How are your batteries connected.

[tomandwendy]

Hi

Just want to say first of all, but I just love this forum!!

I had an issue over the weekend with my one of my batteries draining to low and I was not able to start my engine. Thank goodness I bought a third battery for a backup and I was able to start the motor. Which I knew this would happen....however, when the battery died I was actually parked in a parking spot and pushed myself out to get ready to trailer my boat.

When I opened the hatch to change the batteries, the current was a little tough so I dropped me trolling motor and guess what......that was tied to the batter also. So when I looked at the one batter, it had one thing hooked to it and about a 10 guage wire. So I was thinking well that must be the engine since it is by itself, well that was not the case, my trolling motor, lights, fishfinder, aerator, engine is all on one battery, and on my other battery with the one set of wires is for my tilting and trim of the motor.....so my question to everybody is cause I think this setup is not making sense......How are your batteries hooked up or do you have any suggestions??

Tom

 

[rndn]

Re: How are your batteries connected.

Your electric trolling motor, livewells, etc should be hooked up to at least 1 prefer 2 deep cycle batteries. These two batteries should not be hooked up to the motor at all and will require charging with a battery charger after use. You should also have at least 1, prefer 2, starting batteries for the outboard, radio, depth finder, etc. These should be hooked up to the motor with a battery selector switch. The switch will allow you to use battery 1, battery 2, or both batteries. Practice is to start up with battery one and use for the trip to the fishing location and then switch to battery 2 for the return home. This will allow your outboard to keep both starting batteries fully charged for you.
For the deep cycles, most people purchase an onboard battery charger that will keep both batteries fully charged with just one extension cord. The onboard charger needs to be capable of handling 2 banks of batteries for use with 2 deep cycles.
Feel free to private message me if I have not been clear enough for you.