what battery to hook my radio up to?

[montana49er]

I am installing a radio on my boat and seeing what people think. should i use trolling deepcycle batt or starting batt?

[morepower02]

Always use the starting battery for the engine and the boats electronics. Only run the troll motor off the troll battery-batteries.

[speednut]

Not an expert, but I wouldn't hook up anything else to the trolling battery. Your starting battery will recharge whenever the motor is running, and you may need all the juice in the deep cycle for a full day of fishing.

[gunner55]

+1 for starting battery & only TM on front batteries.

[Brad B]

I am installing a radio on my boat and seeing what people think. should i use trolling deepcycle batt or starting batt?

I would put nothing to the trolling motor battery because it will cause electrical interfrence. you can hook it to the starting battery but you need to have some way to tell the condition of your battery. you would hate to get into a situation where you can't start the motor due to a low battery. I recommend adding a third battery if you have the room. run all you electrical accessories off of that(ie : fish finders, radio, VHF radio if you have one, & lights inside the boat. this is how I set my boat up. I have a dedicated starting battery and a dedicated trolling battery and then the last battery runs my finders,radio, vhf radio, & my rope lights I have in the boat for night fishing. if my accessories battery dies I can just move the one set of cables to the starting battery and can run the finder/gps if I need to. I normally don't have to worry about running the batteries that low since I charge them each night after I am done for the day. one ofther thing I recommend is to add a on board charger if you don't have one already. they make taking care of the batteries easier. I have a 2 bank in back for the accessory battery and the starting battery and a 1 bank charger in front for the trolling motor battery. if you motor is newer and larger it should have the means to charge your starting battery when the main motor is running.

[bobbymalone]

anybody know a ballpark number on the current draw of a radio?

I'm guessing we are talking about a car stereo sort of thing?

[bobbymalone]

you would hate to get into a situation where you can't start the motor due to a low battery.

jumper cables or battery switch.

I keep a set of cables in the boat, just like i do my car. I've jumped my own starting battery off the deep cycle and i've saved someone out on the river that ran their radio too long.

[chris63]

If your talking a am/fm radio it is about 1to2 amps unless were talking amp with subs and big boomers.A vhf two way radio will draw around 4to7 amps while transmitting but just monitoring the frequency will be around .75 to 1.5 amp depending on the model.I would have another battery along for starting and jumper cables just in case you need them.Nothing worse than being alone out of range,(vhf) low on battery power and you hear the click no start!(At that point cables are rendered useless too!)c63

[ClownColor]

Hmmmmm...now i'm confused and will have to double check what i do but i "thought" starting battery gets motor only and all else on trolling battery. Both my batteries are agm so there made for both applications but its nice to know you have juice to get you off the lake when you need to go. I also don't recall getting interferiance but i will look into it.

So i will bouble check but:

Motor=own battery

Everything else=seperate battery

Ps i only have room for two but would love 3 batteries

[raymondk]

I put everything on trolling motor battery except the dept finder I fish smaller lakes and use trolling motor more then I use the big motor I even have to put a charger on every once in a while the charging system on the motor just doesn't keep up unless I fish bigger lakes . when it is time to leave the lake the last thing I want to worry about is a dead battery!!!

[delcecchi]

I run everything except the trolling motor off the starting battery.

[yaggie]

Agreed with everything running off starter battery. Any newer fish finder can be set to give an alarm when voltage drops to near what is needed to start the motor. I keep a charged backup battery just in case needed. A standard radio should not be a large drain on the battery but as said earlier, if you run an additional amp and speakers, good luck. Livewell pumps will pull more power than a radio by far. You should always be able to find room for a spare small gel battery just for emergencies.