I am looking at getting a new trolling motor and wanted to get some opinions on a 24V or 36V and why. I currently have a 24V Maxxum and have 2 dedicated batteries, it pushes the boat just fine all day and have never felt like I was getting low on battery. I am looking to get an Ultrex and wanted to know if there was an advantage to the 36V over the 24V, or is it just boat specific? Thanks,

Sounds like you answered your own question. If the 24V is working well, no reason to change it.

If your Maxxum is pushing the boat fine, then another 24V motor will do the same. it comes down to spending the extra $$$ for the 36V motor and the third battery and if you are willing to carry the weight of a third TM battery.

I agree with the above posts.

Think of batteries like fuel tanks. If two of them are enough for you to fish a day with adequate performance, then you don't need the cost or weight of an additional battery. You'll slow your boat down and add cost if you do. Remember you'll need to charge that new 3rd battery also.

One possible reason for moving to 36V is for sheer power to chop through vegetation more easily. If you don't have an issue with this or a need, it's not a reason to change.

3 12V batteries connected in series to give you 36V is going to increase the voltage but will have no effect on the amp hour capacity. You have to have batteries connected in parallel to increase amps.

Actually, AMP-HOURS is cumulative. It is one way to represent the POWER that can be stored in a battery. (Please note that AMPS and POWER are not interchangeable words.) If one battery has 100 AH, two of them have 200 AH, and three of them have 300 AH. They are truly like fuel tanks.

The part you are missing is the fact that voltage plays a role equal to amps in a power calculation: Power = Voltage x Amps, and is measured in watts. So, you can increase the power in a system by increasing EITHER the amps available or the system voltage.

For peak power, lets say that the battery model chosen provides 25A, albeit for a short period.

24 Volt System: Max. TM propulsion = 24V x 25A = 600 watts
Let's say the angler likes to run this setup at a setting that draws 20A to get the speed he wants. Most of the time he needs 24V x 20A, or 480 watts of power.

Now let's see what happens with a 36V system (using 3 of the same battery).
Max. TM propulsion = 36V x 25A = 900 watts!
Well lookie there, he's got an extra 50% power available if he ever needs to put the hammer down!

What about his typical speed setting that uses 480 watts? Let's check that too. Well, with a 36V system, we get 480W/36V requiring a current draw of 13.3A to move the boat at an identical speed, a reduction of almost 7 amps from the 24V system. His system will run much longer when drawing 13.3A instead of 20A. This is because he has 300 AH of available energy vs. 200 AH from the 24V system. Notice no batteries were ever put in parallel to do this.

Flippin-Out well said my man. That is the very reason I went to a 36v system. I get as much pulling power on a lot lower setting and I can never crack the highest performance of the tmotor in a day's fishing.