trolling motor wiring

[mrjigger]

got a different boat. On the bow of the boat is a standard receptacle/plug for a bow mount trolling motor. I took the panel off that the receptacle/plug is attached to and looked behind it. There are two sets of red and black wires that come off the receptacle/plug and I can attach a set of wires to one battery and another set to a separate battery. For some reason though only one set of wires will actually provide power to the trolling motor. The wires labelled #2 come off the receptacle/plug and then to a battery, but if I disconnect the wires labelled #1 from the battery, the wires labelled #2 will not power the trolling motor.

Is this second set of wires for a 24V system? I don't think my previous boat was like this though. I think my previous boat only had one set of wires for a 24V system.

My current trolling motor is only a 12V, but I was hoping this second set of wires on my new boat would connect my 2 batteries in parrallel, but it doesn't seem to be working that way.

Actually it appears the wires labelled #2 are not doing anything even though they are connected to the receptacle/plug.

anybody got any ideas/thoughts?

thanks.

[PerchJerker]

Where you connect your trolling motor wires inside the plug will determine whether the 2 batteries provide 24 volts in series, or 12 volts in parallel. When you look inside the plug there should be a terminal for the ground (-), one that says 12V, and one that says 24V. Good luck getting it figured out.

[hanson]

I'm installing a 24v Powerdrive V2 on my boat right now and my boat was never, ever wired for a bowmount. So I've been doing a little messing around lately.

I'm guessing you have a Marinco plug, black outlet with a flip up door and the plug has 4 prongs on it? Thats what I'm installing on my boat and I had to have a couple Morgan Cokes the other night in the garage analyzing the instructions and thinking. Why can't they write these things better? So a normal person can understand them.

Anyway, I don't think you'll be able to run two batteries in parallel through the plug like you are hoping you can. You'll have to hardwire them parallel.

In a normal 24v setup, there is a "jumper" wire from the positive terminal of one battery to the negative terminal of the other battery. What the Marinco plug does is have the "jumper" circuit built into the plug. You can wire both batteries straight to the plug, and the plug makes the "jumper" circuit for you resulting in 24 volts going to the motor.

If I'm not mistaken, you can run either a 12v or 24v motor off this plug. But you would only hook up one battery if your motor is 12v and two if it was 24v. I'm just curious if its sending 24v to your 12v motor when you have 2 batteries connected.

However... I've read & re-read the instructions that come with the plug and receptacle and they say "The Marinco 4-wire 12v battery charger plug is used to charge two 12v batteries from a single 12v battery charger. It can also be used to connect a 12v motor to two 12 batteries." Ah Ha! Little research on the Marinco HSOforum tells me that the 12v Charger Plug (male), part #2018BP-12 should work in your situation. Here's what the instructions say, "On straight 12V trolling motors and two batteries, connect the trolling motor wires to a charger plug, cat. no. 2018BP-12, which connects the two batteries in parallel." This plug is also red in color to identify it better.

Sounds like you just need to switch plugs out to accomplish what you want to do.

Hope I'm close! Good Luck!

[PerchJerker]

and I had to have a couple Morgan Cokes the other night in the garage analyzing the instructions and thinking.

I've been around Chris when he's had couple Morgan Cokes and analyzed things .... good times

[marine_man]

"The Marinco 4-wire 12v battery charger plug is used to charge two 12v batteries from a single 12v battery charger. It can also be used to connect a 12v motor to two 12 batteries." Ah Ha! Little research on the Marinco HSOforum tells me that the 12v Charger Plug (male), part #2018BP-12 should work in your situation. Here's what the instructions say, "On straight 12V trolling motors and two batteries, connect the trolling motor wires to a charger plug, cat. no. 2018BP-12, which connects the two batteries in parallel." This plug is also red in color to identify it better.

Chris is right on! The red plug will do what you're trying to do.

marine_man