So I just returned from Kansas with a 2015 Seaark V-Cat from an estate sale. The owner (passed) installed white LED's inside, green outside, plus a couple of spots on the front corners. They are all controlled by a 6 switch panel at the console. In the battery compartment are four batteries, two for the TM, one starting, and one for the light show. The three bank charger is connected to the TM and starting battery. The battery for the extra lights is wired into the starting battery. So am I correct to say that the battery for the lights is only charging when the outboard is running? If I do some late night crappie fishing with the lights on as the fourth battery runs low will it then draw from the starting battery and possibly leave me without starting battery power? Been stuck on the water with no power once in 10 years of fishing and don't plan on doing it again, thanks!

If the 4th battery is wired directly to the cranking battery then both will charge with the motor running and both will draw down at the same time when its not running. Your best bet it to put in a battery selector switch to keep them separate and can select both when charging.

Thanks, great idea.

leds would take a month to run down most of the deep cycles we put in boats, they draw so little power that overnight should not be a problem.

I had 32' of white under my rubrail and 8 deck lights, ran them off the start battery and never had a problem.

if you are gonna worry about it just buy some short jumper cables so you can jump off one of the trolling motor batteries if needed.

Guys,

Another idea to just think about is these booster jump packs. They have these from one extreme to the other in expense. The smaller and lighter weight one I bought has the lithium batteries takes up very little room in the bilge compartment is easy enough to take in and out of the boat, just to have the peace of mind for a boost if you had a dead battery.

I too was left on the water dead. I would have bet the whole bank that with 3 group 31 AGM 280 AH brand new batteries, it would have never happened. I have always carried jumper cables. Trolling Motor batteries were both down enough from fishing they would crank the ob motor over, but would not fire her up, my old style ob Motor will fire up with just by touching the key, yet my motor would not fire up. I am not new to this sport of fishing and boating either. Never have I been left dead in the lake before from dead batteries.

I was totally shocked it could have done that with 3 - 280 AH agm batteries and my ob motor as easy to start. And it did crank my ob over really pretty fast, just wasn't fast enough to fire her up, trust me I tried every battery on its own as well as with the jumper cables connecting 2 of them together and nothing fired that ob motor up. Unbelievable if I was not there lol.

I had the wife with me and we had live bait in the livewells and had been out all night crappie fishing this past summer, with her on board was what really tripped my trigger and the very last thing I ever wanted. So, the jumper booster pack was bought and it goes in the bilge every trip to the lake anymore. To heck with that, she just doesn't like the heat of the summer and she has to have live bait and she wanted to go lol, the wife and I have been married over 30 years now and I sure never thought that would have been possible running a timer for on and off aeration of the bait...

It's just another option for peace of mind, and these booster packs are handy around the house as well, as the one I bought has a multiple of different plugs to hook up other stuff to as well, like cell phones, laptops or whatever. Storms can knock our power out way to easy anymore.