery.

 

Another thing I noticed, for a series connection, those interconnect cables look mighty small.  Unlike a parallel connection where each battery is sharing the load so if the TM is pulling 50 amps, each battery is only seeing a share of the amps, in a series connection all batteries have the same load so if the TM is pulling 50 amps, all three batteries are seeing 50 amps.  So, for that kind of a load, I would want at least 6 gauge interconnect cables and those look more like they are 10 gauge.

To small of a cable and the resistance created kills a lot of the benefit of going to 36 volts. 

After looking again, they might be larger, than 10, I was seeing the charger cables at first.

[WRB]

As everyone has already identified the batteries are wired in paralell in lieu of series.

Just go online and look at how to wire trolling motor batteries for 36VDC.

You should use battery cable jumper wire with lugs to connect the batteries together; Positive + to negative - . 6 gage marine stranded wire for both negative ground from #1 battery and positive power from #3 battery to the TM. DC power has a voltage drop and heat issue if too small of wire is used.

My next statement is more difficult to resolve, you need a seperate cranking battery or battery #4.

Tom

[ElWhino69]

I appreciate all the help and after following all the advice, I've now got 36V output to my TM. 

 

I did, however, run into something that I didn't expect. The trolling motor wires coming into the back of the boat had 2 red wires and 1 black wire. There are two 50amp circuit breakers in the battery compartment.  One of the red wires is connected to a CB and a red wire comes out of the other side. This wire has markings for connections to Battery #1 positive which makes sense.  The other red wire connects to one side of the second CB and and has a red wire coming out of the other side that is clearly marked for connection to Battery#2 positive. My trolling motor harness from the foot pedal to the receptacle only has a red and black wire, however the underside of the receptacle has both red wires running into it. 

 

So the 2nd red wire is a mystery and I would appreciate any comments.  I'm attaching a picture of the male plug from my trolling motor foot controller and I noted it's stamped with 30 amp, 125V.

 

 

[WRB]

Red wire battery 1 may be for your boats 12V power supply and goes to your fuse box under the dash that feeds all the accessories. The red wire from battery 2 May have been for 24V trolling motor prior to upgrading to 36V. The only reason to run 2 power wires is increase wire size in lieu of pulling in a new 6 gage wire.

How many 12V batteries does this boat have?, Should have 4, 1 cranking battery and 3 trolling motor batteries.

Tom

PS, the plug and receptacle is 125V AC can be used for DC trolling motors. The keyed (L) contact should have the black ground wire, the other 2 contacts bused together.

[Way2slow]

Looking at the plug you are using, do you have a in the control panel in the front of the boat and a switch labeled at charge and 12/24?

I would have thought by 2003 they did away with that junk by then but looking at your plug, I guess not. 

First thing you need to do is get rid of that plug, did you not see the red letters on it saying 30amp.  When you see smoke coming out of the that control panel, it's because you have fried that plug and receptacle that it goes in.

The reason for the two red wires, most likely that thing was wired for the old 12/24 volt trolling motors.  They may even have the charge switch that put the two batteries in parallel and they could be charged with a 12 Volt charger from that receptacle.

So, do yourself a favor and get you a couple SB-50 connectors that you don't have to worry about going up in flames, take those two red wires up front and connect them both into on pin on the SB-50 and connect both the other ends to the positive post on the battery.  It will give you a whole lot more efficient operation.  

If you do get the SB-50 connectors, they are the same, one just flips over and plugs into the other.  They come in the size wire you plan to use.  The housing a pins are the same except for the hole in the back of the pin for the wires, they are different sizes for the size cable.  Also, make sure they are two the same color.  They are keys so only like colors plug together.