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Help with the Best way to wire a 36V trolling motor

D

Dave Westlund

Member
I just purchased a 36v trolling motor and hoping that I could get some assistance in the best way to setup the boat. Should the starting battery be include? Or wire starting battery separate? Then I have 4 batteries in the boat and that seems like a lot of weight to push around. I hoping we have some fishermen here when not working on tractors...

Dave
 
My experience is to not include the boat engine battery in the trolling motor circuit. The charging system on the boat can keep up with lights/accessories and starting duty. it will be necessary to charge the trolling batteries separately. The motors at 36 volts are more efficient and thus are able to propel the boat for longer periods between charges. But having 3 batteries is the issue. I could not find a 36 volt battery available for simplifying the install. Jim
 
starting battery needs to be separate. Hook your other batteries in series to get your 36 volts. Buy you a battery charger that can charge 3 12 volt batteries at the same time. This is charging 12 volts not 36. Minn Kota makes this type of charger. I just installed one on my boat.
Charger
 
BIL's bass boat is 24v trolling. He has separate battery for motor and a built in charger for the 24v.

Placement of batteries depends on compartments in boat. BIL batteries are next to motor. He has two live wells, one in front and other in back.

I would place the trolling batteries as ballast to balance out the boat.

When I had a boat, I put a 12 gallon gas tank in front of the boat to help balance it out and keep the front end down.

Do you think you need 36v trolling or would a 24 work? How big is your boat? How many people will be in boat. Boat size, number of people, added weight of another battery at some point it becomes counterproductive. I've seem boats where people use too big of a motor, weighs too much, then they sell the motor and get a smaller one.
geo.
 
You don't want to include the trolling motor with the engine battery.

If this is an outboard, chances are the alternator only produces minimal amps, just enough to maintain a few lights and accessories. It will contribute little to the trolling motor battery, and can cause the charging system to overheat, damage the rectifier. Also a good way to get stranded with a dead battery.
 
Based on my engineer thinking plus yearssssssssss of boat and RV battery use I WOULD NOT PLACE THE STARTING BATETRY IN THE SAME CIRCUIT AS THE TROLLING CIRCUIT for a whole bunch of sound reasons I wont go into on here.

To get the necessary 36 volts you would need six 6 volt batteries in series which is overkill and OVERWEIGHT !!! Of course you could use three 12 volters in series which would lessen the room and weight. Those so called RV/Marine 12 volt batteries are NOT full true deep cycles as Id prefer, but again the 6 volters or true deep cycle 12 volters are too expensive and too heavy. If you can find a 36 volt battery that would work, but again Id use a true deep cycle NOT any auto type starting battery in that application.

If you cant get a 36 volt single battery, the cheapest easiest method is likely three of the 12 volt RV/Marines in series and a good method to recharge them.

John T
 
Do not include the starting battery into the trolling motor. It is a totally different system.

You will need 4-12 volt batteries.
1 cranking battery for the outboard and 3 deep cycle for the trolling motor.

Since the 3 deep cycle batteries are wired in series you need to either take the apart to charge them (hard way) or get a special charger with at least 3 sets of wires and a floating ground. All the trolling motor companies make these special chargers.
 
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