I have a 17ft Scout with 2 group 24 dual purpose battery’s and a selector switch, all located in the console. These are powering engine, lights, 12v acc. guages, garmin 441s, icom 302, sony CD player and soon a small 6 channel amp. I’m going to buy 70lb 24v minn-kota and need advice for battery setup.
Option 1 is 2 new battery’s in bow storage area only for TM. Is this to much weight up front?
Option 2 is 1 or 2 new battery’s in the console. If I add 1 battery I will have to tie it to one of the main batterys.(24v) If I do that and run the TM batterys down I don’t have a backup.
What size wire is needed for the TM? What about battery chargers? Do I get a 3 bank(2 for TM and one for main and hook up through selector switch) or a 4 bank. What about two 2 bank chargers and seperate them.
What are your thoughts and current setups? Pics of anyones setup would be great.
if your wed to the 24v TM, then 2 batteries up front, on board charger up there also, plug outlet for extension cord under seating. Plug into wall when boat back home. Don’t tie into starting battery circuit. Yes 4 batteries are a lot on a 17 ft. boat.
i have a 17 sea pro bay, and i have one batteryin the back for cranking the motor and electronics and two in the console for the trolling motor. i have a 3 bank charger with an outlet plug on the side of the console. i do not have a radio much less an amp. for that much electronics i would think you would need two batteries for the electronics alone. i would say 2 in the back and 2 in the console with a 4 bank charger. it not going to be cheap, but better safe than sorry. imo…
btw…i have a 70lb. 52" shaft 24v minnkota and i am very happy with it.
I agree better safe than sorry. Was gator hunting in a freinds boat a few weeks back. Only 1 battery and we killed it using the spotlight. Motor choked down and we were stranded in Quinby creek at 2am. Waited untill 7:30 for a new battery. I’m concerned if I did drain trolling motor battery’s and needed a backup I would be out of luck.
I’d go with (1) deep cycle or dual purpose battery for the motor and electronics, (2) deep cycle for the TM, a 3-bank charger and a set of jumper cables vacuum-sealed (for back-up).
when I typed that, I knew i wasnt going to get by that easy.
DC batteries are designed for lower steady amp draws. Starting batteries are designed for high er amps for short bursts. DC also need to be charged slower for longer periods of time.
think marathon runner versus sprinter.
I was wondering the same thing about my batteries. Chris has my boat in the shop right now so I can’t look at my batteries. I swear they said deep/cycle and starting. Who knows, probably what I get buying batteries from Wally World. Although I will say the battery(I have two of the same) that runs my 12V trolling motor will run atleast 6-8 hours of steady use pulling my 17’ bay around.
Don’t have a knack for makin motors crank,
But I’m pretty good at drinkin beer
The best way to a fisherman’s heart is through his fly.
do not, I repeat DO NOT use a deep cycle battery for your starting battery.
For years I used deep cycle Wal-Mart batteries to start twin big block engines. They lasted 5+ years with regular maintenance and charging…what makes a 90-115 HP O/B harder to start than a 330 HP big block that DC batteries won’t work.
Loosewire if I jump from TM batterys to house battery wouldn’t that send 24v to the house battery?
You have to go (+) and (-) from ONE TM battery to (+) and (-) of the starting battery.
Starting to sound like I should use the 2 group 24 batterys I have now as the TM batterys. Connect on of them to the battery switch. Then use a group 27 for the main battery hooked to the other side of the battery switch. Switch always gets set to house battery unless I need a backup. If the batterys are in the console what guage wire to run to the TM to account for voltage loss with about 10-14 ft of wire.
The dual purpose batts do nothing great, but they’ll do for your tm’s until they wear out. Go with your last solution, and run em til they die. After that, just replace them with deep cycles.
Waterbreaker, I just ran <20’ of 8 ga. wire to my 12-volt TM on my ‘00 17’ Key West. The boat came with 30’ of 6 ga. but I wanted to use new tinned wire and felt 6 ga. was overkill for that length. Look at http://genuinedealz.com/ for some great prices on wire and connectors.
