which battery to hook to?

[papamike]

I am installing a fish finder on my boat currently I have a battery to start the motor and for running lights and a deep cycle battery for the trolling motor. which battery should I hook the fish finder to to prevent interference? I have installed a fused switch panle so it will be fused regardless of which battery is used. any help please.

 

[Splat]

Re: which battery to hook to?

Connect it the battery not connected to the trolling motor. Electric trolling motors can create some line interference that can mess with some FF's

Bill

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: which battery to hook to?

Maybe I'm wrong but it would seem to me that running the fishfinder on the deep cycle would allow it to be able to run much longer before discharging the battery. Deep cycles are designed to be fully discharged and then recharged while crankstarts are not.

I'd be careful about discharging the crankstart battery as that may leave you stranded on the lake with only an electric to get to the dock. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't go so well if there is any wind and the boat is heavier.

If you do not have issues with interference(maybe test that out) then I would recommend using the deep cycle. Of course if you have an outboard that recharges the batterries then maybe you are fine running it on the crankstart and simply running the outboard if they ever get low on juice.

 

[simplystressed]

Re: which battery to hook to?

any of the motors with "maximizer" or PWM will cause interference. My lowrance 522 has to be on a separate battery than my minn kota powerdrive

 

[Silvertip]

Re: which battery to hook to?

I dispute the statement that any Maximizer causes interference. Simply not true. I have a PinPoint, Lowrance, and an Eagle and none of them were ever bothered by a Maximizer. In fact the trollers have all had the transducers mounted on the motor. Locators take so little power that regardless where they are connected they cannot be blamed for killing the battery. Which ever spot is most convenient is the way to go. IF and only if you do have an interference issue, then perhaps a switch in batteries is in order.

 

[John_S]

Re: which battery to hook to?

I run my bow trolling motor fishfinder off the trolling motor deep-cycle for convience and ease of wiring. My console finder goes to the starting battery.

I do get some noise on my old 400TX when the trolling motor is running. The trolling motor is a MG wireless, which has PWM. It is not an "ALL" case but the digital control trolling motors do tend to be more electrical noise problematic. Running the same transducer and unit on a 5 speed transom mount produced no noise.

HB tech support will recommend seperating the power between them as the first course of action, along with seperating the wire running paths, as much as possible. They also have unit power cables with an integrated choke, and a heavy duty choke (coil) to put on the power side of the trolling motor. Some transducers do not have good shielding either.