Battery Question

[Weyes1]

I have a 12 volt trolling motor. I usually go through a fully charged battery after 5-6 hours of fighting the wind. I have to stop fishing and hook up the spare I carry. My question is: Is there any way to hook up two batteries inline and still keep it a 12 volt system? I don't want to burn up my motor. Just looking for a few extra hours of fishing in a strong wind.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Weyes1

[TEAM_ALTO]

thats easy just hook them up in parallel. + to + and - to -

[Gunga Din]

There's a good diagram for doing this at h t t p://www.hepi.com/products/ttinstall.htm

[mbrandt]

I did this for years when I fished the rivers. + to + amd - to -, like it was stated. One thing I found tho. To extend the life of your battery, alternate which one the motor is connected too. I found that this one drained first, and the one in parallel only suffered a slight drain. Not sure why it did this, but it did it on mine. By alternating, you use the batteries equally. I ended up just having them both there side by side but not connected. Each trip I would alternate the one I started with. It saved some steps this way. Also, I would disconnect them from each other before charging. It's faster if they are apart and done seperately.
I would be interested if others found the same thing happening.

Mark

[SPARKY2]

I JUST INSTALLED A SWITCH. WHEN ONE BATTERY GOES DEAD I FIP THE SWITCH AND RUN ON THE OTHER ONE. HOOING IN PARALLEL WORKS ALSO BUT SEEM TO GET MORE RUNNING TIME SEPARATED.

[Weyes1]

Thanks Guys! I figured that would work but I wasn't sure. Good Luck fishing!
Weyes1