Russ.... a few questions

[bAcKpAiN]

Could you post a picture or two of your batteries wired together in parallel? I am thinking of going that route with my boat since I am going all electric this season. (unless of course there is such thing as an outboard fairy :lol: ) I have two deep cycle batteries that are identical with the only difference being one is a few months older but neither has been used more than once and I have kept up on the charging to keep them topped off.

If I can do this I have read that you can use one charger to charge both batteries at once (one circuit). Is this what you do? If so does it take twice as long?

 

[russ010]

that's exactly how I have mine wired. I'll take pics tonight and post them. I have the batteries on either end of the bench in the middle. I'm using 4ga car battery wire with the ends already pre-rigged.. I got 2 sets of 54" lengths from Walmart for $8 each.

I put the charger on one battery and it does charge both batteries. I verified it with my fluke and both batteries get the same voltage while charging. I charge them on 2amp/automatic deep cycle-low maintenance.

I used them hard this past weekend for my front trolling motor since I didn't have my rear trolling motor on the boat. I went all over that 360 acre lake and when I got home to charge them, they were down to 80% charged. I plugged them up and left them overnight (about 13 hours) and they were fully charged. I usually get home, back the boat into the garage and have them on charge from 6pm til 7am the next morning. I don't think it takes any longer to charge them since they both receive the same voltage. It has definitely improved the life of my batteries while out on the water.

 

[russ010]

Here are the pictures... On the battery with the charger clamps, the smaller terminals have my trolling motor hook ups, plus the wires ends that go to the other battery. The wires are ran in the lips of the bench.

Let me know if you need any more info...

Battery with TM hookup..

Battery on other side. The wire taped together is the fish finder. The main terminals had 12 ga wire coming off the pos and neg side and I just hooked the fish finder straight to them. A lot of people use fuses... I don't worry about that stuff, so there are no fuses anywhere on my boat.

Here is where I placed the wires and the screws that are holding them in place. I only have 2 screws on each side

And the overview pic

 

[ilinimud]

Thanks Russ, thats a very good set up. I am going to save this thread for when i get my TM.

 

[daltonmcgill]

how long can you stay out with out them dying jw because i might run my batteries the same way

 

[ACarbone624]

:!: I would be scared my boat would catch fire with fuses. If one of those wires rubs against something sharp from any vibration while trailering and short out...you gonna heat up those wires, the insulation is going to burn off and possible have the batteries explode if left shorted long enough....In my opinion....your asking for major problems. :!: Not having fuses/circuit breakers could fry your TM and Fishfinder

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

wait having a fuse would fry your TM? i thought that was the point to have so it wouldnt do that... im lost

 

[daltonmcgill]

thats what i was thinking i thought the fuse stoppes that from happening :?:

 

[russ010]

Fortunately I have everything mounted where they aren't going to rub against anything.. everything is tightly screwed down or on the batteries. The batteries aren't moving because I have vibration dampening pads underneath them with fabricated aluminum angle holding them in place. The is about 4 inches of clearance form the top of the battery to the bottom of the wooden lid.

As far as things frying in the boat (fish finder/trolling motor) - that's what I've got a $5000 endorsement for Fishing Equipment on by boat insurance for... but in the 10 years I've been doing this same thing in other boats, I've had no problems.

The fuses stop the circuit so it doesn't reach your electronics should a short or over powering occurs... So they would be good to have, I've just opted not to use them.

 

[russ010]

wait having a fuse would fry your TM? i thought that was the point to have so it wouldnt do that... im lost

I think he meant to say he wouldn't do it without fuses

 

[daltonmcgill]

how long can you stay out with out them dying jw because i might run my batteries the same way

 

[russ010]

well... let me see if this helps.

I fished last Monday - 8am-5pm. The lake I fish is 360+ acres. I started off the day running from the ramp to one of the farthest points. This run is about 1.2 miles. I went there, trolling in the same spot for about 3 hours keeping my boat in the right position because of the wind.
I left that, headed about 500 yards to fish the opposite side of the lake. That lasted the same way, trolling in the same spot, but with the wind in my face.
After that I hit a few more spots towards the ramp and get to my honey hole with is about 1000 yards from the ramp. I fish that for about 2 hours when I hear some clanking. I look out from the cove into open water and see 2 older guys in an old 12' vee rowing. I saw them earlier the morning heading for the waterfalls which is the farthest point (1.4 miles from ramp). I blew my whistle at them to get their attention and both start waving their hands at me. I put my fishing stuff up and start heading towards them. They are about 500 yards from me, so I took off. I get to them and their single battery had died back at the falls, and they had paddled a long ways to get to where they were. I grabbed their rope and hauled them to the ramp.
I had about 30min left to fish, then a buddy called me (I was fishing with him in the cove). He is now in open water and he also had dead batteries... so i go back to the same exact spot the older guys were and hauled him in.

When I got home, I checked my batteries - hooked in parallel, they were reading 12.2volts. When I unhooked them to check, the bad battery I now know I have was reading 11.1 and the good battery was reading 12.3. When I left the ramp that morning, the fish finder said the voltage was 13.6 hooked in parallel. So I would say I did a helluva lot of pulling with them and the batt's never let me down. That was the one day that I didn't have my 55# TM on the rear, but I did carry the extra battery just in case, but never had to use it.

Hope this helps - wordy I know, but it gives you an idea of what all I did. The trolling motor I was using is a MinnKota Edge 40# foot control.

 

[daltonmcgill]

dang they lasted along time

 

[redbug]

Russ, Have you thought about installing a battery shut off switch t brake the parallel after charging? might be a better (quicker) way rather than disconnecting them each trip

Wayne

 

[Zum]

Also,with a switch you can disconnect the circuit so wouldn't have to unhook from your terminals.It would be like two 12 volt batteries(seperate)till you put the switch on both.(for charging and for TM's?)
This is kinda a question?because
Not 100% sure about that statement,but pretty sure.

 

[russ010]

Russ, Have you thought about installing a battery shut off switch t brake the parallel after charging? might be a better (quicker) way rather than disconnecting them each trip

Wayne

I just started looking into that after the optima guy mentioned it to me... All I do now is unhook the post terminal since I'm using automotive terminals. I could probably use that though. I've fished with a guy who had 1 bad battery hooked in parallel. He unhooked the bad battery, then only used the one good one and made a big difference... I guess a switch would be beneficial. I'm going to find a diagram of one online to see how it works, and also find a place to mount it..

 

[Captain Ahab]

Russ - My big boat has two such switches (one outside the cabin one inside)- they were an easy install

Although my batteries are not run in parallel - they could be if I so needed and I could configure the battery selector switch to accommodate that



https://www.go2marine.com/product.do?no=16273F

 

[russ010]

awesome - that's what I'm looking for. I didn't know how big they were, but I know exactly where to put them. I think I may add a 3rd battery in that parallel series as well... but then I would have 5 batteries in that 12' boat.

2 in the rear for 2 separate trolling motors
3 in the front running the trolling motor and all electronics.. I wouldn't add the 3rd if I wasn't going to put in the radio - but I'm going to hold off adding the 3rd until I see how much power I have left after a day of fishing with all the electronics

 

[Captain Ahab]

Russ those switches are about actual size

They are maybe 5" across the base and recess about 4"

 

[baptistpreach]

Not bad for those Wal-Mart batteries! You're getting some good usage out of them!