Now sporting 3 batteries in the boat...

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wasilvers

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Sussex, WI
Lately I've found myself trolling for fish more than casting for them - I've found it a relaxing and effective way to find fish on long pieces of structure like breaks and undewater rises. I originally started trolling for crappie and found the bass like to eat too :) The only problems I was having (besides rod management) was the trolling motor battery would go dead after 2-3 hours of going between speed 4 and 5.
So yesterday I installed a second trolling motor battery and placed it right under the side console. I wanted something I could take out if it didn't work good or I needed the space/weight. The box can be removed quickly and you'd never know it was missing. To connect it to my other battery, I just used an old pair of jumper cables that the prior boat owner had left in the boat. A few battery terminals on them and they are good to go. I just happened to have a second battery just like the one in the boat now - it was just sitting in the garage collecting dust. So now my troller is pushed by two 125 Amp hour batteries - so 250 Amp hours available till dead. :twisted:

Now I can't wait to try this out. :D
 
If you dont get the amount of trolling time from the 2 batteries in parallel you might want to look into a 24V or 36 V T-motor setup. Going from a 12v setup to a 36v setup is a bit spendy after all is said and done but well worth the time and money if you do alot of trolling.
 
wasilvers said:
the trolling motor battery would go dead after 2-3 hours of going between speed 4 and 5.
[...]
So now my troller is pushed by two 125 Amp hour batteries - so 250 Amp hours available till dead. :twisted:

Now I can't wait to try this out. :D

Hi yall, 1st post here. Not ready to ask about my boat yet but I have a couple of comments here:

1) Batteries in parellel should be the same: same brand/rating/age/etc. If not the stronger one will always try to charge the weaker one, and burn up juice in the process. If it doesn't perform as expected this is probably why, and when you replace them replace both at the same time.

2) Doubling your batteries should more than double your run time. Batteries have less capacity when drained faster. A 125 amp hour battery gets that rating at a 10 hour discharge rate. Run it down in 2 hours and you get much less out of it (maybe 1/2 the rating). So with the 2nd batt the drain on each is 1/2 what it was on the 1, so you'll get closer to the rated capacity of each. Your 2-3 hours should turn in to 6-10.
 
once the voltage equalizes the batteries are fine mismatched, if they are close, not optimal but very doable. the key is to ground directly to one, and positive directly to the other. keeps the juice drawing equally. Actuall battery post, i know they are hooked together, but voltage drop between cables etc.

as for a 36 volt motor, or even 24. A 36 will theoretically run 3x longer than a 12 volt using the same 3 batteries on high speed. 24 volt 2x longer, higher the voltage less amp draw, now u have to factor in the thrust, as higher thrust will draw more amps. Apples to apples both motors would have to be the same thrust just different volt to compare equally. Another theroy is low thrust motor will pull even more amps on heavier boat, lots of variables, 36 is definitely the way to go if it can be afforded.

Also a batterys life depend on how low it is discharged between uses. u should not run them more than 50 %, and I actually believe that number is higher.
 
Thanks for the tips, I had heard about mismatched batteries before - so that's why I bought the exact same battery last year. I know one may be a bit 'stronger' than the other as one was drawn down too far once, but I'm hoping they should work (better than one anyway :roll: )
 
Should be just fine. Just disconnect and charge them seperatly is the main thing.

What's your setup for trolling for bass? I've been thinging of trying that myself but I've never really trolled before.
 
wasilvers, not a battery response, but glad to hear that you enjoy trolling also. I've found it to be an effective way to cover a lot of ground and relax as well. I usually sit up front and fish early in the morning or late in the day and troll in the late morning/afternoon when the wind has picked up, it also seems cooler to move a little in the summer months. I've found that my 8HP works just fine and it's easier than having to fight the wind all the time with the electric.
 
srimes said:
Should be just fine. Just disconnect and charge them seperatly is the main thing.
ooops. I read a few places you could just charge them as one big battery? So I did this yesterday... did I do something bad already?

