I have 2 batteries on the boat I'm dealing with. Dad put in an automatic charger for the battery that runs the trolling motor. I plugged it up to an outlet and in a several hours, it was up to 13 volts so I'm good there. My question is for the back battery by the motor. It's showing only 12.36 volts which seems to be about 75% charged. I've only ever used small battery charges for my ATV, deer feeder, and MOJO decoy batteries. I've never had the need to charge up a big battery. The battery charger I got from the boathouse is a Diehard that has settings for 2amp trickle charge, 10amp fast charge, and a 50amp engine start. It also has another switch with "AGM" and "Standard' settings. Should I set it up to charge using the 10amp setting and AGM or what? Once I have it on the correct settings, how long would it take to get it back to fully charged?

If I decide to put some LED lights on the bow, would I hook them into the back or front battery?

Do any of you have a homemade aerator live well. If so, did you hook it into another separate battery or use one of the onboard batteries.

Sorry for all these probably silly questions but again, I'm learning all this stuff for the first time!

Oh, and I got the navigation lights working! Turns out that there was a loose wire that has an end that fits over a battery terminal. Dad evidently just used it when he needed it and the rest of the time he just let it hang loose. It was tangled up with some other wires and I didn't see it until the other night when I was messing with all the wires at the back of the boat. I had a hunch it was for the lights so I just hooked it up to the negative terminal, flipped a switch by sonar mount and BOOM! I had stern and nav lights!

Dr. B

10 amps and standard should work fine. A lot of chargers have a deep cycle setting, but if yours doesn't just use the standard setting. It shouldn't take but an hour or two for that battery, and it should cut itself off in some manner when charging is complete.

The little livewell pumps don't use a lot of power, so you could hook it up either way. Mine runs off the boat battery without an issue, but you could use the other one. Enjoy!

What size is the single battery and how old is it? I run everything off my starter battery except the trolling motor. My main power drain are the two Helix units. I have to place them in standby when I start the O/B, otherwise they power off. My other power drains are front and back live wells and Nav lights. I've got a size 29 battery and I've never needed to charge it after I get home. If I ever run LED's I will also attach them to my starter battery. Except for the two Helix's, I'm rarely running the other stuff continuously at the same time while the O/B is shut off.

If you have a full charge and aren't gonna use the boat for a while I'd put it on trickle charge. A constant 10amp charge is more likely to boil the water out of the battery/will boil water out of the battery over an extended period of time and I've done this vey thing. For peace of mind you could switch it back to 10amps a few hours before you know for certain that you're going out. And if the batteries aren't sitting in battery boxes I'd get a couple and put the batteries in them. That way, IF you have a battery leak it will be contained and not go corroding/eating on other stuff.

Doc, unless I missed it what kind of battery are you running? If it's a sealed lead acid (SLA) or a flooded lead acid (you can add distilled water or electrolyte to these) I would use the standard battery setting and a 2A trickle charge if you're not in a hurry--like Wiley said.

AGM is absorbed/absorbent glass mat and is vastly different from SLA as are GEL batteries.

As for LEDs, you could wire them up to the same battery as the trolling motor either via a direct switch, or use the existing wiring. I wired my LEDs up to use the same wiring as the trolling motor, except I used a relay to actuate them. I know I'll most likely never be using my trolling motor and LEDs at the same time, however. Let me know if you need help sorting any wiring or anything.

Dave

You'll never see any boat dealer run anything off the trolling motor. Believe it or not the bilge and aerator pumps use more power than lights. if you were gonna fish tournaments, I'd tell you to install a PROAIR system. It goes a long way towards keeping fish alive. I've owned a lot of boats. once the batteries are charged I unplug them. Maybe the night before a trip I plug them back in to see how they are holding a charge. If you have a bad battery you'll find one that isn't fully charged. Best to find it before heading to the lake. If possible I'd install a two bank onboard charger. Its a real pain to drag chargers in and out, its even worse once you've had an onboard and only have to run a power cord. good Luck

It’s a 12 volt, Deca brand maintenance free marine battery. Had it charging on 10 amps for about 4 hours this afternoon while at work. When I got home and checked it, it did not charge it at all. However, green light on charger indicated the charge was complete. Still registered at 12.36-12.4 volts. All connections were secure. Whoever put battery in did not peel off the date stickers but I think it was replaced last summer when I had it serviced. Still looking for the receipt that showed what was done. Tomorrow I’ll try a 2 amp trickle charge on with setting on standard and see what happens.

Dr. B

One thing you can try is a meter on the battery while the charger is on just to make sure the charger is working. I wasn’t sure if you used the same charger that your dad used for the other battery. I had a charger once that would show the charge was complete but it wasn’t working at all. You should see 13+ volts on your meter if the charger is putting out.

Tex, are your units wired directly to your Group 29 or routed through a switch panel? I’m guessing a panel. They shouldn’t blip out on startup with that size battery if wired directly. I have a Helix 10 and an 1159 I can run all day and they don’t cut out even when starting the 225. My starting battery is only a 27.

If the charger is working it should be 13.8 volts or above. Some will charge at 16 volts. A battery can show 13 volts and be dead. As soon as you put a load on it it will drop like a rock to a voltage that is consistent with however many cells are actually good. Testing a battery with out a load on it is useless. I have a neat little battery tester that is computerized that will tell me exactly where a battery is at in its lifespan.

Not this exact one but close

Takes a lot of the guess work out of it.

The easiest thing to do with the batteries is to buy and mount a 2 bank marine charger where the batteries are and wire it to the batteries. This is a very easy thing that anyone should be able to do. The other end of the charger will be a basic plug, just plug it into extension cord when you are storing it and it will charge the crank and trolling battery at same time and its a smart charger so it will charge until fully charged and then it will maintain the full charge. It charges at different levels based on if the battery is low or fully charged so you never have to unplug it. it will maintain them for you. It takes all of the guess work out of it. I use my 17 ft tracker maybe 5-10 times a year and the batteries still last forever because they are constantly plugged in and being charged properly. A battery that is constantly being drained and then quick charged will not last long. It needs to be trickle charged/maintained when not in use to help them last longer. If this sounds complicated its not. just google/amazon it. I think i ended up with a promariner 2 bank charger for around $100 and i just walk by it every now and then to make sure the green light is still on and i know im good. if a battery ever goes bad it will alert you of it.

so an update:

I'm charging the battery with a different charger and NOT using an extension cord. The other charger didn't have enough cord length so I had to use an extension cord to reach the boat. I don't know if using the extension cord somehow diluted the charger's ability to charge or if the charger is defective. Either way, the multimeter shows that it's already up to 12.8 while charging so I know it's working now.

DMC, there is an onboard marine charger for the trolling motor battery. I plugged it in and it charged up perfectly last weekend. I may have to look into getting another one for both batteries. Thanks for the advice.

My wife's been watching me fool with the boat all week. She realized I didn't have a paddle so she made a covert trip up to BPS in Prattville and got me a set of camo boat paddles for my birthday today! She's awesome!

Dr. B

A lot depends on the gauge of the extension cord.

Power switch. One of my projects is to wire the console unit directly to the starter battery and use the power button on the unit. The front one is useless until I drop the TM. It is always kept in standby mode when the tm is up.

I had the same issue with bottom machines resetting on crankup when I ran the power through a console. I had to run the power directly to the battery and it stopped it.

battery charged up fine today overnight. 12.9 volts this morning.

Dr. B

On my 2004 cape horn 24, running 2 garmin 840xs through the console and have never had a blink while cranking 2-150's, are those units pulling that much power?