Hi everyone, I have a trolling motor for a small boat that runs on 12V(DC) and provides 55lb thrust, and I have heard about more powerful trolling motors that use 24V. I am convinced that it would be possible to run a higher power motor with something like a boost converter to step up the voltage. Assuming it provides the current it needs, which is alot of current(I thought I saw the datasheet for one of them listing 60 A max, but it was a long time ago that I saw it) is that something that is realistic? I don’t have any specific examples of motors but I know I have seen them, and I believe they provide around 120lb thrust and people run them using two large 12V batteries in series but I was wondering if it is possible to run it with a converter and one 12V battery for less time

 

No, it's not realistic.
It would be huge and expensive, and waste ~15% to ~30% of your Battery's capacity.

And, it would easily cost twice as much as simply purchasing a second Battery.
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Motors and DC-DC converters often don't play nice with each other. We tried that once upon a time with disk drives. The current required to spin up a 5 1/4" platter was easily 4-5 times the running current. The first time we tried it the DC-DC converter fell to its knees and didn't bother to stop there. It simply could not overcome the inertia and make it to 4000 rpm.

ETA: Boost converters are especially vulnerable to this problem because the tradeoff for boosting the voltage is that the available current is reduced by the same boost ratio. This is not what you want for starting and running a motor.

 

Thank you for your responses and clearing things up

 

Adding to posts #2 and #3, to get the same amount of power out of a 100% efficient converter will take twice the current, at least. And to get more power out would increase the current even more. So get a second battery and then not only will you have access to the greater power, BUT, IN ADDITION you will have a backup scheme for when one battery fails, as you will still be able to use one battery to move along slowly. Usually a 24 volt motor will run on a 12 volt battery. Slower but slow beats stopped .