Using existing live wells

[mwardncsu]

I'm moving some posts from another thread here where they will likely get better focus.

Jul 19, 2013 20:02:27 GMT -5 smlmike said:

OK guys I am new to the striper/fishing world and loving every moment that I get to go fishing. Always been a guy that played ball sports, but fishing is my game now. Learning a lot from you guys on here. Great information! Got 1 or many questions to come. First of all I have a 24' fishing pontoon that has two freshwater wells/tanks. Pumps and aerates the tanks straight from the lake. Are these good for live bait tanks? Do I need to prep the tanks in any way for live bait? My dock is within sight of Bettys & Beckys Creek, you guys talk like its good striper grounds. Going out all next week to try my luck for my first time own my own. Been to the bay fishing for them. Anyways, any insight you can throw my way is greatly appreciated. BentRod great information!

Jul 19, 2013 20:33:54 GMT -5 CorneliaGale said:

Welcome Mike, glad you joined us there is a lot of good information on here and a lot of years spent catching stripers by some of the guys on here. A pontoon is a good boat for the lake, for the bait tanks, are the tanks square or round? If they are square then you will have a problem with shad as they will all get in a corner and die. If they are round or oval then you may be able to use them. Later in the fall or spring you can use a tank that that runs water thru it. Lot of the problems with shad is the scales and poop they do in a tank, that is why the better tanks have filters in them. Go back and read some of the posts on bait tanks on here and you will get a idea of the problems with shad. Bettys and Beckys are a good location to fish for stripers and cats.

Jul 19, 2013 20:43:08 GMT -5 smlmike said:

CorneliaGale, I have seen the posts about the shad and getting red nosed. Also saw where BentRod puts them in holding tanks to de-scale. Any retro fit ideas for my rectangle takes with small rounded corners? How would Alewives or minnows do in these rectangle tanks? Thanks for the reply.

[CorneliaGale]

Mike, it might be possible to take some thin plastic and place it in the well to make it oval or round. minnows most likely would do OK, alewives a lot like shad. If you are a DYI'er you can come up with something. Watch Craigslist or the for sale here you may be able to pick up a used tank.

[BentRod]

SMLMike, those livewells may do ok at times, but in my experience, save yourself from the headache and get a decent tank. May cost you $300-500 but well worth it and your life will be so much easier. I've tried everything in the book over the years (wish I had that money n time back!) and nothing works as good as a Creekbank, Super II bait tank (best still being made), or similar. 30gal and up in size. I appreciate them even more now that my time is limited. I can trust my bait will be in great shape and all I have to worry about is finding fish.

[smlmike]

I am carpenter by trade, and at $300-$500 for bait tank. I may have to retro fit something until my wife will let me spend that kind of money. Next question I only have one wired battery on the boat, but have a spare on standby. That wired battery I think has two positive leads going to it, one for the console (electronics etc.) and then I guess one to the engine. Sound right? If I am going to use the livewell pump I should probably get that second battery hooked to the console, correct? Like I said I am a carpenter not a mechanic, so do I just un-hook one set of leads and transfer it two the second battery? What would charge the second battery? Again thanks for your help in advance.

[mwardncsu]

I'd consider getting a dedicated battery for the bait tank if you have room - a deep cycle, not a cranking battery. If you have a space, maybe use it - not sure how your live wells are wired - probably through a switch panel, which likely has a common feed. Would need to see a wiring diagram or some good pictures to give good guidance, if hi want to use the switch.

Or, find the leads from the live well - both the positive and ground, and disconnect and connect to your other battery (again, use a deep cycle). Make sure to use the proper size wire (most likely 16 ga, maybe 14 depending on the length of the run)' stranded, not solid, and ideally tinned marine wire. Fuse the positive lead within 7" of the battery with an appropriate sized fuse (check the pump specs).

If you can sketch a wiring diagram of how things are now and take some good pics, I can probably give you some more specific recommendations.

[smlmike]

Ok here is the set up I have currently. One battery with a backup. I would like to wire up both, one for cranking the engine and the other for livewell & stereo. Did some checking on my own, BEP Marine has Cluster that I think will work? What do you think? www.bepmarine.com/media/product/pro4d2e2e961425a.pdf . Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated by my wife's pocketbook.   The Exide battery is a deep cycle.
 

[smlmike]

MORE PICS. 

[mwardncsu]

OK - looks like you have a typical switch / breaker panel setup, where the panel is fed from the battery - looks like a common feed across one side of the breakers and then they breakers connect to the switch and then to the respective loads. The 1st battery pic looks like the motor connected to the battery and then I'm guessing a fuse for the bilge pump? and I see see another load which would be good to know what it goes to.

BEP makes good stuff - the 714 cluster may be a a good choice - basically all your loads (including the motor) pull off one battery, but the backup battery is charged when the motor is running and if your main battery dies you're able to switch over to it.

The 716 would be a step up - basically you have two seperate battery banks - a cranking battery and a "house" battery. Typically you would put your electronics, pumps, etc on the "house" and the motor on the cranking. The VSR will let the "house" battery get charged when the motor is running. Then, you have a manual switch to connect the batteries in parallel in the event that your cranking battery is dead and you need the house to help boost it - or vice-versa, you could get your electronics running if you drain things down, but if you do that I'd get the motor running so that you don't further run things down and not be able to crank the motor.

This 2nd cluster is more or less the setup I have, except I don't have the VSR - but my motor has an Aux charging lead - which in theory sends charging current to a 2nd battery - I say "in theory" as I'm not sure its working and one of these days I need to try and bug it out. The setup I have basically is just three switches - one on each battery with the house loads connected to the "house" switch and the engine to the cranking switch, and then a third switch that parallels them (and is fused since the house and cranking battery are separated by 12' or more of wire. Here is a pic before I finalized everything, but it is basically like this now.




There are lots of options on how to connect things - I like the idea of my electronics not being on my cranking battery so that if the electronics/pumps/etc pull down the battery I know I can still start my engine. OK, on the lake this is probably not a huge safety concern like it would be in the ocean or maybe even on a river, but it is peace of mind. In your case you're talking about maybe doing this to prevent the bait tank pump from pulling down your battery - you could leave the motor & electronics hooked up to the main battery and then put just the bait tank on the 2nd battery, and if you want use the cluster you pointed out as a way to charge that 2nd battery when the motor is running - or you could even move some of your electronics or even your whole panel over to the 2nd battery as shown in the cluster - all are valid options.

Anytime you have things that will have prolonged draws of current, the deep cycle is a better choice. The only downside to connecting your electronics to the same battery as your pumps is you *might* get some electrical noise on your sonar (or you may not).

Not sure this helps - lots of rambling, I know. Bottom line, the simplest, cheapest thing to do would be to just put your motor (and maybe your bilge pump) on your cranking battery, and then move the wires that go to the rest of your loads - electronics, pumps, etc and your new bait tank, over to your deep cycle, and then get a 2-bank charger to charge both batteries when you are off the water. The 2nd step may be the cluster you linked, still setup as mentioned with all loads but the motor (and maybe bilge) on the deep cycle - still get a 2-bank charger to keep things topped off when off the water - but you get the added benefit of topping off the deep cycle when running between spots on the lake. The 716 cluster just gives you more direct manual switching control - which can be a good thing since you can absolutely kill power to loads, or if your motor's starter ever "stuck", etc.