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charging trolling motor batteries on the water

GoodGrief

New member
Two 12 volt batteries connected running 24 volt trolling motor up front. Is there a safe way to possibly keep them partcially charged for a day? Example: "Long" jumper cables back to battery for gas motor and hooked up ONLY when the gas motor is running? Not expecting a full charge but it'd be nice to have enough trolling juice for a day depending on how much it's used. I know this probably sounds goofy
 
Isolators are old school technology today. There is an inherant voltage loss of .7 volts with an isolator.
An ACR or VSR would be a much better choice, however, when doing 12 volt chrg to a 24 volt system, I think that there's a better way to go.
You can use a 12/24 combinning system designed to separate the 12 from 24 while charging.


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Jumper cables???? Nah!
I'd wire this in a more permanent fashion.



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Never underestimate technology...what 'll they think of next? Headin' for the lake today...74 F. and 5-10 mph winds...walleyes, put your teeth in, here I come.
 
ACR and VSR are what? I guess what I'm asking is is it safe to do what I described. This is just for a day quick fix if juice gets low. Of course the batteries hit the battery charger back home at the end of the day. Just wondering if it's possible without messing up anything. Kinda like topping them off a couple times when not trolling and gas motoring up the river or where ever
 
ACR = Auto Charge Relay.
VSR = Voltage Sensing Relay.

These units combine battery banks when they sense a certain voltage differential... such as alternator charging one bank......, and then they drop out when the voltage becomes equal within a certain range of one another.
 
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jumper cables on a moving bouncing boat is not the way to go....if you are trolling that much then i would do as the pro bass fishermen do...get a 2nd set of batteries...what ever you do hard wire it in wirh good heavy wire and lugs etc...
 
acr and vsr are what? I guess what i'm asking is is it safe to do what i described. This is just for a day quick fix if juice gets low. Of course the batteries hit the battery charger back home at the end of the day. Just wondering if it's possible without messing up anything. Kinda like topping them off a couple times when not trolling and gas motoring up the river or where ever

unsafe......
 
It never fails to amaze me that there is always someone out there that wants to check the fuel level in the tank w/a lit match!

Be safe! Spend the money on the ACR = Auto Charge Relay and hard wire it in place using 8 ga. wire. Then you'll always have charged batteries on the lake.
 
It never fails to amaze me that there is always someone out there that wants to check the fuel level in the tank w/a lit match!
You mean that isn't safe???? :D

Be safe! Spend the money on the ACR = Auto Charge Relay and hard wire it in place using 8 ga. wire. Then you'll always have charged batteries on the lake.
I agree....... the ACR is a great idea, but it won't allow for the voltage differential from a 12 volt charing system, to a 24 volt trolling motor battery bank.
He still needs the Yandina Trollbridge, or equivilant.
 
One thing to keep in mind:
Keeping a trickle charge on the deep cycle batteries will destroy them. They really need to be completely dead before charging. The higher charging temperatures and natural circulation of electrolite resulting from charging from a dead condition keeps the plates clean. Trickle (low potential) charging leads to treeing and mossing between the cell plates. Once contact between the plates is made, the cell is dead, likely never to recover. If keeping your batteries fully chraged all the time is something you want, OK, but the additional cost will be new batteries more often.
 
I fully agree with not using trickle chargers, they are battery killers!

All due respect, and as politely as I can say this, wet cell batteries should never be discharged to a full, or even near full state of discharge!
A target of 50% SOS should be used!
 
i have a battery on a sewer treatment plant on a houseboat and a trickle charger has been on it for 8 years...i dont know what the amperage draw on it is tho....fused at 50 amps....not a deep cycle...autozone marine i think...
 
You know what else would be neat that im thinking about doing to see if it works decently.... try and get a solar panel and locate it in an out-of-touch spot that will trickle charge batteries all day. As far as jumper cables.... dont do it. If they come loose from the batteries you are trying to charge, you could have an interesting fireworks show in the boat.

Another thing you could try would be to buy an onboard charging system. I have a three bank system for my three batteries. I don't know about a 24 volt system and 12 volt on the same charger might have to go seperate. The system I use is really nice though... as soon as you get home and unloaded, plug the charger in and you can expect all three batteries to be charged to their maximum potential next time you head out. You really don't have to worry about over charging... it is a floating charging which detects the battery's charge and either charges it a little bit of just let's it "float" until it decides to give it a little juice. I strongly recommend these system to anyone that struggles with uncharged batteries. just my 2 cent
 
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Yes I also have an AC cord that I plug in overnight when I get home and my batteries are 8+ years old. Never have I or its former owner had an issue.
 
I get heart healthy nuts for my squirrel and he keeps that belt driven charger going all the time!! No issues here!
 
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