What's your setup for trolling for bass? I've been thinging of trying that myself but I've never really trolled before.
In WI, we can only use two rods per person in my county. Trolling for bass for me is find a long drop off, tie on a dark and light Bandit. I used rod holders in the front and tossed both rigs out on the same side of the boat. I used long 10-16 ft rods on one bait but kept breaking them with the bass (I know a good problem to have :wink: ) - and I'd use my lightweight rod in my hands... so two baits about 5-8 feet apart and 12-15 feet staggered. Just drag it along the dropoff and pick up the bass. Pretty relaxing method of fishing. BTW, I use my light rod because you can really see when you have a weed, bass, crappie, or gill on it. Too stiff of a pole and you'll be dragging weeds for miles and not know.

For a new lake, my fishing partner and I have our favorite trolling baits and will toss them out. It is a very quick way to find what depth range the bass are most active in, as well as that portion of water that seems to hold fish. The last lake we did that at, only a 200 yard area was where they would bite. We went around the ENTIRE lake and only got bit in that one area. We tried that side of the lake 3x, and just that area was active. When they bit, it was a lot of them. Maybe 30 bass that day. We would locate them, troll a few times, then cast other baits through there, etc...

I start with small crankbaits (like 1.25 inch) for crappie and he uses some yellow crawfish imitation that doesn't look like something I would ever use, but it works for him.. I honestly think it's the wobble that gets them, a really fast wobbling bait gets bit 3x more than a slow rolling bait.

I can't wait to take my kids fishing like this... something they can get into, and we can talk while actively fishing too :)
 
Ictalurus said:
wasilvers, not a battery response, but glad to hear that you enjoy trolling also. I've found it to be an effective way to cover a lot of ground and relax as well. I usually sit up front and fish early in the morning or late in the day and troll in the late morning/afternoon when the wind has picked up, it also seems cooler to move a little in the summer months. I've found that my 8HP works just fine and it's easier than having to fight the wind all the time with the electric.

Nice! I have a little 3.5 hp gas motor that might work good for this, but it seems a lot noisier than the electric. Might have to try it someday though.

I like fishing too much, and when I am done really fishing 'hard', my back aches, joints are sore and I'm tired. Trolling is just sitting back, watching the rods, and picking your 'line'.
 
wasilvers said:
srimes said:
Should be just fine. Just disconnect and charge them seperatly is the main thing.
ooops. I read a few places you could just charge them as one big battery? So I did this yesterday... did I do something bad already?

If they're the same then you can treat them as 1 big battery, if they're different they can over+under charge. If you think they might be different it'd be safer to charge them seperate. Not that together is "dangerous," just that they may not last as long due to one getting overcharged and the other undercharged.

Thanks for the trolling tips. I'll have to get some rod holders and give that a shot.
 
I run a 24v trolling motor and can run all day on a full charge. Everything else on the boat runs off of 2 12v batteries hooked up in line. I run 2 fish finders all day and it still fires up no problem. You'll love the new set up.
 
bulldog said:
I run a 24v trolling motor and can run all day on a full charge. Everything else on the boat runs off of 2 12v batteries hooked up in line. I run 2 fish finders all day and it still fires up no problem. You'll love the new set up.

+1 I run the same system. Never had a problem with it. In fact, when my motor left me stranded...I was able to troll 2 1/2 miles to get back to my dock. That was without a recharge on 2 days use.
 
my 2 paralleled deep cycles lasted 2 weeks of my month long trip before i had to recharge.i split the gas/electric time when i could,but i fished every day.
 
I don't know a lot about trolling motors, but I do know a bit about RV applications.

On average, you can get longer use and deeper discharge from 2 6V golf cart batteries wired to give 12V. Many "boondockers" swap out thier single deep cycle 12V batteries for the golf cart batteries which give higher reserves.

It's more weigh and I'm not sure how that would fare in a trolling motor application though....
 
great white said:
It's more weigh and I'm not sure how that would fare in a trolling motor application though....

Weight usually isn't an issue in my boat, it's heavy already. More than half the time, I forget to tilt the big motor up when trolling anyway. :roll:
 
i plan on going 6 volt when my deep cycles give up. the 6v t-105 is 6 lbs. and 180 to 220 a/hrs. waaay more than a group 27@ 105 a/hrs. although a 6 v L 16 is 105 lbs but 340 to 380 a/hrs.but 2 of these in series would sink me :LOL2:
 

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