Battery location questions

[Pharcta2]

I'm goint to a 3 battery system this year. One for starting, the other 2 are deep cycles for the trolling motor, accessories, etc. My question is: How far can the batteries be located from the trolling motor? And what gauge wire should I run to the accessories and motor?

Thanks in advance!

[iffwalleyes]

I have mine all they way in the back of my 16 foot running up to the bow mount trolling motor. I have 10 gauge wire on mine and it seems to work just fine.

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Grip it and Rip it

IFFWalleyes
I Fish For Walleyes

[This message has been edited by iffwalleyes (edited 04-11-2003).]

[Kevin Turner]

Are you going to run 4 wires or 2 to the mtr? If you run to wires 16' or more, I would use 6 ga. 4 wires 16' or more I would use 8 ga.

[JIM PAYNE]

THE ONE THING YOU DO NOT WNAT TO DO IS UNDERSIZE THE WIRES TO YOUR TROLLING MOTOR BATTEIES. YOU ALSO DO NOT WANT TO BUY CHEAP WIRE. RADIO SHAKE DOES NOT SALE GOOD QUALITY AUTO WIRE. YOU NEED TO USE A GOOD AUTOMOTIVE GRADE WIRE. 6AWG WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN. GOOD LUCK.

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JIM PAYNE

[musky hunter]

For trolling motor hook up, you want to use a large diameter wire. I believe for my 12 volt Minnkota 65# thrust Auto Pilot that Minnkota recommended and I used 6 Guage wire. I went out and bought jumper cable wire for this. This is heavy stuff. Cost is about $20, yet you can get high quality neoprene coated wire that's perhaps 20' long right in the automotive department of most discount stores. Don't buy the cheap ones. Attatch real battery connecter terminals to the battery end, and solder the other end to the trolling motor quick disconnect leads. Cut the ends off and throw them away. The reason you want large diameter wire is that it will dissapate far less energy as heat. Current passing through a wire heats it up, the more the resistance, the more heat and less energy gets to you're trolling motor, and the less time you spend trolling. Large diameter conductors have far less resistance than small diameter wire. I know the leads from the trolling motor are small, like 12 guage. But don't be fooled, larger is better!

[Guest]

Will mounting the batteries in the bow be a bad idea? I'm afraid the pounding of the waves would be hard on the batteries.

[Guest]

If they are wet cell the plates will crack if they take a beating.

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Mille Lacs Guide Service
651-271-5459
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[Sabaskong]

pharcta2, one thing I seen in your post- run your accesseries of your starting battery and your deep cycles for trolling motor only. I have both mine in the bow and they have took some pretty hard pounding and I've had no problems.

[This message has been edited by stiffrod (edited 04-19-2003).]

[Benny]

I have a three battery set up in my Lund Explorer,one start and one deep in the back one deep cycle up in the bow storage.The bow storage battery went out on me in the first year and it was a new battery.I am going to move it top side in a battery box for a while to see if it holds up better.I had to mount the storage battery right on the bottom of the boat to get enough clearance so it took a heavy pounding each time I went out.I also run just the starter off the start battery, the deep cycles can handle a slow drain from a few electronics all night where as the start battery needed a jump from the others to get things rolling after an all night trip to the big pond.
Good luck, Benny

[walleyewacker]

There is a battery compartment in the floor of my '01 lund fisherman. When I stepped up to a 24 volt autopilot I had to use the front left storage compartment in the bow to house both batteries. They both have a battery rack and are strapped down and have had no problem with taking a beating. The compartment in the floor makes a perfect tackle comparment for about five boxes.