Charging batteries, and charging them.

Charles, I just reread your post, and I'm not clear on why you ask about
hooking your batteries up parallel, unless it is to charge them with a
12 volt charger. You must hook them in series to power your 24 volt
trolling motor.

Thanks for the link, and sorry for the confusion...

Until I get the 24v motor, what I want to do is use these now in parallel so
I don't have to worry about running the battery down on a long day. Ok, I've
gotten up to 14 hours on one battery, but with a good stiff wind it can go
down alot quicker.

Should I do this is my first question, and how to charge them is the second
question.

Now... for something I haven't though about... how do you charge a 24v
system?

--
Charles Summers
Secret Weapon Lures
http://www.secretweaponlures.com
"Henry Hefner" wrote in message
...
Charles, I just reread your post, and I'm not clear on why you ask about
hooking your batteries up parallel, unless it is to charge them with a
12 volt charger. You must hook them in series to power your 24 volt
trolling motor.

Charles B. Summers wrote:
Thanks for the link, and sorry for the confusion...

Until I get the 24v motor, what I want to do is use these now in parallel so
I don't have to worry about running the battery down on a long day. Ok, I've
gotten up to 14 hours on one battery, but with a good stiff wind it can go
down alot quicker.

Should I do this is my first question, and how to charge them is the second
question.

Now... for something I haven't though about... how do you charge a 24v
system?

Yes, running them parallel will get you longer use. With my trolling
motor only pond boat, I carry two batteries but use them one at a time,
so I have an idea how much use I have left. As soon as I sense that I am
not getting full power out of one battery, I swap and know there is a
little "reserve" juice left in it just in case. I wouldn't want to be
very far from the ramp when I'm left with only a paddle!
For charging, you will have to buy a 24v charger, or change the wiring
every time you charge to either charge them one at a time, or together
in parallel.

One of you long-time boaters on here back me up, I'm new at this, I'm
used to dealing with 480 volt 3 phase!

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 23:10:12 -0500, Henry Hefner
wrote:

Charles B. Summers wrote:
Thanks for the link, and sorry for the confusion...

Until I get the 24v motor, what I want to do is use these now in parallel so
I don't have to worry about running the battery down on a long day. Ok, I've
gotten up to 14 hours on one battery, but with a good stiff wind it can go
down alot quicker.

Should I do this is my first question, and how to charge them is the second
question.

Now... for something I haven't though about... how do you charge a 24v
system?

Yes, running them parallel will get you longer use. With my trolling
motor only pond boat, I carry two batteries but use them one at a time,
so I have an idea how much use I have left. As soon as I sense that I am
not getting full power out of one battery, I swap and know there is a
little "reserve" juice left in it just in case. I wouldn't want to be
very far from the ramp when I'm left with only a paddle!
For charging, you will have to buy a 24v charger, or change the wiring
every time you charge to either charge them one at a time, or together
in parallel.

Hi all, I think you could charge them one at a time or use two 12 volt
charges at the same time to charge each battery.

First bat - + second bat - + = 24 volts at the end.
12 volts 12 volts

Don't think the two charges will see each other even if you leave the
cables attached. Just hook up each charger like you would on a single
battery setup. If you don't feel comfortable with this then all it
would take to completely separate the two batteries is remove one end
of the cable that connects the two batteries in series.

That should do the trick.

Later, DC

One of you long-time boaters on here back me up, I'm new at this, I'm
used to dealing with 480 volt 3 phase!

--
Dale Colemam

every time you charge to either charge them one at a time, or together
in parallel.

I have never bothered to do that and have never had a problem, just hook up the
battery chargers. Unless the motor is on, the circuit is not complete, I think.
Also, most boats have the wiring built in to handle a 24 volt system - the
wiring actually creates the series connection. You just hook up red wires to
positive and black wires to negative at the battery.
Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com