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What would you do? - Battery related
Posted on 6/4/25 at 3:10 pm
Posted on 6/4/25 at 3:10 pm
Last year I fished all day with the livewell on (timer) and at the end of the day the boat wouldn't crank. I replaced the cranking battery when I got home and all was good.
Fast forward to last Saturday and I was on the same body of water and the same thing happened. I know why- I trolled around with the LW on all day and didn't run the big motor much at all. Both times I swapped the cables over from a trolling battery and barely made it to weigh in.
What do you recommend to keep from getting stranded other than crank the big motor every few hours? I don't really have room for an extra battery.
I'll probably just start carrying a small boost box in the boat so I can jump it off.
Thanks in advance
Fast forward to last Saturday and I was on the same body of water and the same thing happened. I know why- I trolled around with the LW on all day and didn't run the big motor much at all. Both times I swapped the cables over from a trolling battery and barely made it to weigh in.
What do you recommend to keep from getting stranded other than crank the big motor every few hours? I don't really have room for an extra battery.
I'll probably just start carrying a small boost box in the boat so I can jump it off.
Thanks in advance
9
Posted on 6/4/25 at 3:19 pm to SCwTiger
quote:
start carrying a small boost box in the boat so I can jump it off
This. They're cheap and work really well. Everyone should have one in their boat anyway
You could add a solar charger for the cranking battery, that might be enough to keep the battery hot enough to make a crank. Otherwise your only options are to reduce the load on the battery or get a bigger/better battery. You might consider adding a small lithium battery dedicated to the livewell since this is a normal use case for you. It should take a relatively small lithium battery to run a livewell pump 12-14 hours.
This post was edited on 6/4/25 at 3:21 pm
Posted on 6/4/25 at 3:22 pm to SCwTiger
A second battery ran in parallel would be the ideal solution or a house battery.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 3:26 pm to SCwTiger
quote:
small boost box
Get this but just crank your motor every hour or so and let it run for 5-10 min.
Noco boosters are pretty great and small.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 3:40 pm to SCwTiger
Battery disconnect switch that when you run the cranking battery down you can flip the switch and boost off the trolling motor battery. Wire it permanent and you don't have to carry anything, raise the cover, flip the switch, and you're on the way.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 3:53 pm to SCwTiger
Lithium crank battery. If not that, make sure your charging system is working. I had this happen a few times a couple years ago and found out my fusible link was blown and my motor was not charging the battery despite running just fine.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 3:54 pm to Barneyrb
quote:
Battery disconnect switch
I've never seen this before but looks like a great solution without finding room for another battery. Thanks!
Posted on 6/4/25 at 4:28 pm to SCwTiger
I have one of these, though a slightly different model/version. Keep it off while stored so kiddos don't screw around and turn on any electronics by mistake. Can still charge while in off position.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 6:21 pm to Barneyrb
Instead of a simple on and off get a 3 way switch.
West marine.
You can have a switch for crank battery, deep cycle battery, all of them and off.
West marine.
You can have a switch for crank battery, deep cycle battery, all of them and off.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 6:26 pm to bbvdd
What’s the proper way to use one of those?
Posted on 6/4/25 at 6:53 pm to WeagleEagle
There are three bolts/posts on the back. Positive from crank battery goes to one post
Positive from deep cycle goes to second post
Last post goes to starter.
They’re pretty easy.
Positive from deep cycle goes to second post
Last post goes to starter.
They’re pretty easy.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 7:27 pm to SCwTiger
Get a lifepo4 battery for the live well. You don't need anything massive for a little recirculation pump.
Posted on 6/4/25 at 9:06 pm to SCwTiger
If your motor company warns against lithium batteries an X2 AGM battery from Battery Plus is as powerful as you can get without going the lithium route.
I agree tho the boost pack is a good option if you know for a fact your alternator and battery are working well
I agree tho the boost pack is a good option if you know for a fact your alternator and battery are working well
Posted on 6/4/25 at 9:11 pm to SCwTiger
Get a blue seas “add a battery” kit and add a deep cycle house battery and ACR. Starting batteries aren’t really made to be discharged deeply repeatedly. The ACR will allow your starting battery to stay charged and still give the house some juice when you crank the engine.
Posted on 6/5/25 at 9:44 am to SCwTiger
Why not run your live well off the deep cycle?
