I recently bought an old Yellow Jacket boat with a 1976 35 hp Johnson
outboard. I started cleaning it up and discovered it has what I believe
to be a 24v battery as the primary. Is this common? Does the old
Johnson coil put out 24 volts to charge it? If I want to change to a
12v system will I need to do anything to the starter and/or voltage
regulator on the motor? The trolling motor is a 12/24v with a selector
switch, so that should not be a problem. I'm just havng trouble
locating a 24v charger to see if I can put some life back in the old
battery.

Thanks

That is not a 24V battery. 12/24V trolling motors use 2 12V batteries.
Nothing on your outboard uses 24V. Charging voltage/current comes from the
stator through a rectifier to change it to DC voltage.


"wingspan" wrote in message
ups.com...
I recently bought an old Yellow Jacket boat with a 1976 35 hp Johnson
outboard. I started cleaning it up and discovered it has what I believe
to be a 24v battery as the primary. Is this common? Does the old
Johnson coil put out 24 volts to charge it? If I want to change to a
12v system will I need to do anything to the starter and/or voltage
regulator on the motor? The trolling motor is a 12/24v with a selector
switch, so that should not be a problem. I'm just havng trouble
locating a 24v charger to see if I can put some life back in the old
battery.

Thanks

I too must admit to some sceptisim about your 24v battery. Does it
have 12 cells? That would be 12 openings in the top to add water
and/or test specific gravity through? I have seen two 12 volt
batteries set up in series to get 24 volts in a few applications but I
have never seen a automotive type wet cell 24v battery.

IBNFSHN wrote:
That is not a 24V battery. 12/24V trolling motors use 2 12V batteries.
Nothing on your outboard uses 24V. Charging voltage/current comes from the
stator through a rectifier to change it to DC voltage.


"wingspan" wrote in message
ups.com...
I recently bought an old Yellow Jacket boat with a 1976 35 hp Johnson
outboard. I started cleaning it up and discovered it has what I believe
to be a 24v battery as the primary. Is this common? Does the old
Johnson coil put out 24 volts to charge it? If I want to change to a
12v system will I need to do anything to the starter and/or voltage
regulator on the motor? The trolling motor is a 12/24v with a selector
switch, so that should not be a problem. I'm just havng trouble
locating a 24v charger to see if I can put some life back in the old
battery.

Thanks

I bow to your superior knowledge on the topic. No, it only has 6 holes.
I was concerned when I saw "24" adjacent to the + post on the battery
and noticed the model number was 2460. That coupled with the 24v
trolling motor sent me over the edge into wild speculation. Thanks for
the comments!

That might also mean that it is a group 24 battery. The group is an
indication of the battery size, group 24, group 27, and group 29. The
bigger number the bigger battery. Since boats have lots of battery
room I tend to go for the bigger size, 27 or 29, as they generally have
more reserve amps. This is handy if you troll or sit around with
accessories on. Something to think about if you replace it.

wingspan wrote:
I bow to your superior knowledge on the topic. No, it only has 6 holes.
I was concerned when I saw "24" adjacent to the + post on the battery
and noticed the model number was 2460. That coupled with the 24v
trolling motor sent me over the edge into wild speculation. Thanks for
the comments!