12, 24 or 36 volt system

[ikeslayer]

I am just wondering what the difference is. Is it just a 24/36 volt system if you have 2 or 3 batteries hooked up at once? Does that mean if i have a 12 volt system i will fry my trolling motor or my big motor if i hook up more than one battery at a time? i fish a resivor in Rochester that is t-motor only and i am wondering if could just hook up 2 or three batteries at once and go all day or if this is a big no no. thanks for your help.

ike

[Deitz Dittrich]

I hope someone is an expert on this will chime in... But the difference is in how they are hooked up. If you hook a 12 volt moter up to 2 batteries you will have some serious problems. I know people who hae hooked 2 patteries up to a 12 volt t-mot.

The advantages you get from the 24 and 26 volt is run time and strength...they usually are higher lb thrust and can run for longer as you you have more battery.

I would re-post this question in the equipment forum, I think surface tension and airjer know the answer to this question.

[SluggoMaster]

[Note from admin: Please read forum policy before posting again. Thank you.]

[Meat-Run]

I would look up Marine-Man. He seems to have allot of knowledge in this stuff.

mr

[RK]

Hiya -

Here's more or less how this goes...

A 12-volt trolling motor should only run on a 12-volt system. Some TMs are 12/24 volt, so they can run on either 12 or 24 volts. 24 gives you more power.

A 24 volt system is wired with two 12 volt batteries wired in series. On my boat, the batteries are "jumped" at the batteries themselves. You have a positive lead and a negative lead coming from the trolling motor. The positive lead is hooked to the positive post on battery A, and the negative lead is hooked to the negative post on battery B. A jumper wire then crosses from the negative post on battery A to the positive post on battery B. The result is 12v + 12v = 24v. You could do the same thing with 2 6 volt batteries to make a 12v system if you wanted to. Some boats are wired so there are individual leads to both batteries, and you hook up all 4 posts, then the power is jumped in the trolling motor plug, usually with a small piece of metal between a couple of posts. I hate those things. A little corrosion (not hard to come by when you have current flow in a wet, humid environment like a boat) and they can heat up and melt, usually when you're drawing lots of juice like in big wind - exactly when you don't want your TM to [PoorWordUsage] out on you. If I get a boat that has that set-up, I rewire it.

On the other hand... If you have, say, a 12 volt TM, and want more run-time by adding another battery, you'd wire the batteries in parallel. Wiring batteries in parallel, voltage doesn't change - it stays 12v. But you add the amp hours (AH) of both batteries. Connect the TM to the positive and negative posts on battery A, and run jumpers from positive post to positive post and negative post to negative post between batteries A and B. Wired this way, if you have battery A with 100 AH and battery B with 150 AH, you end up with a 12v, 250 AH battery. No more power - 12v is 12v - but more AH to draw, so increased run time before discharge. Back when my boat had a 12v TM, I ran two 31-series deep cycles in parallel, and I could fish for two days without a charge when I had to. For trips to Canada where I didn't have a way to charge batteries when we camped on islands, I'd add a third battery. You can add an infinite number in parallel.

Whether you're wiring two batteries in series for a 24v or in parallel for a 12v system with more AH, the batteries have to be the same type (both deep cycles) and it's better if they're the same age, or things can get funky when you charge them. One over charges, one under-charges...unless you have an onboard charger with individual battery leads for each battery. Sometimes even then things don't work right depending on the charger make and function. Bottom line - always buy and replace multi-battery systems in pairs, whether it's 12 or 24v.

Hope that helps...

cheers,

Rob Kimm

[EBass]

FYI - I was posting about voltage in the expert equip forum and found out that the price of batteries doubled.

I called batteries plus and the Trojan 27 series are $130 a piece. It was $75 in the fall of 05.

Cripes, the price of fishing these days.

[MattWtech]

im planning on buying a new 36 volt system cause it only draws like 4-5 amps, thats what drains batteries. compared to the 24 volt which draws like 6-7 or the 12 volt which draws almost 10 amps, less amporage draw = the more time on the water..and god knows we all need more time on the water. plus..more power haha I WANT 100 LB BOOST!! higher voltage does not mean less amporage draw though, just the design of the systems and thats what its turning out to be, these 36 volts are good

and yea sorry battery prices are cha ching'ing..there all switchin to this lithium dump and gel filled ones. i dont know tons about those batteries though. wish i did

[river rat316]

You'll love the 36 volt, I have a 109 that I "stole" from Agape a year ago and love it, I am getting the shaft shortened this year cause I fish the river mainly and its a bit to long, thats my only complaint on this motor. Otherwise in my boat even with spring runoff at its peak and the flow pushing hard I can move up current if I need to, to get out of a snag or whatever. The great thing about the big motor for fishing the river is I can hang in the current all day and I dont have to go into the slack water Im fishing and spook the fish. Ohhh and when the waters low I recharge like once every 5-8 trips and even then its still not less than 50% power left!