Kind of new to 24v. trolling motor.  I have a 1986 Stratos with a trolling motor switch that says, "off, charge, and run."  I'm assuming I want it off when I'm not using it, charge when I'm charging batt's, and run while I'm using it?

I believe my batt's are wired parrallel.  They are wired separate instead of hooked together.  I don't have an onboard charger so I've just been flipping the switch to charge, then charging them individually.  Is this okay to do?  It seems to work so far, I just can't afford to burn anything up.

I'd also like to know how many of you use trolling batteries for all accessories and how many of you use your start battery.  I've heard that trolling batt's can cause interference with some electronics.

The Off, Run, Charge switch is there so you can charge both batteries at the same time with a 12 volt charger, by plugging it in where the TM is plugged in and the switch is in the charge position.   I've never used that function with any boats I've ever had with that function.  To effectively charge the TM batteries from there you would need a 15 - 20 amp 12V charger.   Your standard 10 - 12 amp charger would not charge the batteries over night if the batteries were run down very much from a days fishing.   They also have a tendency to burn out from corrosion.

The batteries have separate cables going to the front for the Charge switch that places them in parallel when charging and series when in the run position.   This is also done to support the 12/24V motors so you can use both the 12 and 24 setting on the TM.  If your charging the batteries by directly connecting to the batteries, just leave the switch in the run position.

Only run the TM off the TM batteries, run all accessories of the cranking battery.   The cranking battery is charged when motor is running.  If you run the TM batteries down, you also loose all accessories.   Also, some TM's (the mosfet type, like the digitals and maxximizers) can burn out your electronics if they are connected to the TM batteries.   This is why you want to run a big dual purpose battery for a cranking battery, just straight cranking batteries don't like being constantly discharged.

Thanks Way2slow... now I feel better. Glad to hear from someone on this issue. That all makes perfect sense. I didn't know about the charge position and the charger that hooks to my plug in. Interesting stuff. I think I'm going to finish the season with these cheapo batteries that are in it for trolling, then get two new ones next season. I upgraded my cranking battery tonight to a better one that I had sitting on the shelf. It tested a little better than the one that was in it. I've kept it on a maint. charge over the last winter/spring. I've been cleaning terminals, resplicing corroded wiring, straightening out rat nests of wires for two days now. Mind boggling stuff. I just want to make sure I dont' have any bad days on the water if I can help it. This boat is kind of a wiring nightmare. It came from the factory with a generic wiring harness, so there's all these pigtails and plugs everywhere for accessories that a bass boat would never have like three fuel tanks, four or five bilge pumps, etc. Oh well, I'm learning. Thanks again.

I would like to discourage you from using a battery that has been sitting around for a cranking battery.  That can be the most expensive battery you could possilbly put in your boat.   A weak battery can and will burn out the charging system on the Outboard.   The reg/rec can acutally go up in flames, it can also burn out the stator, about $500 worth of damage if it gets both.   Bad batteries are probably the cause of 95% of all charging system failures.  Even though it's cranking the boat just fine, it still can be bad.   Unless you know how to check the specific gravity and it charges to at least 1.260 and preferably 1.275 evenly on all cells and 12.6 - 12.8 VDC after sitting 24 hours after charging, I wouldn't run it.

Way2slow- Thanks for the tips.  I will check it again before I head out on the water.  I had O'Reilly's run it through their diagnostic load tester and it said that it was at 85-90% of it's peak power.  I will still check the spec. gravity before I hit the water.  I had no idea it could do that to a rectifier and cause all that damage.  I can't afford that, but I can check it over really well before I go.  I just put it in place of one that was in it of the same size, but mine is a marine battery and the one that was in it was a car battery.  Mine seems to be in a little better charged state and not so worn.  The one that came out of it has some pretty worn places on the plastic from it being improperly strapped in.  Don't worry... I'll take your advice and check it every time I use it.  Thanks again.