12 volt to 24 volt?

[olibass1]

hello,<br />i'm new to the forum and would like some help if possible. i have a year old motorguide 52 lb. thrust trolling motor on a 1988 17 ft basstracker. i'm having a problem getting my battery to last more than 5 or 6 hrs. out on the water. the battery is new (bought at meijers, not the best) and i charge it every time before i fish. i was wondering if it is possible to convert the motor to 24 volt. would this give my motor more stamina? if so, how do i go about converting?<br />any help would be appreciated.<br />thanks.

 

[SlowlySinking]

Re: 12 volt to 24 volt?

olibass1, to convert to 24 volts would require rewinding the motors armature and field coils (if it has field coils rather than permanent magnets), it's simply not worth the effort. With 52lbs. of thrust your problem sounds like too much current draw from the battery, for more trolling time you need a bigger amp hour capacity battery or 2 batteries in parallel. Even if you did convert the motor to 24 volts you would then need 2 12volt batteries in series to get 24 volts. Do you know the motor's current draw? Might be on the motor ID plate or in the paperwork.

 

[olibass1]

Re: 12 volt to 24 volt?

thanks for the info. how do i go about running 2 batteries in parrallel? can this harm my trolling motor? also, could the wiring be to thin gage?

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: 12 volt to 24 volt?

2nd battery, pos. to pos. and neg. to neg jumpers.<br />You'll double your amp. hours (running time). Buy the same battery as the other one. Providing it's a deep cycle. And use 6 gauge wire.

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: 12 volt to 24 volt?

Better idea (based on RV magazines) would be two 6 volt golf cart batteries run in series (pos to neg). 2 big 6 volts will outlast 2 big 12 volts.

 

[SlowlySinking]

Re: 12 volt to 24 volt?

olibass1, my pleasure, running the trolling motor from 2 paralleled batteries will not harm the motor, it will simply run twice as long which seems to what you want. The golf cart idea is great if you want to try that, or one huge 12 volt battery from a diesel truck. depends on how much weight you want to move around. The solution is amp hour capacity, the higher the number the longer it goes. Luna Sea has the rest of your questions answered, good luck,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[duck-n-pond]

Re: 12 volt to 24 volt?

If your are using a deep cycle battery, make sure you use a deep cycle charger. If the deep cycle battery was not charged properly, you may not get the full value. I have a deep cycle marine for trolling motors and I doubt that if I use anything other than the lowest speeds I would not get 5 hrs. Maybe somebody else can comment on that or how you are using your motor. On full speed you are drawing a LOT of current, likely in excess of 20 amps!

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: 12 volt to 24 volt?

The 6 volt golf cart batteries I just bought for my trailer are rated at 480 mins @ 25 amps. So, if you are drawing 25 amps, they'd hold up for a theoretical 8 hours.<br /><br />Not sure what my trolling motor batteries are rated at but I get two fulls days fishing out of one. Just big 12 volt deep cycles. But I troll pretty slow (dragging flies).<br /><br />And duck is right about the charger. Get one made for deep cycles that is automatic. It will sense when the battery is full and go into trickle mode instead of overcharging.

 

[jackc]

Re: 12 volt to 24 volt?

If the battery is a marine deep cycle, it should be adequate for your rig. It does not make any difference where you bought it. There are only three US manufacturers and unless you got one that had been on a shelf for several years, there is not much difference between the same series batteries. Some of the well meaning suggestions above are over kill.<br /><br />5 or 6 hours running time on a TM battery is a lot in one day. If you are actually running it that much you might need two 12 volt batteries for capacity.<br /><br />It does not hurt to charge a battery before you use it as you post, but the most important time to charge the battery is as soon as possible after you use it.

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: 12 volt to 24 volt?

No, "where" you buy em doesn't matter. But "what" you buy does. I've read that using and mixing different amp. hr. deep cycles is kind of like putting one partly used and one new battery in a flashlight. One draws juice from the other, shortening life cycle. But then again I'm thinking 12 volts in series........