[Mark Spesard]

I know the topic has been killed and I didn't want to post a new thread, but I couldn't find the info I am after. I have an endura c2 55lb. I believe I want the Powermax pm3 55?. And what is the deal with the lawn mower battery? Are converters bad for your batteries? Whats the difference between the Powermax pm4 55 and the pm3 55? Thanks for the info

 

[crfishhunter]

The pm 4 is only pulling 400 watt and the pm3 is pulling 750 watt

 

[Mark Spesard]

Pulling from the generator? The only difference I found was the pm4 was a 4 stage smart charge and the pm3 was a 3 stage. What are the stages. I'm very new at this so please bear with me

 

[crfishhunter]

Not sure this is what I no from talking to powermax.

 

[Mark Spesard]

Ok. Thanks for he input!

 

[tjones96761]

The pm 4 is only pulling 400 watt and the pm3 is pulling 750 watt

They both pull 7A on genny and put out 780w charging. PM4 is 4 stages and quite a bit more money. Not sure what the 4th stage is, but assume it's off (as in zero charge).
The lawnmower battery thing is basically removing the weight from a DC system. It also will remove nearly all of your "silent" run capability. The troller will be running nearly directly from the converter.

 

[Mark Spesard]

Will that be hard on the converter then? And is the converter hard on marine batteries? Not a huge deal really. Only $100 walmart batteries. I don't run silent ever. I have 6 100w hps lights

 

[Mark Spesard]

And will the pm3 55 be good enough for my troller? I have the edura c2 55lb. I'm going to get an edura max when this one craps out I think.

 

[tjones96761]

Not hard on converter at all, that's what they're made for.
Look in lighting section. 2 stickys there. 1 has troller amp watt 1 has converter watt. Match up and good to go.
If you have plans of bigger troller in future, size for that with converter. Better to be too big than too small.

 

[Mark Spesard]

I'm going to be sticking with a 55# thrust. Good enough for me and my wallet. ha. So if I use my troller on the batteries all day and they are almost dead, will it be ok to use the converter all night? I just don't want to kill my marine batteries. Will it hurt them? Thanks for the help so far!

 

[Hacksaw]

You can run converters all night they dont hurt the batteries i would get a pm55 it will do what you want .

 

[Mark Spesard]

My plan is to use the battery till it dies then start the converter. Is that ok to do? Can I run the converter with 2 batteries that are run in parallel or does it have to be just a single battery?

 

[Hacksaw]

You can charge batteries in parallel it will just take longer but the converter should keep up with the troller easy enough .

 

[Mark Spesard]

Ok got some stuff figured out. Wiring now. I'm only going to be running a few feet. 6 max. From the converter to tue battery. Would 6 gauge wire be good or go with 4 gauge? I'm also thinking about running some heavier wire to my trolling motor. It has either 8 or 10 gauge now. Would 6 be better or is that overkill? Its a 16' boat

 

[OuTLaW1464]

Let your converter run all the time. It will only draw what it needs to keep up. If you let your batteries die first it is going to run wide open the rest of the night.

 

[Mark Spesard]

I don't want to be day shooting with the generator running. I like to run as quiet as I can during the day.

 

[tjones96761]

Ok got some stuff figured out. Wiring now. I'm only going to be running a few feet. 6 max. From the converter to tue battery. Would 6 gauge wire be good or go with 4 gauge? I'm also thinking about running some heavier wire to my trolling motor. It has either 8 or 10 gauge now. Would 6 be better or is that overkill? Its a 16' boat

Misc charts and info sticky in the lighting section will have a chart for wire gauge needed for amp/volt/distance.
Not trying to be a dik, but you're gonna have to figure out how to calculate this electrical stuff. If you get it put together but don't understand how and why it works, you'll have hell fixing it when it doesn't do what it's supposed to.

 

[Mark Spesard]

I understand I need to figure some stuff out on my own. I've looked at the charts. I'm just trying to get info so I don't screw anything up. I'd hate to burn anything up from not double checking my work with more knowledgeable people is all. I appreciate all the help so far.

 

[Mark Spesard]

So I got out finally and used my converter. It seemed good for awhile but then my battery it was hooked up to died..It only lasted a couple hours. I started with a fully charged battery too. What could of caused this? I thought the pm-55 would have been able to keep up. My wiring is all heavy. 4awg. I tested my converter when I got home tonight and it has a solid output. Any answers? Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this

 

[Shooter007]

Check to make sure your troller didn't burn out. The thing about these converters is the they were built to be chargers not direct power sources. The unit takes 5-15 minutes to figure out where the battery is at which during that time it's putting out its max charging voltage which can be close to 14v or more this can be to much for trollers and burn out the board. I was told this from the powermax rep, he told me if you take the cover off you can adjust the voyage output to never exceed what your troller can handle on start up. I had mine go out which is what led me to this conversation. When I tested my system with two convectors running I had 29.6v on start up which is way more then my 24v troller could handle. Just my experience.