Batteries....???

[salmonslayer31]

I am thinking of adding two electric scotties to my boat as I have the manual hand crankers right now. I have a '79 9.9 johnson elec start with a 6 amp alternator built into it. I also have a two position switch hooked to the batteries. ON/OFF, with one battery. My question is would I need to add another battery if I added the downriggers??? I see lots of guys that don't and seem to be fine but just curious if running the kicker would take care of keeping the battery topped up. I kinda think not as 6 amp is at WOT. I am thinking of adding the second battery and running everything but the main off of it?? All electronics and downriggers off of second battery with kicker wired to that battery...

Any advice would be great on this one!!!

SS31

[Fish-Hunter]

I know that lots of guys only run one battery, and as long as you take good care of the battery and replace every year or two at the most, you will most likely be OK...

However, I am a firm believer that two batteries are always better than one. Run one as a starting battery and one as a house battery (for accessories). That way if the kicker doesn't put out enough to keep the house battery topped up, at least then you sill still have a fresh battery to start the main. If you wire it up so that both batteries can operate anything in the boat, then you can alternate use on the batteries from trip to trip so that the batteries both get used somewhat equally over thier life, and if one battery goes kaput on you out there on the water, just flip the switch over to the other battery and you are good to go.

For what its worth I hope that this helps.

FH

[staying alive]

If you are going to be trolling with the kicker then get the second battery and the proper switch--or else one day when you go to fire up main it will just go click and you will be pissed

[Foxsea]

I am thinking of adding the second battery and running everything but the main off of it?? All electronics and downriggers off of second battery with kicker wired to that battery...Any advice would be great on this one!!!

Would ya go on a date with one condom? lol

For less than one downrigger costs, you can have a battery management system with auto charge control for 2 battteries. It will always ensure you have starting power. A small price to pay for safety and peace of mind. Check the Blue Seas site: add-a-battery. We discussed this topic thouroughly about 4 months ago.
The essence: to be reliable, engines, VHF, sounder, GPS, bilge pump, nav. lights, etc. all depend on a reliable source of 12 volt power. It's a safety issue.

[Theb55]

As a bonus, you really need to replace the accessories battery and to be extra safe, use the new one to start the boat. These automatically charge the lowest and will not charge both until the voltage in both is the same, thus not drawling down one while charging.