Mark S

I don't have a Costco card. Is Costco a lot cheaper?

Bulzeye

That's the deal. I really don't know the motor thing very well yet, but electrically speaking....

If you are running a given motorat a given power, you will deplete a given battery in a given amount of time (give or take a few 'givens'). If you want to run it longer, you need more battery, or a more efficient motor. Period. You can only get out what you put in. (That whole Law of Conservation of Energy thing)

To use a second battery to add run time, you either you run 2 batteries inparallel (for a 12 volt system with both positive battery terminals tied together and both negatives tied together), or you switch to a 24 volt setup that uses the two batteries wired in series (the positive of one battery will be wired to the negative of the other, and the unused terminals become the new positive and negative of your new '24 volt battery'.
You could also add a 3rd battery for a 36 volt system.

The higher powered motors will demand more juice, and if they are used at 12 volts, they will draw large amounts of current and require BIG wire. If the same size motor is operated at twice the voltage, it only takes half the current to do the same amount of work.

I imagine that the bigger motors are 24 volt to keep the operating current lower to prevent battery damage, and the medium motors come with the 12/24 option so that you have the choice of running on a single battery if you care to.

Johnny b

Mark, About the Cosco thing be careful. Last year I was going to get the generator at Menardsa and they were out of the Wen. They had another one that the salesman said was just like the Wen. After reading the lable it did have MOST of the features,but did not have the built in Battery charger. That is the one feature that I really like. While running you lights you can be chargeing a battery at the same time with out a separate charger. So read the fine print. So far I really, like the generator, but have only it one time. Snuffy has had his a year now and trouble free. My son-in-law and mr extreme are here and i was showing it to them last night. One pulll and it was running.

mez

I do, 30 amp, on a 55 lb MK All Terrain. Change it about every 2 weeks. Have an inline fuse on both of my graphs as well. Cheap protection and a quick fix on the water.

Bulzeye

I'm keeping my fuse too, and I just picked up a circuit breaker that clamps directly to the battery post. It's a cube that's about an inch on a side. Easy resets with no hassle, and I still have the fuse in-line to backup the breaker (because it was cheap).

carpsniper

Johnny, this one does have the 12v leads. Are you charging the same battery you're using to run the troller? They say that will burn up your troller.
Mez, do you just change the fuse that often bc it blows, or just as maintenance? It seems to me that if it blows, 30 amp mat be a bit light.