I just picked up a 2000 Ranger 619dvs.  According to the schematic the only thing that is supposed to be on the 24v system is the trolling motor.  All other electronics are supposed to be on the cranking battery.  But when I look at my batteries I've got 4 wires going to each post on the deep cycle battery.  So I know something is on there that shouldn't be.


Second what are your thoughts on this???  To me it seems to make more sense to have your electronics on the deep cells that way if you run them to long you can still start with the cranking battery.

Unhook the cranking battery and see what still works.

That's on my to do list for tonight.

I am going through a wiring problem of my own, instead of extra wires from the battery mine all connect in a huge mess a little ways up and under the back deck. I bought a Tracker Pro Crappie two weeks ago and the damn thing has more wires than a NASA shuttle. The huge mess under the deck and another under the console. It doesn't help that the older guy who had it before has cut, spliced, and tried to rewire almost all of it so now none of the lights, the bilge, or aerators work.

Good luck on yours. Start with disconnecting it all like was mentioned and go from there.

You may find some of those wires go to an on-board battery charger. Personally, I like having the cranking battery power the helm gauges and the engine. Everything else goes to a trolling battery or "house" battery. This usually means re-wiring the NAV lights to the trolling batt cuz normally they are wired to the helm wiring.

Yeah, I do have an on board charger. The previous owner did indeed have things wired wrong and it was kind of obvious when I put some thought into it.  One of the cables barely reached the battery he had it on, that was a big clue.  I got it all figured out and got it on the lake and everything worked so I did something right.

Best way is to have the trolling motor totally seperate, and 1 house battery for electronics and another cranking battery just for starting the boat. You do want to get back, right?

However, that is 4 batteries, so most people get a combo deep cycle/cranking battery for the house/starting battery on small boats

All the ways to hook up your trolling bank to house loads are clunky. Don't try and run 12v and 24v off of one bank without controlling electronics

24 volt TM on two batteries and everything else on cranking battery. Fish finders will sometimes pick up interference if wired to the TM batteries.

There is only gonna be 2 wires going to the trolling motor plug. In a 24V or 36v system its gonna be one on the negative post on one battery and the other wire is on the positive of the other battery. There will be a jumper from the neg - to the pos +  of the batteries. I have ran my radio, inside lights , nav lights and depth finder most of the night and it still cranks the motor fine. I do keep jumper cables in my boat just incase. Like was said ealier you dont want noise from the TM and those can be taking down below 10v if you run your TM hard. Your depth finder aint gonna like that.