I am relatively new to the whole boat scene, as I've only had a boat for the last year.  I have a 12/24v trolling motor and although I do understand how to hook up the batteries, I do have concerns for the rest of my lights and/ electronics.

I understand that if I hook up the batteries in parrell (bat A + to bat B+ and Bat A - to Bat B -) it will only give me 12v but w/ a prolonged life.

I also understand that if I hook up the + of Bat A to the - of Bat B and run my trolling motor off of bot the A and B batteries it will run 24v.

Here's my question.  How to run my electronics and lights??  Will hooking them up to one batter both + and - give me 12v or 24v?  Kind of unclear, I know, but try to follow me here gonna get confusing:

Bat A - to trolling motor + jumped to Bat B -

Bat B + to trolling motor - jumped to Bat A+

This will give me 24v to trolling motor BUT if I run my lights and electronics off of say Bat A + and - what will happen?  will it be 24V or 12? and if it will be 24V, will the lights/ fish finder be ok???

Thanks in advance

I don't have a 24 volt system. So I maybe in error. But I would think a three battery set up would work the best. Aren't you still haveing to crank your motor off of 12volt battery, I would use that to power my navigational lights and electronics. Usually the power drain is very low even if you use black and florecent lights. I believe I am running all of mine off of the cranking battery and the livewells.  I did switch the aux. to the trolling batteries.

If you are trying to run everything off of just 2 batteries, at 2:30am I would say I wouldn't try it, it could be done, but not without stepping back down the voltage. I am sure you could by a converter, for that.

They make selector switches just in case you would ever happen to run down your cranking battery or you could just jump from one of the others trolling batteries. You can also get 24volt bulbs (and spotlights if needed), I don't know if your lighting system would handle the bulbs though.

If you hook directly to battery A (+) to B(-) with the wires going to the trolling motor it would increase battery A (+) A(-) to 24volts from 12volts once you jump A (-) to B (+) I also believe the extra draw would be pulled though the motor.

YOUR 24V MOTOR SHOULD BE ON IT'S OWN CIRCUIT THAT'S HOW MY TRACKER 17' TARGA IS. NEVER RUN A 24V MOTOR ON 12V OR VISE VERSA. I RUN 2 GROUP 29 BATTERIES IN A SERIES FOR 24V I ALSO RUN 2 GROUP 27 BATTERIES IN PARALLEL FOR 12V TO RUN MY 2 LIVEWELLS, LIGHTS AND ELECTRONICS. BATTERIES SHOULD BE OF THE SAME GROUP SIZE AND SAME BRAND TO GET THE BEST RESULTS FROM MULTIPLE BATTERY SYSTEMS. IF I UNDERSTAND, YOU CAN RUN YOUR MOTOR ON BOTH 12V AND 24V CAN'T SAY I'VE SEEN ANY OF THOSE.

2 BATTERIES IN PARALLEL A+ TO A+ AND B- TO B- WILL DOUBLE THE RUN TIME OF THE WEAKEST BATTERY AND BE 12V. ONE POSITIVE JUMPER AND ONE NEGATIVE JUMPER IS NEEDED.

2 BATTERIES IN SERIES A+ TO B- AND THE LEADS TO THE REMAINING A+ AND B- WILL DOUBLE THE VOLTAGE (24V) AND GIVE YOU THE RUN TIME OF THE WEAKEST BATTERY. ONE JUMPER IS NEEDED A+ TO B-

3 BATTERIES IN SERIES A+ TO B- PLUS A+ TO B- AND THE LEADS TO THE REMAINING A+ AND B- WILL TRIPLE THE VOLTAGE (36V) AND GIVE YOU THE RUN TIME OF THE WEAKEST BATTERY. TWO JUMPERS ARE NEEDED FOR ONE A+ TO B- AND THE OTHER TO ANOTHER A+ TO B-.

RUNNING YOUR 24V/12V TROLLING MOTOR ON THE SAME CIRCUIT AS YOUR ELECTRONICS MAY CAUSE INTERFERENCE TO YOUR ELECTRONICS ALSO RUNNING 24V TO RUN THINGS MEANT TO RUN ON 12V MAY/WILL GET DAMAGED UP TO AND INCLUDING ONBOARD FIRES.

HOPE THIS HELPS