my helix 12 shuts off when I start my engine

[LookingforFish]

my helix 12 shuts off when I start my engine.
My cranking battery is hooked up to my helix 12 console and helix 10 bow. also hooked up to live well and aerator.
I bought a new battery and the helix 12 still turns off when I start my motor.

I was wondering if I should get a seperate battery for the motor.

I have a ranger rt198. i got a 24 volt terrova trolling motor hooked up to 2 other batteries

[ntslam]

What size wire do you have running from the units to the batteries?

[LookingforFish]

the motor wires are like pretty thick. the fishfinder wires are thinner. I bought the boat last winter. I didn't do the install

[haus9393]

what size battery group 24, 27, 29, 31???? then what size wire in gauge? these are both very important. The gauge size will be on the wire.

[Fish_4_Five]

Don't connect the unit to the main power switch. Run it with larger gauge wire directly to the battery. Or the exit side of the cutoff if you have one. Once you do that they'll never shut of when starting

[LookingforFish]

main motor is 4 gauge, fishfindw.er is 18 guage. Battery group is 27m.

[catdude28]

Don't connect the unit to the main power switch. Run it with larger gauge wire directly to the battery. Or the exit side of the cutoff if you have one. Once you do that they'll never shut of when starting

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This. In the case of a known good battery, direct wiring to the battery, or through the use of a block, usually fixes a problem like that. If it is wired through the boat's harness, then there is a significant voltage drop when you start the engine, especially if the boat is a few years old.

[LookingforFish]

yeah I have to check to see how it is wired

[haus9393]

18 gauge wire is way too small for graphs like that. You should be running dedicated 10 gauge wires for each graph on your boat and wired directly to the battery. A group 27 battery is also probably too small for your setup. Replace the wires first and see if that works but even if it does fix the voltage drop I would highly suggest getting a good group 31 agm battery.

[Cerus]

They probably didn’t shorten the power cords which are thin gauge and used the terminal blocks to connect them so they’re using the boats wiring which can cause issues with power hungry units.

I’d install a blue seas fuse box under the console. Run an 8g to the breaker switch from the box and then run 12-10g from the fuse block to the units.

[wmitch2]

They probably didn’t shorten the power cords which are thin gauge and used the terminal blocks to connect them so they’re using the boats wiring which can cause issues with power hungry units.

I’d install a blue seas fuse box under the console. Run an 8g to the breaker switch from the box and then run 12-10g from the fuse block to the units.

^^^^This !!
http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread....=#post10113963

[bandit53]

You should also place a 30 amp fuse on the fuse panel hot wire coming from the Perko switch.

[Kodiak16]

Low or bad battery, When you start the motor big draw and voltage drops. Most birds cut off at 10.8 volts. Put your voltage on the screen and see what it is. Before you start it should be at least 12.2 volts. Start it and watch the screen if it gets to 10.8 volts you have a problem with your battery. If its not 12.2 before you start could be battery or alternator but usually that means both.

[LookingforFish]

I wired the fishfinder straight to the battery and it doesn't shut off when I crank the battery anymore. Thanks for help