Wiring an fl-8 off the bow

[SWMuskeye]

Hey guys, I'm sure one of you has done this before.

I just tried to splice the power cable into my trolling motor power cable, but it doesn't work. I have the positive and the negative connected at the right places, but I get no power. When I hook it up to my ice fishing battery it works, but I want to be able to use it with the regular battery power thus saving room and keeping it on the bracket I just installed.

Do I need a fuse for this? Or am I doing something wrong? Thanks in advance for the replies.

-MB

[Grabs]

Well one piece of advice, don't use your trolling motor battery unless all you want to see is noise on your FL-8.

The trolling motor will create noise on the GND line of that battery which is used as a reference by the Vex. If the Vex's reference is noisy it will read garbage.

My advice and what many others have done would be to just use the batteries that come with it, they last for ever while on the water and if you use them in the summer instead of storing them you'll get more life out of them also. This is what we do now and just tuck the batteries in the bow storage area. Works great and no noise from the trolling motor.

[This message has been edited by Grabs (edited 07-11-2003).]

[irvingdog]

Ditto to what Grabs said..........

[SWMuskeye]

Sounds great fellas, I'll do just that. Thanks again!

[walleyewacker]

I have my FL18 coming from the trolling motor battery and it works just fine. What could be the difference?

[mrmillelacs]

i hooked up my fl8 to my bow a few years agoand was very disappointed with the ability to see the read out