Posted on 6/5/25 at 9:57 am to commode
Its standard practice to run all the accessories off the cranking battery for small boats. Sounds like OP is leaving the pump running all day and not on a timer cycle.
Deep cycle batteries dont really last any longer than cranking batteries of equal size. They just handle being fully discharged and recharged better than cranking batteries. The internal construction is different, but reserve capacity is reserve capacity and its going to be very similar on similarly sized batteries.
Lithium is a totally different animal. You can package a mega shitload of energy into those things.
Deep cycle batteries dont really last any longer than cranking batteries of equal size. They just handle being fully discharged and recharged better than cranking batteries. The internal construction is different, but reserve capacity is reserve capacity and its going to be very similar on similarly sized batteries.
Lithium is a totally different animal. You can package a mega shitload of energy into those things.
Posted on 6/5/25 at 11:06 am to DownshiftAndFloorIt
quote:
This. They're cheap and work really well. Everyone should have one in their boat anyway
Second that motion.
I had a 19 foot center console with a 70 HP 2 stroke in the Carribean for several years and once, when I was about 5 miles offshore, the engine went dead and would not turn over because the battery was dead. This engine had low compression so it would start with about 1/10th of a turn of the flywheel. Almost like it had an on/off switch. I had a small, about 12" by 18" solar panel on the T-Top that kept the batteries topped off while it was in the slip. I was pretty close to panicked because this wasn't an area with much shipping or boating to flag down LOL. I decided to tie the solar panel directly to the cranking battery and low and behold the solenoid made...did not turn it over but it kicked the starter up to the flywheel. I let it charge for about 5 miniutes and tried it again. It fired right up. When I got back to the hill I disconnected the battery all together and had the solar panel tied directly to the engine leads. Thing would fire right up, every time. Never left the hill like that but it was reassuring that it might work if needed.
Posted on 6/5/25 at 2:14 pm to bbvdd
Dedicated house battery for all electronics and dedicated cranking battery strictly for motor is the way to go.
But on a smaller boat like that, I would probably just get a noco like you said, or a bigger battery. Don’t know what size your current one is but I would guess a group 24 at most. Look at a group 27 or group 31.
I agree lithium would be best, but that can open up another can of worms regarding charging system from engine.
I guess you could also just wire up an emergency parallel switch with one of your trolling motor batteries to crank battery (Not all obviously, you need 12V not 24/36V). Not sure I’m a fan of that but I guess it would work.
Only issue is if you’re engine isn’t starting because you’ve been trolling around, that means your trolling motor battery might not have the juice it needs either
But on a smaller boat like that, I would probably just get a noco like you said, or a bigger battery. Don’t know what size your current one is but I would guess a group 24 at most. Look at a group 27 or group 31.
I agree lithium would be best, but that can open up another can of worms regarding charging system from engine.
I guess you could also just wire up an emergency parallel switch with one of your trolling motor batteries to crank battery (Not all obviously, you need 12V not 24/36V). Not sure I’m a fan of that but I guess it would work.
Only issue is if you’re engine isn’t starting because you’ve been trolling around, that means your trolling motor battery might not have the juice it needs either
This post was edited on 6/5/25 at 2:17 pm
Posted on 6/5/25 at 3:10 pm to DownshiftAndFloorIt
18' w/150hp - two trolling batteries and one cranking.
The reason it ran down is I trolled 95% of the day without cranking the motor with livewell on timer mode and I had two units running with livescope all day.
Most days I run around the lake every few hours but these times I fished all day without cranking the motor until late.
I think I'll get a lithium cranking battery if I can find one for <$300. I've got no idea how much they are.
Thanks again for all the replies.
The reason it ran down is I trolled 95% of the day without cranking the motor with livewell on timer mode and I had two units running with livescope all day.
Most days I run around the lake every few hours but these times I fished all day without cranking the motor until late.
I think I'll get a lithium cranking battery if I can find one for <$300. I've got no idea how much they are.
Thanks again for all the replies.
Posted on 6/5/25 at 4:06 pm to SCwTiger
Lithium batteries are expensive and have some unique installation requirements. I personally dont like the idea of using one for a cranking battery (yet) because of the protection system.
If you get the specs for the pump you have, the intervals it runs at, and how long you want the battery to last I can tell you how much battery you need.
If you get the specs for the pump you have, the intervals it runs at, and how long you want the battery to last I can tell you how much battery you need.
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