Boat Electronics Question

[bk09]

Well I was just given an older 24V trolling motor to use on a jon boat in Canada at the end of the month and have some questions. I'm looking at getting a depth finder to use at the same time. When I jump the 2 12V batteries together can I still hook up the depth finder to one of the 12V batteries without issue? Kinda new to the boat scene, don't have my own boat yet, and want to figure out all the kinks before dropping a decent amount of money into this.

[FarmerRick]

First, I've never heard of using a 24v trolling motor on a jon boat.    But I'm sure it will work, that's just a lot of weight for a jon boat.

You will be hooking up the depth finder to one battery. Red to positive, black to negative.

You would be hooking up the trolling motor to the pair of batteries in series.

Like this:


The problem with using a 24v trolling motor is if you drain both of your batteries with your trolling motor, you won't have any juice left to start your outboard engine(unless it's of the smaller pull-start variety).
Most people that use 24v trolling motors(big bass boats) actually use 3 batteries. 2 for the trolling motor and one for starting the outboard engine.

[Lorimor]

You'll have 12v to the sounder okay.  Might have some interference running it off of the same batts as the trollin' motor.  Might, but not likely since you're going directly to the battery posts with your connections. 

[thirtydaZe]

Might take a look at these

part 1
http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volt.htm

part 2
http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volta.htm

I run 2 12v batteries on my camper, but they are in parallel.  If you run 2 12v in series wont that equal trouble?  perhaps you can do 2 6v in series?

I played the battery game pretty strong last spring, but trying to think about it all now, i'm coming up rusty.

[bk09]

Ya the 24v will haul that little jon around pretty good lol, but it was free and I will probably keep it on the lowest setting. And the motor is an old 9.9 with a pull start so no battery for it. But I have been hearing about the interference issue and putting 3 batteries in that boat will slow it way down, already have 2 guys over 200lbs in it with about 10 total rods and waaay too much gear. Looks like I will have to hold off on the depth finder and do it as I have been for the past couple years, instinct. Thanks for the input everybody.