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Dual Batteries help


gamecock

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OK I bought a 20' pathfinder from a forum member back in July and I still haven't figured out the wiring yet. It has two trolling motor batteries under the console and one other battery in the console plus a fourth battery in the back bin. The onboard charger is connected to all three batteries under the console. When I charge the batteries I normally leave the switch in the off position. Is that the correct way to do it? Also what position should the switch be in when running? 1, 2 or both? My electronics in my console have started freezing up when I crank the boat, I ***ume because of low voltage. The boat also struggled to crank and sounded like a weak battery after we had been on the water all day and shut the boat down and cranked back up. Not sure if it's a battery going bad or because it's not getting charged properly. I plan to tear into it tonight and see what I can figure out but I wanted to run it by you guys in case anybody had any brilliant ideas.

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Subscribed! I have the exact set up except I don't have the fourth battery(yet). I have been having the same issue with the electronics when starting up. I replaced the power and ground wires(stepped them up to 6ga)from the switch to the fuse panel, power switch, and new 30a breaker but still did not fix the problem. I was planning on adding another battery but didn't want to spend that much and it not fix the problem, so I'm interested how yours turns out. Btw all my batteries are brand new.

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i had the same problem years ago on another boat. could not find anything wrong, my mechanic at the time told me that this is a common problem on some boats and the best thing to do is to shut your electronics down before starting/restarting the motor and it could also ruin the electronics due to the voltage going to them.

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I ***ume you have a 24 v trolling motor. If so the third battery in the console is house backup. First check your primary battery (in the back). Meter check should show 12 to 13 volts. Should also do a load test. Repeat test on house backup in console. Replace if needed. Run your switch on pos 1. Motor should keep the primary house battery charged. Pos 2 is backup house if needed (primary house run down). Pos All or both is last ditch to combine both house primary and backup.

The charger is charging both trolling batteries and the house backup. Meter test should point you to a bad battery or bad battery charge output. When you decide to replace your charger go with a Stealth ac/dc. It will greatly simplify this system.Check them out on the web. Hope this helps.

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This is a great video. Very informative. No matter which switch you have, you should still not have a large enough power loss to lose electronics when you start your motor. That is a sign of a problem (bad battery,bad connection,bad charging...etc.) The switch itself is a potential source for a problem. I use the Blue Sea PN 6007 and can switch batteries on the fly with no loss.

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This is a great video. Very informative. No matter which switch you have, you should still not have a large enough power loss to lose electronics when you start your motor. That is a sign of a problem (bad battery,bad connection,bad charging...etc.) The switch itself is a potential source for a problem. I use the Blue Sea PN 6007 and can switch batteries on the fly with no loss.

I understand you shouldn't have a problem but I have replaced all the old wires and switch and took apart and cleaned all connections from the motor to no avail. Don't know why but everyone I've talked to that has this same problem all have a F150. They solved the problem with the ACR. I was just hesitant to add another battery but it seems this is the answer. Never had this issue with older, previous boats with different motors.

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Wow, With that info I would have to ***ume the F150 draws a lot of amps when starting. I can see where the ACR would correct the problem by combining the current from two batteries.I use a Stealth ac/dc charging system on my rig and carry four agm batteries. I have a 36 volt bank for my trolling motor and one battery from that bank is my backup house. The stealth d/c side charges ALL my batteries progressively using the output from the motor.That keeps my batteries topped off. I run on pos 1 (primary house battery) and the 200 sho has never drawn enough amps while starting to shut down any of my electronics. I am now very curious as two how many amps the F150 draws when the starting circuit is engaged.

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When i got my boat it would drop the GPS when cranking.

A new battery switch cured it.

I rewired the boat, used #2 wire to motor, Blue Seas batt. switch and a gp.31 AGM battery.

No issues in 5 years.

Baitwell and release well are used all the time and the F 150 spins over every time.

Come home and plug in charger, in 1 to 5 minutes the crank/house battery is charged/green light.

Good battery big wire/good connections and corrosion X.

Check the fuse block and console wiring/connections.

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Wow, With that info I would have to ***ume the F150 draws a lot of amps when starting. I can see where the ACR would correct the problem by combining the current from two batteries.I use a Stealth ac/dc charging system on my rig and carry four agm batteries. I have a 36 volt bank for my trolling motor and one battery from that bank is my backup house. The stealth d/c side charges ALL my batteries progressively using the output from the motor.That keeps my batteries topped off. I run on pos 1 (primary house battery) and the 200 sho has never drawn enough amps while starting to shut down any of my electronics. I am now very curious as two how many amps the F150 draws when the starting circuit is engaged.

Similar setup here but 24V and conventional wet Interstates (3 batteries total). F150 and not having any issues.

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With a house battery setup, you should have a dual pole switch. That way you keep the starter seperate from all your electronics and don't have a way to drain your starter accidentally. It will also cure the problem of your electronics shutting down when you start. The house battery can be charged from an ACR or you can add a wire from your motor and hookup the isolated charging output. The F150 has a pretty weak alternator.

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I just rewired my rig with #4 wire. #2 wire would break the bank. The mercury factory manual states #4 for 150hp outboards. I have a Yameee, but the same should apply. Black #4 ground wire about 3ft long from motor to Ground block post. Then from there #4 black 10ft long to port side hatch. #4 pos from motor to on/off/1/2/both battery switch. Then #4 pos 10ft long to each battery port side hatch. No voltage drop. All new wires. Chart states voltage drop may occur after 14ft of #4 wire. I'm under by 4ft.

dont know if that helps you, but thats what I did when I moved battery placement and it works fine. No electronics loss of power etc. Motore fires instantly upon turn of ignition key.

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