Bow mount depth finder interference w trolling motor?????

[Gus]

I'm making some last minute additions to the boat for opener. I just got a puck ducer for my LX5 to mount on the trolling motor. Can I run the power for the LX5 off of my trolling motor battery (easy and clean looking install)? Or should I run it off of my starting battery (Busted knuckel job)? I'm concerned about any interference that may happen by using the trolling motor battery. Those of you with experience please speak up! Time is short. THANKS!

[marine_man]

You'll probably get interference off the trolling motor battery, unless you've got one of the newer motorguide all digital trolling motors that supposedly don't introduce any interference.

I'd run a wire from the starting battery / council. If you've got a Lund Pro V built in the last 2 years there's already a wire up there in the bow compartment.

marine_man

[Satchmo]

What kind of rig do you have??

marine man is right, there may be power/ground wires already up in the bow if you have an Alumacraft or a newer Lund. They are usually tucked up in the bow storage area. OIf there are none, it would be a good idea to run your power back to the starting battery.

[Random guy]

I had an old boat that I tapped into the front navi light wire. I had to flip the navi switch on to power up the finder but saved tearing the boat apart and trying to chew a path though all the foam.

[Trouthunter]

I think he has a 1978 lund 16'er

[Gus]

Thanks guys. Boat is a 1978 Lund Mr. Pike. I do have power to tap into under the dash but running a wire under the front deck I built isn't going to be easy...unless... I guess I just drill a small access hole. Oh heck that shouldn't be too hard. Thanks again guys!

[Random guy]

Need a hand Gus? I have weapons...err tools for the job.

[bigb56303]

hey gus you can run your unit off of your trolling motor battery all you have to do is run a ground wire from the trolling battery to the main starting battery this will take care of any interference, i have my vex fl8 on the bow of my boat with a puck ducer on a minkota power drive, i got a install manual with the ducer that said you may need to run the ground, i tried it with out but i did install the ground and it works great. good luck

[Dusty]

I use my sealed 12v battery that I use in the winter on my FL8. I put it up front,plug it into my bow mount locator and I am good to go for two to three days. When it gets low pull it out and recharge it over night.

[Gus]

Hey everyone thanks for all the help. Lots of good info and ideas. I got it all installed last night. Two new loactors on the boat this year! whoohoo! Good luck fishing everyone. I leave in 15 minutes!

Leave the drinking for the cabin, nobody deserves to die fishing. Be safe!

[Gus]

Ok guys. I'm back from the opener. Fishing was good but my install of the LX5 didn't go so hot. Interference caused by the trolling motor operation!

So I did run the power back to the starting battery. When the LX5 was used the only thing running was the trolling motor which it is attached to. I could read the bottom just fine in red, but the entire water column was filled with clutter yellow in color on the flasher. Adjusting the gain did not help nor did hitting the IR button. It performed perfect when I would turn the trolling motor off. SO I think it's picking up some electrical interference from the motor operation. Anyone have any ideas on how to curb this? Do you think it's coming into the system from the ducer itself, or the ducer cord ziptied to the motor? This weekend I plan to do some on the water testing as ChuckN suggested to me but can anyone offer some more opinions on how to deal with this? Thanks much.

[Surface Tension]

Where are your batteries located and what do you have for accessories? If both are at the stern then hook your aux leads to your starting battery.

[Gus]

Trolling motor battery is in the bow with nothing else attached to it. The starting battery is in the stern with just about everything else attached to it. (motor, trim, fuse pannel for dash with all guages, dash graph, and lights). While in use the only thing I had running was the existing graph. I had no interference until I needed to run the trolling motor. To me that seems like I must be getting some electrical interferece from the electric motor itself. Am I off base? Maybe I need to use my gel cell battery which wouldn't be the end of the world. But the way I see this behaving now I'm kind of thinking that the interference will still be there no matter what battery I use.

[bigb56303]

all you have to do is run a ground from the neg post of your trolling motor battery to the neg of your starting battery put a inline fuse in the wire just in case it ever came in contact with a positive terminal or it got hooked up wrong this will fix your problem i had the same issues with my vex and did this and the interferece is gone

[Gus]

I'll give that a shot next Bigb! thanks!

[jerkin'm]

I have the exact same issue w/my Lx5 on the trolling motor. Had the Lx3 in the same mount and worked fine last year, so I will be waiting to see what works for you...

[marine_man]

What do you have for a trolling motor? I don't think connecting the grounds will do much good for you since you are connected to the starting battery already... interference typically has to do with the ground though.. what did you connect your ground power wire to under the council?

I know that iffwalleyes mounted his LX-5 to his new Minnkota PD-65 trolling motor and fished with it over the weekend... not sure if he was running the trolling motor or not though... I'll see what I can find out from him...

marine_man

[JWB475]

I didn't bother snaking wires through my boat and just wired my LX-3 to the trolling motor batteries, one push of the IR button and I am interference free.

[jerkin'm]

Mine is on a Minnkota Maxxum 74#, The wires are connected to the panel up front (which goes to the starting battery). Have had a vexilar and LX3 on the same t-motor with the same panel hookup and no problems. I just took off the LX3 this winter and put the LX5 on the exact same wires....Strange....And ANNOYING....

[ChuckN]

Your having these problems jerky?

I tied my MarCum (previous LX-3 and now the LX-5) into the power wires inside the front dashboard...positive and negative that powers the livewell pump(s)-starting battery- and no interference at all...ever..

[Gus]

Trolling motor is an older Minnkota auto piolot. Not sure if I should call it powerdrive or not. It has the white head and I bought it second hand off this great site a few years back.

I ran a wire back to the battery and did not go through the pannel under the dash as there were so many things already connected to it I figured it just might be safer to run it it's own wire. I used a trailer wire harness for wiring so I can disconnect it if desired. Maybe this is a problem? I can hardly wait to get back into the water this weekend to try out some of the suggestions. Keep em coming guys.

[ChuckN]

Gus, I run a similar MK....older 24V AP, white top.

I don't recommend running a trolling motor out of water (I've heard seals can get hot), but in a situation like this I won't work over water. Have you tried some trial and error out of the water...like dry run the motor/flasher briefly to see if there is interference? You won't hurt the flasher or transducer by running out of water...

I think I remember hearing about issues like this years ago with Vex's and I thought I remember someone recommended taking a thin piece of rubber and wrap it around the motor head and then take a metal strap and attach the transducer over the rubber. It reduces vibration/sound??? Worth a try?

[jerkin'm]

Yeah, Chuckie, not good. I was thinking of trying the rubber gasket thing first. I have my best man on it right now.