Boat Batteries

Quick question. Do you run all your extra electronics on the same deep cycle battery that runs your trolling motor?

i have a dual cycle battery that has always been my 'starting' battery. walmart brand, seems to still be doing great after 3 years. it came with my boat.

my trolling motor battery just died and i replaced it with a walmart deep cycle. it was $58 and that's about all I could afford. when hooking everything up, i use to only have my trolling motor on the deep cycle battery but have also put my other electronics on it as well (which all run through a fuse box I installed a couple of winters ago)

Does this sound right to you? Should my starting cables be the only thing connected to my starting battery? All other electronics should be put on the deep cycle with the trolling motor? Other electronics include two fishfinders, bilge, etc., but of course I'm not running everything at once.

also, the guys at wally world said to not charge my new deep cycle battery until i've run it all the way down. i think they come 80% charged. I fished all day saturday and still have 1/3 juice left in the new deep cycle battery. i still didn't put it on the charger cause I figured i need to run that baby all the way down before doing an initial full charge.

does this sound right?

I have always put my electronics on my starting battery. I believe this is a better setup since the starting battery is brought up by the alternator.

Also I have never heard about discharging a deep cycle fully before charging. That sounds like NiCad battery wisdom to keep them from developing a memory but deep cycles are lead-acid and don't develop a memory. In fact I have always understood that the worst thing you can do with a deep cycle is leave it down. So I always try to charge mine back up as soon as possible.

kc

I agree about charging a lead acid deep cycle up as soon as you get home or. In fact I would recommend that it be put on a trickle type charger that automatically maintains it at full charge. I have one of the newer Minn-Kota Battery chargers that charges fast at first then slows down as the battery comes up to full charge. I think it maintains a trickle charge too but I would have to go read the manual again.

One thing you may want to do is keep the trolling motor connections seperated from the depth finders connections. Not sure but some times you can get an interference in the depth sounder.

I basically only have my starter battery hooked up to the motor. I do have a live well pump and the bilge pump hooked up to that battery but they are seldom used. I think that when I run the motor it's alternator will recharge my starter battery keep it fully charged. I use an Optima Blue Top Cranking battery for the starter battery. I use a Optima Blue Top Deep Cycle Battery for the trolling motor. I am not really sure if this is the best way to do things but it's how I have been doing it for years now and it seems to work for me.
Regards,

Moose1am

bills at thoroughbred chevy on richmond road.

Hey fellas,
Just say this. Anyone in the Lexington area just drop me an email. I can hook you up. If you're in the Louisville area I maybe able to find someone up there willing to give(not the same deal as me), but a similiar deal where you can save some money.

Billy


Redneckshadrap
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