I was thinking of running a second battery for the fish finder and live bait well... Does anyone use this set up? and I was looking into a charging system for it too.... a small waterproof solar panel or something.... I keep racking my brain on this..... Need some help..... THANKS!!!

Check out hobiefish's post about using am ACR. It basically charges your second battery when the main one is full, while the jetski is moving. I have thought about using a small wind generator to charge the fishfinder and bait tank batteries. But these things aren't cheap and it doesn't generate much in short periods.

A charging relay is optimum but not a "must have". You should, however not use your regular battery for the pump or fish finder, especially if you ride on the ocean.

You can buy sealed batteries from many online kayak sites. But I buy mine from Radio Shack. No shipping. I run a fish finder and a 360 GPH pump using a 12v 7amp battery. It works great for several hours. I used to keep the battery in a watertight box attached to my bait well. I recently mounted it inside the hull next to the existing battery. I keep it charged after each use.

Someday, when I go on longer trips, I will get an ACR

I use a second battery for everything outside of engine starting, It is located in front of my fuel tank in the hull bottom riding on neoprene pad, locked down with bungees. I use HD alligator clips that clamp tightly along with cig lighter conn. and to prong trailer conn's. I have had no problems at all with this setup even in the surf. It is setup so that it can be hooked up for staring in an emergency also.
Bigfish

I've been looking into a secondary battery as well. Looks like an acr would be nice. Now that I've hit six post off to the garage and looks things over.

I'm using a perco switch with an odyssey battery as my second battery that runs nav lights, bilge pump, gps/fishfinder. If you switch the battery to just that battery it will then charge that one when running.

HawaiianShorts wrote:Check out hobiefish's post about using am ACR. It basically charges your second battery when the main one is full, while the jetski is moving. I have thought about using a small wind generator to charge the fishfinder and bait tank batteries. But these things aren't cheap and it doesn't generate much in short periods.

Can someone post a link to this "ACR"? Want to check this out.

Here it is:
http://www.jetskisportfishing.com/dual-battery-with-automatic-charging-relay-t513.html

Thanks for the link. Looks like a great idea way to keep the extra battery charged.

tailspin808 wrote:Thanks for the link. Looks like a great idea way to keep the extra battery charged.

Yes. If you are running a bait pump and a smaller 2nd battery, then it's important. That 2nd battery will run out after a few hours. If all you have are electronics then not so much