Battery question

[Twins 57 Fan]

I recently bought a new starting battery to connect just to my enigine. I want to connect all of my other electronics to their own battery. Can I use a starting battery to run the electronics, or does it have to be a deep cycle.

I have it hooked up now to a starting battery and everything works, just trying to be safe and make sure I am not doing anything stupid. What are your thoughts?

[redhooks]

I think your depth finder should work on your staring battery but make sure you have an inline fuse on the graph to be safe, only problem is that you may get power surges when starting your motor.

[boatfixer]

You are fine using the starting battery.

[BobT]

Quote:

I recently bought a new starting battery to connect just to my enigine. I want to connect all of my other electronics to their own battery. Can I use a starting battery to run the electronics, or does it have to be a deep cycle.

By your description I am assuming you are using a second starting battery to operate your periferals. You can use a starting battery for those devices just fine but if you ever decide to add an electric trolling motor, you may want to reconsider. Sonar uses mA of power. Bilge pumps, livewell pumps, etc., run on low duty cycle and shouldn't add too much drain on your battery. Electric trolling motors however will draw coninuous duty power and starting batteries are not well suited for this application. A deep-cycle battery is your best bet for trolling motors.

[marine_man]

A starting battery will work just fine...

Are you going to charge the extra battery when you get back to shore then?

marine_man

[Twins 57 Fan]

My trolling motor is already hooked up to a 24 volt system in the front of the boat on seperate batteries.

Marine Man - Yes I was hoping to only have to charge it every couple weeks or so. How long do you think it would last to run 2 sonars, lights, radio. etc.?

I suppose I could also run those two batteries in parralel, but I think I would rather just run them seperate so I never have a dead battery when I go to start the boat.

[Eastwind]

All I've used for many years is the following;

One 12 volt deep cycle battery to run a 12 V trolling motor or two 12 V deep cycle batteries to run my current (no pun intended) 24 Volt trolling motor.

The rest, starter, graph, boat lights, radios, etc are all run off of my one starter battery. I've never had a problem and only need to use a charger if the boat is sitting for a while, as in for a few weeks. I've added a main power switch to eliminate problem of various items (radios shorts etc.) drawing down the starting battery charge while the boat is inactive for any period of time.

[BobT]

The only thing I will suggest here is that no battery should be left in a partial charge state any longer than absolutely necessary. Recharge as soon as possible after use and you'll extend the life of your batteries. If you don't mind replacing batteries more often and don't mind going without because the battery failed at a bad time, then let it sit partially discharged for long periods.

[marine_man]

Have you had an issue with a dead starting battery from your accessories before?

As Bob mentioned above, charging them as soon as possible will make your batteries last longer, but once every couple of trips should be enough to not have a dead battery.

If it were me I'd just run your accessories off your starting battery, and keep an eye on your voltage if you run a lot of high drain accessories - spotlights, radio, etc.

marine_man

[Twins 57 Fan]

Thanks for the input.

[WhatsBiting]

You have that new lowrance gps and in the instructions it says to wire in a seperate on off switch and unlessyou have this it still draws power. That is your problem