Help needed with dual battery setup

[Aggler]

Situation: I have an older 90 hp Yamaha, and a Honda 4 stroke 8 hp with pigtails. I run two Scotty electric downriggers, an Icom VHF, and a Lowrance fish finder/gps. I do a fishing trip to a remote area where the fishing is great and we are constantly using the riggers. The cabin that we rent in does not have power for recharging batteries. We will be out for a 5 days of fishing this summer, without access to shore power, and I don’t want dead batteries… like last summer Can someone tell me the best dual battery system / setup for keeping them charged up? I currently have everything running of my ONE starting battery. I want to add a deep cycle gel battery. I have a short run 10-15 minutes to the fishing grounds. The other thing is that I troll with the kicker, to save fuel, and I think that it puts out about 6-8amps in the pigtails. With that running into the deep cell, would it be enough to keep it charged up when using the riggers, fish finder, and VHF?

Any help would be appreciated. Tony

[jimski2]

Put all your connections on one battery that is charged up by the main engine. If your graph has a voltage indicator, it will show you its charge condition. Use the other battery as a safety charging battery if you go dead. I now use a single battery and am getting along fine. Your main engine can be started with the emergency pull rope, try it.

[Aggler]

Thanks for the reply Jimski2. My problem is that when I am trolling all day with the kicker, and the downriggers and the other limited electronics running, the pigtails from the kicker on the main battery don't seem to be enough to keep it charged up. My short run in and out to the fishing grounds also doesn't give me much charging time from the main battery.

[W.W.IV.]

Aggler,have you thought about hooking up a 12v to 120v converter to your truck to recharge the batteries at night. Just a thought. good luck.

[Aggler]

Thanks W.W.IV. for the idea. I would consider doing that if I had my truck nearby, however, we do a 1hr run by boat out to where the cabin is.. and my truck stays in town... too far away

Does anyone know if the alternator output on a mid 90's 8 h.p. Honda 4 stroke, plus the charging of about 1/2-3/4 of an hour running with the main engine would be enough to keep a decent charge on a deep cell battery for 5 days of fishing?

Really my problem is that I use my kicker for trolling, and my downriggers A LOT!!! I don't want to eat up my starting battery.. I had problems last year.

Thanks,

TOny

[W.W.IV.]

Anggler,Buy a good portable booster battery and keep it in the boat and then try fishing with the main motor to fine out how long you will need to run it to keep the battery up. Run the main motor an hour before you quit for the day plus the 10or 15 min. run back time.You should have a fresh bat. for morning. What ever you do have a spare to get home with. You might be able to do something with a Solar charger. I'm sure you can work something out. Mike.

[Aggler]

Thanks Mike. I hadn't thought about the battery booster.. that would be good thing to have in the boat as a backup.

I'd love to be able to run everything off the one battery. Simplicity... Should the electricity from the kicker be enough to run the riggers, gps/fishinder, and VHF? It is a 6amp - 76 Watt alternator.

Tony

[wholden1990]

hello i was reading about yor situation and it reminded me of my boat. i have a twin engine sportcraft that has two separate charging systems for our batteries. i have found that as long as you keep an eye on the battery voltage with your depth finder you can predict when the battery is about to die what i do to stop that from happening is just fire up the other engine and charge for a while. in your case i suggest you fire your main engine and just leave it in neutral for a while to throw a fresh charge in your battery. it works great on our boat just though you should try.

Capt. William Holden

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