Posts: 410
Location: With my son on the water | Good to hear the fix worked for you Paul, I knew it would.
So here is the deal guys, and it does get technical. So if you want the details keep reading.
For the average guy the original OEM trolling motor wiring will work fine. But if you use your trolling motor hard like many of us doing things like running a shoreline into the wind you will probably experience some problems.
Most OEMs are using Marinco Plugs which are nice because they lock in, are inexpensive and very available. However they are only rated for 40 amps. Many of todays trolling motors like the very popular 80 lb Terrova draw 56 amps on high (See the first problem?) (The plug gets hot, then the electrical connection will either fail 100% or become intermittent). When using a Marinco receptacle you can run your wires in Parallel to the back of the receptacle and it has a jumper in it to convert to 24 volts. You are basically running (2) 12 volts circuits to the back of the receptacle so you can also get by with smaller gage wire and (2) smaller typically 40 amp breakers. Again this will certainly work for a larger percentage of the users.
The problem many of you are having is not a new issue and I have personally rewired 12+ rigs and helps countless others improve this.
Here is what we have done.
We basically rewire the rig in a Series set up.
1. We are using a Battery Tender Plug which is rated for 100 amps. About $50
2. We are using a Minn Kota type 60 amps resettable breaker. About $20 to $30
3. We are installing a Master Marine shutoff switch (rated for 300 amps) on the jump between the + & - (which is the wire connection that converts the circuit to 24 volts)to be able to kill the circuit without disconnecting the plug. About $30 WHY? A few reason. 1. It is just nice to know the motor can not accidentally turn on somehow during towing a rig. 2. You can again kill the circuit without wearing out the plug by disconnecting it. 3. But the main reason.. EVERY time you charge your trolling motor batteries you should absolutely kill the circuit to the trolling motor. Today's trolling motors have several circuit boards in them, if your charger emits a voltage spike it can wipe out the main (mother board) in the control head of your trolling motor. A voltage spike can happen anytime your line voltage coming into the charger drops and then goes back up quickly, this can happen from (an AC unit kicking in, a refrigerator compressor kicking in, a well pump, the wind, or a storm, etc) but it can happen. A breaker will do nothing to stop a voltage spike. We typically have installed the master shutoff switch under the console of the boat (which increases wire length but is convenient). Power down the boat, and power down the TM.
3. We use Marine Grade Wire. Size? Don't guess on the wire size. We are talking DC wiring so as the distance increases the wire size needs to increase too. There are several Amp Draw/Distance charts that will tell you the required wire size on the internet. Always error on the larger size if you are on the edge. So you need to measure the entire run length of your wire and put that distance on the chart with the max amp draw (commonly 56 amps) and the graph will tell you what gage wire you need. We commonly use 4 gage. About $1.50 to $1.75 per foot.
4. Connections- We use tinned copper connectors and crimp & solder them using electrical grade solder to avoid corrosion. Stay away from flux. About $.75 per connector.
5. We use liquid tape, then regular tape or heat shrink to seal up all the connections.
This has been a rock solid setup in every rig we have done and your issues will be gone. As you can see even doing this yourself (good off season project) it will cost about $200 so you can see why OEMs go the route they do. You can save a few dollars by (wiring direct which eliminates the plug or disconnecting the plug and eliminating the switch). I do believe some manufactures offer a heavy duty wiring package as an option but not all. But again the original setup will work for most people most of the time.
On another topic we also install the same master shutoff switch on the starting battery of the big motor. WHY? So we can kill the trim too. When you simply turn off the key of an outboard the trim still has power. HORROR stories now. The seal on the trim switch fails, it rains, the motor trims up when the boat is on the dock and you are sleeping. But the motor doesn't stop trimming up, the pump gets hot, wires get hot, next thing fire. YES, it happened to me but I was in the boat when it happened so I was able to disconnect the battery.
Sorry I was long but I have been knee deep in this topic for a few years so I just thought I would share it again to hopefully help you out. If anyone needs some info and where to locate the things you need please send me an E-mail and I will send you the links of what you need. Don't hesitate to ask, if I am near by I will come help you.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to wear your life jacket and turn the boat lights on.
Brad  |
