Battery question for you trollers

My wife and I are fishing a small tournament Saturday from 7-2. I plan on pulling cranks all day. My question: I'm currently using 2 Series 29 Wal Mart deep cycle batteries on my Terrova 80 and have not been running them down in 5+ hours of pulling at 1.7-2.0. I have an extra pair of deep cycle batteries that I'm putting in the boat as back-ups. I have wiring to run both sets of batteries in parallel. Would I be better off to go ahead from the start and run them parallel or wait to see if I should see my main batteries start to fade before hooking the back-up set up?

Thats a toss up Doug. If you run out you can always use main motor. This way you dont have to carry extra bats and worry about charging later.

If it were me I would go ahead and put them in parralel, you wont have to worry about them then and worry about catching fish during the tourney. Tourney day needs so be simple, enuff will happen without stacking on another possibility. Good luck to yall!!!!

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Originally Posted by wilbur

Thats a toss up Doug. If you run out you can always use main motor. This way you dont have to carry extra bats and worry about charging later.

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Bill, I thought about putting my trolling plate on the Yamaha but my wife has never trolled with the big motor running. I think the batteries are my best option.

you have a given amount of amp hours in each battery. If you run down two and then switch to the fresh two,or run all four should give you the same total amp hours.....or the same amount of trolling time at a given level. And I am pretty sure I'm right on that.

Doug let me know what ya figure out cause I'm gonna put on a extra set when we go to shelbyville in a few weeks,,besides I think pulling cranks with the trolling motor catches more fish,,,I was gonna just put 2 quick disconnects on mine and when one set got weak pop the door open and plug right into the fresh ones,,,good luck,,,,

I'm using 4 in parallel I am good for 8 hours on a much heaver boat or so I think. I would go ahead and put them in parallel and be done with it. If you want to stay with two batteries in the long run I have looked at the 12 volt golf batteries at sam's they are rated at 155 amp hours. for people that run two batteries it is the same as having three batteries. I would imagine it would take care of any future problems.

Don

The 80 lb. Terrova is a 24 volt motor.....it takes two 12 volt batteries wired in series to be 24 volts.....4 batteries wired in series is 48 volts so not gonna work....ok..if you wire in parallel no matter how many batterys you get 12 volts so thats not going to work for a 24 volt motor. I think you are confused.....I think your two batteries are wired in series not parallel

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Originally Posted by "G"

The 80 lb. Terrova is a 24 volt motor.....it takes two 12 volt batteries wired in series to be 24 volts.....4 batteries wired in series is 48 volts so not gonna work....ok..if you wire in parallel no matter how many batterys you get 12 volts so thats not going to work for a 24 volt motor. I think you are confused.....I think your two batteries are wired in series not parallel

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G,
I thinks this is what he has in mind,

Attachment 214391

I would use 2 batteries at a time. If one set is older or in weaker condition it can put a drain on the better set. I used to run 1 old and 1 new in parallel and did not see much increase in run time from just the 1 new.

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Originally Posted by strmwalker

G,
I thinks this is what he has in mind,

Attachment 214391

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Ok.....yeh that will work.....two sets wired in series and then connected in parallel......I just got lost there for a minute lol

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Originally Posted by strmwalker

G,
I thinks this is what he has in mind,

Attachment 214391

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That was my plan on them. Looks confusing as all get-out, doesn't it? I have easy access to all 4 batteries so I may just wire in the back-up set to the Terrova once the main set gives up the ghost.

Weather for Saturday looks iffy and my wife is not comfortable out there in rough water and KY Lake can look like the ocean when the wind gets up. We have the chance to weigh in early if the fish cooperate or the weather gets nasty. Got to keep her happy. She did get a new fancy rain suit for the tourney.

Thanks for the input.

Thanks strmwalker that is what i meant to say. Sort of figured most would know what I was talking about. Will try to explain it better next time.

Don

Ranger 61 is exactly correct - when connected in parallel - in your case, two sets - you are only as good as your weakest link. The batteries hooked in parallel will equalize with each other as the good ones try to "charge" the bad ones. Using just two at a time will actually get you a longer run time, but if the batteries are close to size and capability, you may be better off hooking all four up (like in the diagram), and be done with it. As another person said, you could always hook them all up and use a switch to go from one set to the other.

Whatever you do, just be sure to have a good time, and catch some fish!!

theysaid

I run MAXX 29's on my predator 861 and pull 8 hours with a terrova, no problem.,,, Just saying you may just want to have them incase.....

Thanks to all who replied. I put the extra pair of batteries in the boat with the wiring necessary to hook them up. The weather got bad and we cut our day short by a couple of hours so we didn't need them. Hopefully the info provided here will help somebody else.

BTW, we won the tournament! Post on KY Forum.