See full version: Everything You Should Know Before Wiring a 36-Volt Trolling Motor
It is recommended to connect your main (starting) battery to a charging system for proper maintenance. This will extend your battery’s service life and in the end, save you money. You can connect all your batteries with one 4 bank smart charger that has the ability to charge different types of batteries. more
If you have an onboard charger to add to this 36-volt set up, take the positive and negative leads from the charger and hook them up to each battery accordingly. There should be four connection cables on your onboard charger for a 36-volt setup. Three cables are for your trolling motor batteries, while the fourth cable is for you’re A/C power. more
Be sure all your batteries are properly charged with your onboard marine battery charger before hitting the water or have a quality alternator charger setup. Alternator chargers can pull power from your starting battery, which recharges from running your boat’s motor, or you can explore solar power.
A 36-volt trolling motor needs three separate 12-volt marine batteries to function. To achieve the required 36 volts, three batteries are connected in series, increasing the voltage.
So. I open all the packages. start connecting the 50 amp circuit breaker, liquid tape all the connections. and I grab the end of the equipped cable and it says that Motorguide recommends 6 gauge wires. more
My question now is. Can I just use the 10 gauge crap for the 4' extension? If not, can use 6 gauge wires but still use the 10 gauge receptacle/plug? Can I use stereo wire? I have some nice 0 gauge wires sitting in my garage.. I may also have some 6 gauge stereo wires as well. more
I recently picked up a Motorguide Wireless 55lb thrust 12V. I bought some 10 gauge wires to connect it to my battery. I planned to use it to extend the equipped cable about 4'. I also picked up 10 gauge receptacle & plug.
Just curious before I go spend more money on the 6 gauge marine stuff.
Re: Basic Battery and Wiring for Jon Boat
Re: Basic Battery and Wiring for Jon Boat [links]
You are making this way more difficult than necessary. Look at the Generic wiring diagram in the stickies at the very top of this forum. This is the way wiring "should" be done. That said, there are as many ways to wire a boat as there are boats. But here's the deal with trolling motors. Wire the trolling motor receptacle directly to the battery. That circuit draws the most current current of any circuit on the boat. #8 or #6 wire is required depending on the size of the troller. A 40 or 50A breaker is needed in that circuit. The rest of the accessories need to be connected to a fuse panel that is fed by a separate feed from the battery. The positive lead in that circuit is protected by a 20A fuse and the wire used will be #10. All accessory circuits from the fuse panel can be #16 gauge wire. Before you start, go to your local library and check out any book titled "Low Voltage Wiring" or similar. [links]
Are you planning on using one battery only? Nothing wrong with that and thats the I way I started on my jon boat, but after using it awhile, I now use two batteries, one in the front for the trolling motor and one in the rear for the sonar and back up for the trolling motor. I would wire the trolling motor in direct either way, with just a fuse or circuit breaker right at the battery. The length of the wire run to the trolling motor and the size of the trolling motor will determine the size of the wire. You can for sure use that terminal box, but its not really necessary, if the only other thing you are hooking up is the ff. I used 2 conductor shielded cable for my ff, #18, with a fuse holder at the battery and a 3 amp fuse. You don't need to run shielded cable, but I already had it and its high quality stuff and the shield, helps protect the with and prevent interference. I did use a circuit breaker with a "test' button on my trolling motor instead of a fuse, I found that the motor does draw some current even when its "off", so the circuit breaker acts as a switch, saving the battery and as a safety, so know one turns the motor on by accident out of the water. more
Remove the plate panels by removing the securing screws. For most motors, this will reveal the mounting holes.
With the motor in the stowed position, check the location of the motor head. You want to make sure that it doesn't overhang the side of the boat. Otherwise, if you bump up against a dock or other vertical surface, you'll likely break the motor head. Using a straight-edge, position the mount so that the motor head is within the boundaries of the boat. [links]
Position the front of the mount so that it allows the motor to deploy and clear the tip of the bow. This will vary slightly from motor to motor, but will usually require either a flush position with the side of the boat, or a slight (less than 1”) overhang. [links]
Before determining mounting hole locations, you'll need to assemble the motor. Attach the motor shaft and head assembly to the mount. Once assembled, lay the motor in the stowed position along the bow parallel to the side. more