Hooking light to trolling batteries?

[ShortStorie]

Does anyone know of a connection/switch that will allow two batteries to be connected in series for running the trolling motor then switched to a parallel connection for powering a light for night fishing. I know you can't do both at the same time but I seldom use the T.M. while the light is on. My old boat had a 12V trolling motor so it was no problem to use the single TM battery.
Thought about using the starting battery since it is a group 27 dual purpose Trojan but don't want to run the battery down and have to go to the hassle of disconnecting one T.M. battery to jump start the engine.

Might be as cheap to bring an extra battery but my boat is small and I don't need another 50-60lbs battery weight. Could simply disconnect one of the wires connecting the two batteries and put both alligator clips on the same battery but that would be a hassle considering the location of my batteries tucked under the back deck.

I'm sure there must be something. Any help will be much appreciated.

[Drawout]

Just wire some wires to your trolling batteries and bring them out in easy reach and put a wire cap on each then simply alligator clipp to those wires each time.Pretty simple way.

[speck chaser]

if you hook batt 1 pos to batt 2 pos and neg on batt 1 to neg on batt 2
then hook trolling motor leads to pos and neg on batt 2 tou will have 12 volt
all you need to do to hook up lights is hook up light to pos and neg on the either one of the batteries . hope this helps

[ShortStorie]

My trolling motor is 24V. The light is 12V. While I won't be using it while the light is on, I WILL be using it to position and reposition the boat. THAT's why I wanted a way to switch quickly. Was hoping to find a switch that, in one position, would connect the batteries in parallel, and in another position would connect them in series. All 4 battery leads would have to got to the switch box for this to work. (Unless I'm dumber than my special ed teacher says).

[joejv4]

Not sure how creative you want to get, but with just switches, you're looking at needing three or four to switch back and forth - I'd get confused about which one goes in which position.

If you're creative, you can build a "little black box" to do what you want to do.

You'll need the box, some heavy gage wire, a Single Pull Double Throw switch and three Power Relays. Label one switch position 12V and the other 24V, and you're all set!

Here's a schematic I quick drew up that would make it work....


Good Luck!!!!

[3's]

Not sure how creative you want to get, but with just switches, you're looking at needing three or four to switch back and forth - I'd get confused about which one goes in which position.

If you're creative, you can build a "little black box" to do what you want to do.

You'll need the box, some heavy gage wire, a Single Pull Double Throw switch and three Power Relays. Label one switch position 12V and the other 24V, and you're all set!

Here's a schematic I quick drew up that would make it work....


Good Luck!!!!

Cool!!!!










Huh?:o

[ShortStorie]

Duh...I think I'll see if there is a "black box" at a marine or electrical supply house... There are 12/24V trolling motors so there must be circuitry to do the switching. Probably just use the starting battery... a I keep a short set of jumper cables in the boat anyway Thanks for all the advice... particularly the schematics, Joe and 3's.

[Crappie Reaper]

very simple, leave your 24V connection for your trolling motor alone. Connect the 12v light to just ONE of your batteries. Done! Each Battery is still putting out only 12 volts, the fact that you have your batteries wired for your 24v trolling motor only send 24v out the TM connections. If you wire it this way, you will not need to "switch" anything, your TM will work just fine, your lights will work just fine. If running more than one light, consider hooking one up to each battery.

[ShortStorie]

I wondered about that... hooking up to just one battery. Is this the way 12/24V trolling motors are wired...only drawing from one battery when running as 12V?

I guess this means that I could jump start the big motor by hooking it up to one of the TM batteries without disconnecting the other. I guess I should have been able to figure this out with the aid of a voltmeter... DUH.

Does it place any additional strain on either battery if you return to 24V operation with one battery partially discharged? Probably not a big factor since I'm only an occasional night stalker. But wait... I'll just run the light off one battery for a couple of hours, then switch the clips to the other battery to even out the discharge. Isn't on line education wonderful?

Thanks 'Reaper.

Thanks ED... This forum saves me lots of grief (but probably causes me to spend MORE money on all the cool stuff I read about). At least it is money well spent!

[silvervortek]

i noticed buses use anything from 24 vbolt to 48 volt and they use huge batteries. I have ofter seen where they need a 12 volt circuit the take a single positive and negative wire off one battery, everything else stays connected up.
you can have 24 volt for the trolling motor and at the same time 12 volt for the lights.