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Posts: 10
| Hey everyone, I just found the site about a week ago and so far I love it, have learned a lot from reading these posts. I have a couple questions for anyone that could help me. I bought a 2008 Crestliner 1750 fish hawk, I have a 24V system, I was fishing sat from about 7 until 3 and the batteries were pretty much done, I had the TM power up all the way most of the time fighting the wind, does this seem normal? So far from what I have heard from others, it doesnt seem too far off. Next question, I am considering an on board charger because of this and I dont know much about them, do I need one for my cranking battery also? where would be a good place to mount it if anyone is familiar with this boat? I looked at one today and I dont think there will be enough cable to reach the motor and the alt. so I would assume I am gonna have to splice into the cable to make it work, am I right? Also was wondering, it seems that my TM is the only thing connected to my batt. up front, and there are a lot of wires from my cranking batt. is that proper set up? Thanks in advance for any help. |
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Posts: 311
| Welcome Jerkbait, 8 hours of continous running 100% is alot for TM batteries. Your outboard should have an alternator on it, so it will charge your cranking battery while it is running only. The trolling motor should be the only device on the TM batteries. Some TM manu. say if you have anything else on those batteries it will void the warranty for the TM. I can't help you with charger placement, don't know the CL layout. You could get a 3-bank charger and charge all the batteries, or a 2-bank and charge just the TM batteries. The descision is yours, Good Luck! |
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Posts: 185
Location: Mendota Heights, MN | Wherever you put the charger make sure it has plenty of ventilation as the charger will generate heat when in use.
I would recommend a charger for both the trolling and starting battery. While your alternator will charge your starting battery when running, I enjoy the peace of mind I get from knowing my rig is fully charged when I hit the launch, and the starting battery is not dead because i accidentally left something on.
As to all those wires on the stating battery: Leave them there, that's where they belong. Use the trolling motor battery ONLY to run the trolling motor. There are many reasons for this but I won't get into them here.
There are extension cables available for the charger to reach your various batteries. You can use your own wire but make it at least 12 gauge, better is 10 gauge, best is to order/buy the extensions made for this purpose.
Good Luck,
Steve |
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Posts: 10
| Also was curious of the amount of time the motor had to run to charge the batteries, if in the case I am fishing a smaller lake or several smaller lakes and I wont use my big motor a lot is that going to be enough to charge the batt? So I guess the question is how much charging am I getting out of the motor, if I am only running from spot to spot and its taking me 5-10 minutes to get there, is that really going to charge my TM batteries any? Like I said, I know nothing about this and have absolutely no experience with it. Not sure of which models to choose from, or like previously stated, where to mount them, or just mounting them in general, is it fairly easy, or is it something that should be taken to a dealer to have done? |
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Posts: 311
| Your big motor will not charge the TM batteries, it charges the cranking battery only. You will have to use a charger for your TM batteries. |
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Posts: 190
| I just installed a Voltage Sensitive Trolling Bank Voltage Sensitive Charging Module - 24-Volt on my buddies crestliner. It was an easy in stall, but I had to build a fuse bank. I won't have the results until I go up to canada in july. He has the same problem. We fish from 6am to 11:00 pm and the batteries are all dead by about 6pm. In canada we do a ton for running around and with a 60 hp it can take us 30 minutes to get to a spot we will fish for 3 hours then run 20 -40 minutes to the next spot and do the same. We are hoping to get an additional couple hours on the batteries with the charging system.
Here is the link to what we installed. Minnkota makes one now they call it a DC charger. I mounted it next to the starting battery and ran the wire 10# to the TM batteries.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=00321...
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Posts: 5874
| Sounds like when you say OnBoard charger, you really mean a unit that uses the main motor's alternator to charge while running. There are several out there, including the one above. Minn Kota makes one, as does Dual Pro.
Yes, these can extend your battery running time, depending on how long the main motor is running. I also recommend a good 3 bank charger to make sure your batteries are fully charged after every use.
I have included some links.
http://www.dualpro.com/new/px2.html
http://www.minnkotamotors.com/products/chargers/detail.asp?pg=mk1dc
http://stayncharge.com/products.htm |
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Posts: 10
| Yes I mean a unit that uses the main motors altenator to charge, its a DC charger, like the one from minn kota, I will simplify my questions I guess. First off, Does it work well? is it worth getting? if I decide to get one I guess I will worry about placement and how many banks and whatever else. I am just having a hard time finding info on this stuff, seems like a common thing that people have but no one seems know much about them, also should I think about an actual on board charging unit to plug in when I get home? Am I gonna have space for all this stuff? or should I stick with portable chargers? |
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Posts: 5874
| I think the type that charges from the Alternator can extend your time if you make long runs with the big motor. If your runs are short, like 5 - 10 minutes, I don't think you'll see much additional time. However, if you make 20-30 minutes runs or longer, several times a day, then you should see some addtional TM time.
As for the on-board charger? I'd never be without one. Simple as plugging in everytime the boat gets put up. And there is always room to mount somewhere. Under the splash well would even work. It's not like you have to have access to them all the time. |
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Posts: 10
| Thanks shep, thats pretty much the answer I was lookin for, I have talked to a few other people over the last day or two and it seems that is the common answer, so thanks, I appreciate your help as well as everyone else that had some input. Thanks again. |
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