# Best way to power lighting on my 14 footer



## cpadolf3 (Jan 28, 2017)

This is my first post to this forum, so bare with me. My primary boat is a Triton TR21 with a 225 EFI on it. However, I recently built my own motor for dads old 14' aluminum jon boat, and I have been trying to use it more frequently, as it's a lot easier to launch and load in shallow conditions. Tonight, while bowfishing for the first time ever from my Triton, my POS inverter ran my cranking battery dead in 5 minutes, 4 miles from the ramp, in the pitch black. This got me thinking... On the Jon boat, I would like to do quite a few electronic mods. It currently has no lights or electronics whatsoever, just a hull and motor. So this would include bow navigation lights, stern anchor lights, and I'd also like to mount a 42" and a 7" led light bar for nighttime bowfishing and duck hunting in the evening hours. I would also eventually consider a simple GPS/depth finder and possibly a live well. I see a bunch of these folks running generators or Honda powered inverters, but my boat isn't exactly outfitted for that, nor am I looking to spend that much. I have a couple generators already, but they all weigh 200+ and are capable of powering a house. Overkill for sure. At this point I realize batteries are the way to go, but my question is, how many do I need, and how long should I expect them to last on a charge, allowing for expected draws from the light bars (very little from LEDs, I know) and the other assorted electronics? Additionally, are there any recommendations on recharging, aside from a 1 or 2 bank trickle charger? Solar panels? I'd love to hear what yall think! All opinions and suggestions welcome 

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## marshman (Jan 28, 2017)

2 group 29's or 31's hooked in parallel will give you a ton of hours of power... The LED's are pretty efficient... 

I run 2 group 29's in parallel and I fish daylight to dark with no problems whatsoever... 12v 45 lb trolling motor, 2 fish finders running all day... I bass fish in marsh and rivers so I'm on my trolling motor pretty hard all day with wind/current... I used to run a lil group 27 by itself down in a half day... 

The 2 29's is one of my best ever upgrades..

Just be sure you wire them together correctly for parallel to stay 12v and not in a series creating 24v... 

Easy to find a diagram with a Google search..


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## cpadolf3 (Jan 29, 2017)

marshman said:


> 2 group 29's or 31's hooked in parallel will give you a ton of hours of power... The LED's are pretty efficient...
> 
> I run 2 group 29's in parallel and I fish daylight to dark with no problems whatsoever... 12v 45 lb trolling motor, 2 fish finders running all day... I bass fish in marsh and rivers so I'm on my trolling motor pretty hard all day with wind/current... I used to run a lil group 27 by itself down in a half day...
> 
> ...


My truck has 2 batteries so I'm familiar with the wiring. I appreciate the response! The deep cycle are a bit more expensive than a traditional battery. Do they make that much difference? 

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## marshman (Jan 30, 2017)

Yes...a regular battery won't last being run down and recharged repeatedly.. And yes they're a lil pricey... But $230 is cheaper than a generator....


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## mbweimar (Jan 30, 2017)

I'm with Marshman. Two deep cycle batteries in parallel should work just fine. They're designed to be deeply discharged, and recharged without lead sulfate crystals building up on the plates. Keep in mind though...as efficient as LED's are these days, I wouldn't be surprised if that 42" lightbar pulled 15+ amps. For reference, I measured the current draw on my Rigid Industries 20" lightbar on my truck. They claim an 8 amp draw, but I measured 10. So, worst case scenario, if you're running both LED bars, nav lights, GPS/FF, and a livewell pump all at the same time, you're looking at 20+ amps of current draw. 

So...when buy your deep cycle batteries look for RC or reserve capacity. This represents the number of minutes the battery (at full charge) at 80 degrees will discharge 25 amps until the battery reaches 10.5V. For example (I just pulled this off the Interstate Battery website) a group 29 deep cycle marine battery from Interstate has an RC of 210 minutes. When two of these batteries are connected in parallel, you effectively double that RC, giving you 7 hours of run time. Again, these numbers are based on a worst case scenario. But that's exactly how I'd set up the boat.


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