Ive had some pms about this with some folks here (thank you) but am still concerned of the safety.  i have a Bassraider 8E with one input for electric up front...I want my trolling motor and depthfinder up front as well....Is it at least safe to twist the two together in one plug for the input? some say it will distort and some say it wont and i just want to see how many of you guys have any experiance or if you have any advice to get power for both devices...I wanted to keep it neat and not run a cable to the back if at all possible.

Don't do it, you WILL get interference.

I have done it that way with numerous sonar units with no interference and have only had one unit that had interference and that one was on a Motor Guide variable speed about 20 years ago.

You can try it that way and if you get interference, then you can wire it directly to the battery and may still get interference. You may have to use a separate battery or use some of the interference kit solutions available.

I've done it for years with no problems but, when I get the chance, I am going to run a separate line for the depth finder.

I have done the "direct" splice with no issue's, but ideally I plan on using a motorcycle battery for power to my fish finder and mount it to front probably in one of the storage compartment's. Junebugman

I wouldn't do it. I have a MK and I spliced my Hummingbird and I got interference. Un did the splice and connected both to the same battery and got interference.

what is the smallest battery i could get to keep up front for this then?  A motorcycle battery has been mentioned....the smaller the better though - i'll only be out a couple hrs at a time on this thing anyway so i dont need a lot of battery.

thank you for all the advice so far

what is the smallest battery i could get to keep up front for this then? A motorcycle battery has been mentioned....the smaller the better though - i'll only be out a couple hrs at a time on this thing anyway so i dont need a lot of battery.

thank you for all the advice so far

The HB 570 portable comes with a small 7.2 AH battery so there's one yardstick. Cabela's sells a similar 8 AH battery: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0036388018049a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCHFEAT_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Products&QueryText=battery&sort=all&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23

And that gives you another battery to charge. My boat has everything but the TM's running off the cranking battery and it works just fine.

A friend of mine has a motorcycle battery on his boat for his finder and he just charge's it with a 2 amp trickle charger, he say's it work's great!   junebugman

I have done the "direct" splice with no issue's, but ideally I plan on using a motorcycle battery for power to my fish finder and mount it to front probably in one of the storage compartment's. Junebugman

The motorcycle battery is a great idea. You learn something everyday on here.

A friend of mine has a motorcycle battery on his boat for his finder and he just charge's it with a 2 amp trickle charger, he say's it work's great! junebugman

So, i cant use my normal battery charger?

Ive had some pms about this with some folks here (thank you) but am still concerned of the safety. i have a Bassraider 8E with one input for electric up front...I want my trolling motor and depthfinder up front as well....Is it at least safe to twist the two together in one plug for the input? some say it will distort and some say it wont and i just want to see how many of you guys have any experiance or if you have any advice to get power for both devices...I wanted to keep it neat and not run a cable to the back if at all possible.

Odds are you will have interference.  I install a lot of units, and I use cut pieces of extension cord for power wires, keeps units powered independent of other electrical devices.  Cut a piece long enough to go from back to front, and wire the unit directly to the battery.  Be sure to include the appropriate fuse link for protection, installed at the battery.

I have mine spliced directly into the main power cable for my TM on my Jon.  I get little to no interference on my sonar.  If there is any, it's very minor and I rarely notice it on my screen.

thanks for all the reply's!  I'm gonna try to splice in and if it interferes i'll go with a separate motorcycle battery - great idea!

thanks again