2 x 6v or 1 12v

[shane(aka greg)]

hi all, new boat arives this week and im getting all geared up to start installing all sorts of gadgets to it. ive got a 55lb riptide and to power it i am thinking of running it off two 6v trojan t105's, can anyone tell me of any pros and con about running two 6s instead of one 12, besides the obvious, weight, space and cost differances.

cheers

[Benrose]

Whats the cost differance between a 12V and 2x 6Vs mate? The reason I ask it that you will then have higher replacement costs down the track and remember that you can't replace one without the other and theres a higher chance that one of the two will fail.

Ben

[Rossco32]

Actually you can replace one 6v before the other ben....

I run a 12v 100 amp hour battery on my 55 Riptide and have yet to see the battery drop below 3/4 charge for a full day on the water and i actually fished two comps over consecutive days (charger was dropped and buggered) without charging and the battery still didn't get below 1/2 capacity.

So that works out to be 50ah / 12 hrs = consumption of 4.17 a/h per hour on the water.

My boat is a 4.95 glass hull so no light weight when fully loaded either.

a single 100ah 12v would be heaps for 'normal' use.

[cleetus]

If one battery dies it is reccomended you change both. The riptide draws aprox 40amps under load from memory. Your not going to run it flat out all day but I'd want surplace amp hours handy esp if I was going away for a w/end and there was no 240 handy for the charger. It's just being a good boy scout to me- being prepared! You could run the kota longer and harder knowing youv'e got enough power for later. I don't have an electric (but do plan on getting one) so I could be all wrong, I think Mullet could clear a few things up if he's around.

[Rossco32]

They pull a MAX of 40 amps at full power.

Riptides also use Pulse frequency modulation (maximiser) for running lower than max speed, greatly reducing current draw (upto 50%) at mid to low power settings.

I run mine between setting 4 & 6 most of the time and like i said gett at least 2 full days out of it with around 40 amp hours left or 40% capacity remaining in my 100ah battery.

As a past reseller of Trojan 6v batteries for solar deep cycle use I stand by the fact that if one 6v battery in a bank dies you can replace that battey as a single. Sometimes one battery in a bank will drop a cell just replace the one that died.

We were Servicing Remote solar installations that were using Series/parralell 6v batteries (with some banks numbering 24+ batteries) for homestead, pumping and island power supplies. $300 v $12k.... we only replaced banks as a whole if they were subject to severe over charge or old age induced capacity loss.

[cleetus]

They pull a MAX of 40 amps at full power My memorie served me well Rossco! As I said I like to be prepared. It would be a shame to go away for 2-3 days and fish hard only to run low on the battery half way thru day 3. I worry, but I also love to fish :D As for battery replacement I hear what you say, it just goes against what I've been taught- but I'm in the automotive field dealing with cranking and hybrid batteries- not so much deep cycling types. Just a thought- Maybe a 2 battery setup would be affected more by a shorted/open circuit battery more so than a bank of 10+.
By the way Rossco- nice horse, bet youv'e still got a smile on your face;)

[shane(aka greg)]

thanks guys, i think i will go with the 2 6's as i can get a good deal on them with a dolphin 3stg 10Ah charger for just under $700 an extra 150Ah for just $100 more than the 12v sounds goood to me:)