Batteries and other boat electrical

[hunterfishercamper]

I have an optima deep cycle battery that runs everything in my boat. When trailered the alternator on the truck charges the battery on the boat. I have 8 small 12v 7.2 amh batteries also. Would it be beneficial to wire two of these up to the optima? Would they charge while the truck was plugged in? I was hoping to run the nav lights and interior lights off the two smaller batteries at night rather than pull that power off the big battery. This would be only temporary until I can afford a second full size battery.

I am also planning on adding in a solar charger to help extend my trolling time a bit. I will have a switch on this so when the truck is plugged in i dont destroy it (or is this not necessary?). 3 wire plug in bow, plug in the truck, two wires go hot, one runs to a relay, relay (normally closed) opens interrupting the circuit from the solar charger. That way I dont have to remember to do it myself.

I have been also toying with the idea of having a light sensor on the boat. When it gets dark the lights will turn on. I think it would be more for the novelty of the idea since I would still need a switch to turn the lights off when the boat is not in use/trailered.

 

[Bob Landry]

I think that if you start throwing different batteries together, you are going to run into charging issues because of different battery type, age, capacity, and condition. I would roll with the single battery until I could afford a second one. If your truck has a 7 pin connector, it woulf be easy enough to wire yiur battery to charge while the truck is running. They do it all the time on travel trailers. You may have to remember to unplug it when you stop for long periods to keep the boat battery from discharging back through the plug. I've always been a subscriber to the idea that simple is better.

if your boat motor, assuming you have one, has an alternator output, you can use an automatic chargin relay to help charge your TM battery while you are running. That's another story for another thread.

 

[hunterfishercamper]

I have the seven prong and I also have a relay set up so if the key is off the trailer wiring (and any of accessories I wire to it) receive no power. I always disconnect the trailer before it touches water. I was afraid the batteries wouldn't work together, I'll just add a disconnect in for the lights where I can plug then into the smaller batteries when ever I am out at night.

 

[TNtroller]

why not consider LED lights instead of adding another battery, pretty sure they weight less than a new battery, may cost less or the same, but would save on the weight in the boat, and save some go go juice for the TM

 

[hunterfishercamper]

The interior lights are going to be an led strip. I am debating on running lights around the entire boat so the whole interior is lit up or chopping it up and providing light to a select few areas. I was going to replace the navigation lights with leds also. Anybody ever just replaced the bulbs with the led replacement bulbs? Its a lot cheaper than replacing the entire light.

 

[dahut]

why not consider LED lights instead of adding another battery, pretty sure they weight less than a new battery, may cost less or the same, but would save on the weight in the boat, and save some go go juice for the TM

This. +1