electric to trolling problem

[Roger (Ninette Manitoba)]

I have a Daysailer II. Off of a (one year old) group 24 marine deep cycle, I run the 55# thrust trolling motor, through a switch and batt guage. It ran fine all of last season. Off an old car battery, I run, my lights and bilge pump. Both systems have small isolated solar panels on them. The former a 5 watt, and the latter a 1.8 watt panelLast week the motor cut out suddenly. At first I thought it was a connection, but when I changed it to the other battery, everything was fine. I have recharged my deep cycle and it reads 13+ volts, but it will not run the motor. I switched it over to the car battery, and it works fine. Now I know its rediculous to think that the deep cycle and the troller are incompatable, or that the wire leads at 10' long, 10 guage wire (booster cables)are robbing the motor of its needs, but I would have though that a troller would run at least a little with a draining deep cycle. Would the amp draw be too much?Any ideas, why a regular batt works, but a fully charged deep cycle won't?

 

[bruce]

connections

i use a minnkota also, and have both starting and deepcycle batteries, and either work the motor, but the deep cycle will run the motor longer. your jumpers may not be as good as you think they are, or the ends not crimped tight, of bad switch, etc...expect the problem is in your wiring somewhere. also, there may be a problem mixing the 2 battery types in the same circuit.

 

[Roger (Ninette Manitoba)]

separate systems

Thanks for the feedback Bruce. Next time down, I will stick the meter leads into the cables near the motor and check the voltage. (got that idea from Don Casey's This Old Boat book last night.) He suggests sealing the pinpricks with silicone afterwards. Great way to check for voltage drop, which would indicate problem with the wires.The two batteries are on separate systems, without any cross over connections, so that should not be an issue.Since you are also running two batteries on your DS, where have you placed them, what size of troller do you have and how did you run the wires? My batteries are ahead of the mast on the cuddy floor, with the cables running behind the port seatback to the 55# thrust motor. It moves the boat at about 3.5 knots.

 

[bruce]

battery location

i don't run both, but have both types, have located the battery forward to better balance against my 280 posterior but have used a small garden tractor size battery if on small lakes where the larger cap battery was not needed and mount it at the stern. i have found that starting batteries may have the starting amps, the power comes in shorter duration and need to rest between cycles while the deep cycle goes till dead.

 

[Roger (Ninette Manitoba)]

thread closer and end of mystery

While puttering with the wiring on Sunday, I discovered that the crimp at the negative lead end on the deep cycle was crimped so tightly that it had cut the wire just inside the terminal as well. As long as the lead was attached to the nearer battery, there was no stretch in the lead and good contact was made thereby closing the circuit and running the motor. When I added just a bit of strain to the lead to attach it to the forward deep cycle, the damaged wire stretched enough to open the circuit and it was therefore unable to run the motor. The misleading information to the battery gauge was sent by a separate negative lead wire which showed a good connection. I therefore replaced the ring terminal, turned the battery around so that the lead did not have to be stretched, and I solved my electrical problem.Thanks for all for help and insistance that it was wiring and not the battery that was at fault.