24 volt system

[bhs91]

I just bought a 80 minn kota vector and need to do a little 24 volt wiring??? The manual says I need a 60 amp manual reset circuit breaker, the guy at Gander said if put a 50 amp (auto reset) on each of my "hot" lines, that will be fine. He is a good guy and I trust him, but is he right???

Thanks,

BHS

[dudewheresmyboat]

I'd do what the manual says. I think i run a 60 amp on my maxxum.

[Charley]

I have 50 AMP on mine have had it 12yrs. never a problem. You are going to love that 24 volt system.

[Archerysniper]

I recommend doing what the manual say's if it get's windy or with current you take the chance of over loading the circuts and blowing the breakers and even frying the wiring.

[walleyewild]

I wouldn't put a 50 amp on each line 100 amps is a very large amount of current to run to a trolling motor, if the manual says 60 max then get 2 30amp breakers one for each battery.

Most peoples homes only have 100 amp service and would you want 100 amps to every outlet?

Are you wiring each battery to the plug? or you wiring the batteries in series with only 2 wires to the plug?

with the 2nd question then a 50 or 60 amp breaker would be fine, with the first question then you would want to halve the current from each battery, hence the 30 amp per battery.

[bhs91]

They are wired in a series, with a jumper cable.

BHS

[dudewheresmyboat]

yes wired in series with 2 30amp breaker somethings bound to break!

[Esox_Magnum]

Put 1 60 amp on the hot lead off the battery to the TM. If you don't use an auto reset make sure you can get to it if needed to reset it.

[bucketmouth64]

I am in the midst of converting my 12 volt system to 24 volt. I asked at a dealership about circuit breaker and he said one 50 amp is needed.

I have a question about charging. Since the trolling batteries are connected in 24 volt can I get away with a one bank charger to charge both batteries or do I need a charger for each battery? If I do need separate chargers for each battery do I need to disconnect one battery so it isn't in 24 volt mode?

[Whoaru99]

You could use a one bank/single charger to do both batteries if it is a 24V charger, or a single 12V charger if you can put up with charging only one battery at a time.

You do not need to disconnect the wire between batteries when charging them regardless if using a single charger or a multibank unit. All you have to do is connect to just one battery per charger/bank and observe the correct polarity when making your charger to battery connections.

[bucketmouth64]

I have couple other questions. First, my conversion to 24 volt was going to have the second battery in the front storage deck. A person said that I would be losing a lot of power because of the length of wire needed to connect the two batteries. There is about 10 feet of 8 gauge wire connecting the two batteries. How much power would I lose? Would the power loss be noticeable in the speed or the amount of charge being used? I am planning on putting on a MK Maxxum 70 on.

My other question, if for some reason I could fit a battery in the rear deck closer to the other one I might need to use a smaller battery that might not be deep cycle. Would this affect the amount of juice being used being smaller and non-deep cycle compared to the larger one?

[Esox_Magnum]

For max run time and power both batteries need to be the same size. I always go biggest I can fit, in my case thats a non issue so I run 29 or 31 series. Deep cycle is a must to get any amount of decent run time. Not sure on power loss due to the longer length of run but sounds like a pain to me. I run a 3 bank in my boat, not needed but price was right. I know Optimas are expensive but in your case may be worth it for the compact size and quality. You can buy them in a 24 Volt version but not sure on the dimentions of it.

[Whoaru99]

There is alway some loss in wiring. Without knowing the specifics of current draw, the exact amount is only a guess.

One must consider the complete circuit length because not only is the wire between the batteries a factor, so are the other two pieces connecting the batteries to the motor.

Just for an example, 40ft of 8ga wiring carrying 20A current will have a voltage drop of about 1/2 volt. That's about 2% in a 24-volt system.

Considering the same system, if the current is 40A, the voltage drop doubles to just over 1 volt. This is still less than 5% voltage drop in the wiring.

Going to 6ga wiring would cut those losses by roughly 35%. If you must get every last minute and every last ounce of thrust 6ga would be an option.

If you generally need to run the trolling motor pretty hard, as in near full power, I might consider the 6ga more strongly. However, if your use is not so severe, 8ga should be fine with no appreciable loss in performance.

I wouldn't compromise the battery size because of the wiring you have. If you do anything different, keep the location where big batteries will fit and upgrade to 6ga wiring.

[bucketmouth64]

Thanks for the info. I found a way to get all three batteries in one compartment. Luckily, I haven't mounted anything or drilled any holes. The only problem I have now is if I get a three bank on board charger the only place I can mount it is on the floor of the rear compartment. Is this ok? I was talking to an associate at Gander and he said that Minn Kota is the only one that he knew of that claims to be 100% water proof so if the charger is in water it will still work. He said MK tests their chargers underwater so they can make this claim. Any other brands make this claim?

[Esox_Magnum]

My Pro Mariners mounted under the sink, I know its been wet many times and works fine, I can't find the book on it to see what it says. If you mount it on the floor in a compartment don't cover it with gear, in our muskie boat that chargers in the battery compartment and we always leave the hatch open a little for air flow to prevent overheating.

[PerchJerker]

Any other brands make this claim?

Dual Pro. All 3 series of Dual Pro on-board chargers are completely waterproof. Mines been in standing water and never missed a beat.

[bucketmouth64]

Correct me if I'm wrong when hooking up the two batteries to create 24 volts. Don't you hook up positive from one to the negative of the other and negative to positive? Both jumper wires were hot(which tells me I'm doing something wrong) and I got a spark when I hooked the negative to positive to complete it. I didn't damage the batteries did I?

I connected the circuit breaker to the trolling motor lead positive wire.

[PerchJerker]

Correct me if I'm wrong when hooking up the two batteries to create 24 volts. Don't you hook up positive from one to the negative of the other and negative to positive? Both jumper wires were hot

You only use 1 jumper, not 2 jumpers. The POS on 1 battery goes to the trolling motor and has the circuit breaker on it. The NEG from the OTHER BATTERY goes to the trolling motor. You use 1 jumper to connect the open NEG on the 1st battery to the open POS on the 2nd battery.

The other way to make a 24 volt connection is for the POS and NEG from each battery to go to a power port, and to have the 24 volt jumper connection made inside the plug on the trolling motor wires.

Both methods work but I think the first method with 1 jumper wire is easier.

[bucketmouth64]

Just to make sure I read you correctly, The trolling motor leads +/- is connected to battery 1. Then I took a jumper wire and added it to the + of battery 1 and connected it to the negative of battery 2. This leaves the + on battery 2 with nothing connected to it.

[Esox_Magnum]

Jumper from + battery 1 to - battery 2, motor leads from - battry 1 and + battery 2, no open posts.

[bucketmouth64]

Got it. Ok, I'm an [PoorWordUsage]. I have a trojan battery and I didn't realize I had two connections on the positive.

Thanks for every ones help!! Now all I have to do is buy the motor.