Trolling motor powered Jon Boat

[sac]

I have a Jon Boat that has a Minn Kota trolling motor on it. This might sound dumb, but if I put a onboard charger on it, would I be able to use the motor all day without worring about the battery going dead? I mean that's the point of the charger right? Again sorry for the dumb Q's. Thanks and be nice

[MississippiBoy]

Unless you put a solar charger on it, you'll still need to plug in the charger. It's not a generator, so it has to get power from somewhere.

[sac]

So I should get a solar charger instead of a onboard charger to keep my battery going strong for a day trip? I have a house charger that I use at the end of the day.

[bamabassman]

if you get a really good onboard charger, a really good battery or 2. they should be fine for the entire day pal. when ya get home, plug it in, plug it in,lol. i have a 20 cajun glass rig, 24 volt 56 pound thrust troller. 2 batteries. lasts all day if it ain't real windy. when i say windy, i mean 30mph winds and i am wanting to stay towards the wind. heading into the wind that is.

[sac]

Thanks! I'll do that, I just never used it for more than 2 hrs at a time. I've never seen how long it would last......but I will soon

[66KingFisher]

Originally Posted by MississippiBoy

Unless you put a solar charger on it, you'll still need to plug in the charger. It's not a generator, so it has to get power from somewhere.

Mississippi is correct.....if you don't have a large outboard motor on your johnboat you won't have anything to power the charger with unless you go solar power, and then I believe your only dealing with a trickle charge and I don't know if that'll keep up with normal trollin motor usage or not? I'd be surprised if you run your batter dead during a normal days fishing just trollin around in a johnboat......maybe you'd be better off investing in a better quality battery or maybe a pair of batteries so you'll always have a back up onboard.

I use a 10ft jonboat to run jugs sardis lower lake (lots of moving back and forth running jugs not just starting and stoping easing along the bank to fish) and fish reelfoot and 2 deepcycle batteries will last from about 10 hours.

just connect the pos from one battery to the pos of the other battery and then neg to neg and then put the pos battery terminal for the trolling motor on one battery and the neg terminal from the trolling motor on the other battery.
when charging connect the 12 volt charger the same way

when you connect the batteries this way niether battery takes the brunt of the load or takes most of the charge from the other battery


sorry I don't draw well on the computer


do not connect neg to pos as that will give you 24 volts and not 12

[sac]

Thanks for all the info!!

[Rebbasser]

sac, be sure to charge the battery up as soon as you get back to where you keep your boat. Deep cycle batteries that are used for a TM are designed to be charged/discharged unlike a cranking battery like is in your vehicle and if you don't charge it immediately it can take a "set", meaning it will only charge up to a certain level and not take a full charge. I'd recommend the onboard charger. Mine charges and maintains, so I just plug it in when I get home and unplug it when I head for the lake-just set it and forget it.

[Lancer6]

Reb,

You still up? Well, so am I. (And will be...dammit!)

L6

[sac]

Originally Posted by Rebbasser

sac, be sure to charge the battery up as soon as you get back to where you keep your boat. Deep cycle batteries that are used for a TM are designed to be charged/discharged unlike a cranking battery like is in your vehicle and if you don't charge it immediately it can take a "set", meaning it will only charge up to a certain level and not take a full charge. I'd recommend the onboard charger. Mine charges and maintains, so I just plug it in when I get home and unplug it when I head for the lake-just set it and forget it.

Hey thanks for the tip about the battery charge memory. I keep the boat in the backyard and I always put the battery back on the charger right away.

[BERKLEY83]

Here is a pic of my set up in my 12ft jon boat. I have since linked the wire like the drawing. But could run all day on one battery with a 54 pound trolling motor.

running with both batteries connected together keeps the voltage up longer

if you run all day on one the voltage will drop if you check it at the end of the day it may drop to 8-9 volts by having them connected will keep the voltage up near 12 longer

BUT they only problem with having them connected is you can't run one down and then switch to the other to get back to the ramp

[Captmikestarrett]

I have seen totally solar powered boats BTW.



But with all that panel coverage casting can be an issue.

I designed a solar boat once on paper that had the panels fused into the deck. The propolsion was a AC fan motor hooked to a small trans and a single screw out the back. Rudder steering too. But the design could not overcome the wieght the storage batteries. Something about 3rd law of physics.

Capt Mike