RT 188 Battery Question

[TCMT04]

I have a 2015 RT 188 with a 115 yamaha 4 stroke and I’m going to be replacing the batteries soon. My question is do you turn the breaker switch off when charging? I read about this in the lounge and I never thought about it, does it make a difference? Also what batteries are you using? I’m probably just going to get some more Interstate’s, five years is pretty good for a set of batteries!

[Lowerider58]

I turn my main and trolling motor breakers off before plugging in the charger. I also have a third breaker in the bilge that powers a separate fuse panel for my graphs that I turn off too. Minnkota Trolling motors still have voltage going to the control board even though the switch is off. Today’s electronics can have filtering circuits in them before the power switch. A voltage spike from the charger could damage your TM or your graphs.
It has just become a habit to open the rear hatch and turn off the breakers before I plug the charger in. I figure it’s better to be safe than sorry.

[billwvu05]

Breakers get turned off after loading the boat and prepping to leave the lake. I see no reason to chance something getting fried.

[Jeff Hahn]

Breakers get turned off after loading the boat and prepping to leave the lake. I see no reason to chance something getting fried.

THIS ^^^ is exactly what I always did. Everstarts are as good a battery as any and they can be quickly exchanged at any Wally World if you have a problem.

[GeauxTide]

I use 27 Series Duracell AGM for my Ultrex. I have a 31 series Duracell for my motor/Helex units. Will ask dealer if turning off is recommended because I haven't in the 3 boats I've owned with boat mounted chargers since 2012.

[8theB8]

If you were happy with what you had then repeat it. I jumped from the original 27's to 31agms and they were way too heavy for that boat! I ultimately switched to lithiums. Just as a general rule, if you can upgrade to 27agms do it, really good idea to get the wet cell lead acid batteries out of an aluminum boat.

[tcesni]

I use a group 27 to start the motor and two group 29's for the trolling motor. I've read that the breakers should be set to "off" when charging but I've left mine on 99% of the time for the past 6 years without any trouble and I probably have my boat plugged in more than most since I live on a lake. I do unplug my graphs in most instances when changing but not always. When I am in Canada and know I will be going right back out (like coming in for breakfast or lunch), I leave everything plugged in when I hook up the charger and have never had an issue.

[Transom]

i do not own a ranger but the electrical systems on bass boats are pretty much all the same. I use perko shutoffs to disconnect both the trolling circuit and the main circuit. This prevents anything from being exposed to the PWM charging signals and prevents any load from draining the batteries. This also prevents any accidental ignition of the engine. The disconnect for the main/starting circuit can be locked with a key in case I wanted to leave it at a dock unattended.

AGM batteries are a big positive for use in a tin boat. I have a group 31 agm for the main battery and two group 27s for the trolling motor.

[Panama]

I have a RT 188. I turn the breakers off when charging. The ULTREX instructions tell you to do this and why not follow their advice. If anybody would know, I would expect it to be them.

Also I have the two biggest Sam's Duracell AGM batteries they sell for the TM. The weight is no problem. They are great batteries so far. They have a lot of advantages, one of which is getting the open acid out of an aluminum boat.

Wanted to add this...these batteries charge really really fast. I do not like leaving the charger on there all the time. I bought a manual dial timer for 120 volts. I turn the dial to about 2 or 3 hours and they charge, then the charger goes off. I live on a lake and plug them in soon as I get back and lift the boat.

[BigDozer66]

Breakers get turned off after loading the boat and prepping to leave the lake. I see no reason to chance something getting fried.

This is what I have always done.

I am about to replace my Optima's with Ionic Lithium's in the near future just to shave some weight off.

[billwvu05]

Forgot to add that I am running 2 Optima 31's for trolling and an X2 27 for cranking. Seems to be a pretty good setup. 4 years on the Optimas and still going strong. The x2 is more than adequate for my 3 Carbon 9's. Only 1 season in on it but so far so good.

[ILbassin]

Yes, trolling motor batteries circuit breaker off as well as crank battery circuit breaker while charging or anytime I’m not using the boat.

[tcesni]

Yes, trolling motor batteries circuit breaker off as well as crank battery circuit breaker while charging or anytime I’m not using the boat.

When I turn both my breakers to OFF my outboard will still start. The graphs and the trolling motor won't work but the outboard fires up. Seems to me that it shouldn't but it definitely does.

[billwvu05]

When I turn both my breakers to OFF my outboard will still start. The graphs and the trolling motor won't work but the outboard fires up. Seems to me that it shouldn't but it definitely does.

Mine is the same way, no shut-off for the outboard. I plan on putting a main shut-off switch in this winter.

[Bill Reynolds]

There are two wiring harnesses hooked to the starting battery, one for the boat and one for the motor. I added a cutoff switch and attached both positive cables to the output side. You will require a short jumper wire from the battery to the switch for the motor harness.

[pfisher]

I have a RT 188. I turn the breakers off when charging. The ULTREX instructions tell you to do this and why not follow their advice. If anybody would know, I would expect it to be them.

Also I have the two biggest Sam's Duracell AGM batteries they sell for the TM. The weight is no problem. They are great batteries so far. They have a lot of advantages, one of which is getting the open acid out of an aluminum boat.

Wanted to add this...these batteries charge really really fast. I do not like leaving the charger on there all the time. I bought a manual dial timer for 120 volts. I turn the dial to about 2 or 3 hours and they charge, then the charger goes off. I live on a lake and plug them in soon as I get back and lift the boat.

Some folks don't read the manual. Our Minnkota service tech said he sees a few every year that obviously had board damage from the charger.

If you have a good charger leave it plugged in. The circuitry is designed to turn the charge off and monitor the state of the battery. Most folks think that because there is a light on a circuit is doing it's thing but that isn't the case many times. Today it's easy to design circuits that "wake" another circuit if needed. On a good charger the light you see after full charge is letting you know the batteries are being monitored and not necessarily charged. There is no danger with leaving it connected all the time.

[pfisher]

When I turn both my breakers to OFF my outboard will still start. The graphs and the trolling motor won't work but the outboard fires up. Seems to me that it shouldn't but it definitely does.

There is no reason to cut the motor off. I had some issues and the first thing they checked was for amp draw with the switch off. If working properly it's zero.

[Bill Reynolds]

There is no reason to cut the motor off. I had some issues and the first thing they checked was for amp draw with the switch off. If working properly it's zero.

The reason I installed the motor isolation switch was the motor frequently trimmed down by itself. Once it tried to trim down against the transom saver all night. Killed the battery.
It took several weeks to isolate and fix the problem so I installed the battery cutoff as a temporary measure. It became a habit to turn it off at the ramp and I just consider it an extra precaution.