Charging the Trolling Battery On The Water

I've pondered how to deal with the trolling battery while on a fishing trip. Sometimes, the boat may be on the water a few days, so charging or switching the battery out is a chore. In addition to the solar panel that charges the trolling battery anytime there's sunlight, an electrical circuit to bridge from the engine battery to the trolling battery during times when we're driving from one spot to another seemed to be a workable idea. The trolling battery/motor is 12 volts, so this was an easy task.

Initially, a few tests were made with jumper cables and an ammeter, and the idea seemed to work OK without causing a serious load to the engine battery or alternator. Usually, since the engine battery isn't much above that of the weakened trolling battery, the charge current is around 10 amps, tapering off to much less as the trolling battery charge level increases. 

 

 

Both battery negative (-) terminals were connected together with some heavy black wire from a set of scrap battery jumper cables. A 12 vdc relay was installed with the normally open contacts connected to the trolling battery via 20A fuse, and the common (moving) contacts connected to the engine battery. I put the fuse in the battery circuit in case something went wrong with the trolling battery or wiring, and to limit the current in the event we totally killed the battery and didn't want to load the alternator / engine battery too hard. 

Up front, a switch was installed to control the relay. 12 volts was picked up from the ignition switch, using a switched source that is only live when the ignition switch was on. I didn't want this accidentally left on during times when the engine was not running. Aerator and Bilge Pump switches get bumped "on" all the time by accident, so a covered switch was installed for the Trolling Charge to require an intentional movement to activate the switch.

This circuit works pretty good. Care must be taken not to leave the switch "on" when starting the engine (the starter would attempt to pull from both batteries and probably blow the 20A current limiting fuse). I plan to take the automation of this a bit deeper over the winter months. The next phase is to sample the alternator output, and energize the bridge relay after a delay of maybe 1 minute (if the master bridge switch up front is "on"). Likewise, if the engine is "off" (no alternator output), the bridge relay would be disabled. 

 

 

 

 

Boddies Millpond, 7/25/21

Debbie and I drove over to Boddies Millpond in Nashville, today. We brought the Jon Boat, and had a good time. The bite was tough...I was the de-skunking person today, and managed to pull two out of the fray. It is a beautiful place, but was stinkin' hot, and we called it quits before lunch and headed home. Here's what I caught...

 

 

Airfield, 7/24/21

Debbie and I ran over to the local private spot we call "The Airfield" for a while, today.We arrived about 2 hours before dark, and it was "on". Debbie immediately started catching LMB on her favorite setup...6'6" rod, Bullet reel with 12lb mono, 3-0 wide space hook, and 6" watermelon & pearl Yum Dinger rigged weedless and weightless. I tried rattle traps, but there was too much moss to pull through. Top water got very little attention. If you can't beat'm, join'm...so I rigged a worm and hopped in with her. Lots of fun!! She caught 17 bass in 2 hours, right up to dark. I switched to the fly rod and picked up a bunch of bluegill. Here's a few that I got pics of...

Kerr Lake, 6/26/21

 Deb and I were back up at Kerr Lake for the last time in 2021, at Mom & Dad's place, this weekend. Somber times, for sure. We did a little fishing, but the bite was WAY off. Lots of riding and casting, but very little catching. I guess that's why it's called "fishing" and not "catching", right ? Hahahaha.... It's always good to get on the water, though. Debbie kept us from being "skunked...

Kerr Lake, 6/17-20/21

Debbie and I got to spend a few days at the lake and get some fishing in. We had a blast! It was pretty hot out, but we were able to get on a few fish. We were mostly fishing down around the Bulloksville area, but we traveled from the Dam to the Nutbush bridge. Early mornings and late evenings were best, and again the best bait we found was 6" Senko-style stick baits, greens and dark colors. Here's a few pics of some of what we caught...

 

 

Kerr Lake, 5/28-29/21

Debbie and I were at the lake house doing some maintenance, but worked in a little time to get on the water on the 28th and 29th. The bite was pretty tough, but we managed a few little guys. We tried lots of things, but the 6" YumDinger on a 3-0 WS hook, rigged weedless and weightless was what worked for us. Here's a few pics... 

 

 

Atkinson's Mill, 5/17/21

This is another beautiful place to boat. Atkinson's millpond is fed from Little River and Cattail Creek. It's one of the last remaining water power capable mills in NC. We've caught some big bass and catfish in here. Today wasn't great for catching, but it was great for boating. Here's a few pics of what we did...