New Evinrude Trolling Motor, connect 2 batteries to 12 Volt T.M.?

[John DeGeorge]

I just bought a reconditioned Evinrude Trolling motor from Cabelas, comes with a warranty, the Model is Intruder 44, it looks identical to a Minnkota All Terrain, same head, mount, lower unit and shaft, the only difference is that the shaft has the bend in it that all Evinrude Trolling motors have always had, 44 pound thrust, 42 inch shaft. Just wondering if anyone has owned or used one of these, I assume they are an all terrain with the Evinrude name on them. Also, I have 2 trolling motor batteries, if I connect leads for 2 batteries to my 12 volt recessed plug, and connect the other ends of the leads to 2 batteries, will I be able to draw on both batteries at the same time? (in other words, can I cheat with a 12 volt motor and hook it up to 24 volts and draw on both batteries simultaniously?) or will I just have to connect one at a time until one starts to get low, then connect my leads to the other battery while I charge the first one?

 

[Scott Powell]

John - Beck is right on the money. You need to connect the batteries in parallel which results in 12 volts with the capacity of both batteries. If you hook them in serial

you would be putting 24 VDC to a 12 VDC motor - not a good thing to do...



I used to use a 12 VDC trolling motor in just such a configuration - one thing I found is that if one battery is lower or weaker than the other, it tends to pull down the good battery.