Yet another battery question...

[VBTravisD]

Hey fellas, been away for a lil while. Dealing with life issues (arent we all)... now things are getting back on track and I get to start doing the things I like to do again.... fishing

Anyways... onto the facts... I am going to be doing a lot of night fishing for speckled trout. Obviously i'm gonna need nav lights. I also have a 40# minn kota riptide (pretty energy efficient motor). I wont be relying on just the trolling motor, it will be more for repositioning the boat. I currently run it off of a group 24 deep cycle. I would like to run a radio (like russ's) except with 2 small 5" speakers and one day here soon I plan on getting a fish finder, nothing crazy just a lil $100 one to help get the job done.

Now, the questions... how should I power it all? Do the nav lights, radio and fish finder take much juice to run? I see where some guys run a 24V system, others run a small lawn mower battery... The nav lights will be going for a few hours, the trolling motor will be used intermitantly, radio will probably be going most of the time and when I do get a fish finder, it will most likely be on. What do you guys think?

 

[BaitCaster]

I am currently in the install process, but when it is all done I will have my trolling motor, bilge pump, aerator and nav lights running off of one deep cycle battery (180 ah). I will also have 2 fish finders each runjning on an independent small 12v battery. If I was doing a lot of night fishing with large spotlights i would probably have them on a dedicated battery.

 

[VBTravisD]

Cool man, looking forward to hearing how it works out! We're not really running spot lights, just gonna have a handheld spot... when that goes, no biggie.

How much juice does a radio take?

 

[redbug]

will you have a gas motor?
if not and you are night fishing you might want to have a second battery as at least a back up.
a single 24group battery is on the small side for an all electric boat. If it were me i would go to a size 31 group battery and stay close to sure
2 27 group batteries would be the way to go for night fishing and feeling confident that i will have power to male it back after dark

 

[VBTravisD]

Yeah, I got a 9.9 on the back to get me there and back. The TM is to get me into a spot without spooking the fish.

 

[redbug]

Yeah, I got a 9.9 on the back to get me there and back. The TM is to get me into a spot without spooking the fish.

okay with the fact that you have a gas motor the 24 group may do the job.
I would still think about getting a 27 group when it comes time to replace the motor.

 

[VBTravisD]

Yeah, I think I will go ahead and pick up a 27 battery... can you wire 2 different group sized batteries together in parallel?

Anyone know how long a radio lasts on a deep cycle?

 

[russ010]

My radio, livewell pump, 1 color sonar and fill pump all run off of one 24 series Deep Cycle battery from AutoZone.. It lasts all day long with the finder (which pulls a lot of juice), radio and livewell pump running continuously.

On the front system, I have 2 - 31 series in parallel for a 24v trolling motor. I have my front nav lights and another color fishfinder going off it on the 12v battery. The fish finder will start cutting off midday if I'm heavy on the trolling motor, but it only cuts off when I'm in the highest setting on the trolling motor.

I would get another 24 series battery to run all your electronics off of.. if you aren't going to be on the trolling motor that much, you should be fine though.

By the way... I had to get a new radio. The one in the pictures on my post now got a little wet (OK, it was drowned) when I left the tarp off and it got rained on. I had the plug out, but the way it was parked in my driveway was backwards and the water all ran to the front. Here is the radio I have in there now and I like it 10 times better... Jensen Marine MSR 2107

 

[VBTravisD]

Thanks for the info. How much juice do nav lights use? I think I will wire up 2 24's in parallel.

Anyone seeing any issues if I wired up a 12V LED and use the cover for my bow light making it an LED bow light? Same theory with the anchor light?

 

[tripleup05]

On the front system, I have 2 - 31 series in parallel for a 24v trolling motor.

I'm in need of a little education here. I thought if you wired two 12v batteries in parallel, you would still only have 12v, just with twice the capacity. So how are your parallel wired batts running the 24v motor?

 

[redbug]

On the front system, I have 2 - 31 series in parallel for a 24v trolling motor.

I'm in need of a little education here. I thought if you wired two 12v batteries in parallel, you would still only have 12v, just with twice the capacity. So how are your parallel wired batts running the 24v motor?

you will get 24 volts if you run them in series parallel will give you 12 volts..