BadContrakt Posted July 22, 2013 Posted July 22, 2013 Heyo I just got a new trolling motor and have a quick question about the wires on the unit. My battery is in the rear of my boat for my lights, depth finder, and transom mounted trolling motor. My new motor is a bow mount and I have 2 choices. One: I could splice the wires and extend them to reach the rear of my boat. Two: I could move my battery up to the front of the boat and my depth finder's wires should be long enough to reach it. The choice I PREFER is to splice and extend the positive and negative wires from the unit to reach the end of my boat... The biggest reason I'm asking about this is because I was wondering if extending the positive and negative would make the unit lose power. It would be about 13-14 feet from the unit to the battery. That seems like a lot of wire for the power to travel through. Do I run the risk of under-powering the unit or any other risk that could devastate my battery or the unit by using wires that long? If you'd like to see a picture of the motor housing and the wires in question, you can go to my album "My First Boat" they're all in there. Quote
Super User slonezp Posted July 22, 2013 Super User Posted July 22, 2013 To clarify, Are you planning on running 2 motors off one battery, or replacing the transom mount with the bow mount? You can run a MINIMUM of 8ga, although 6ga seems pretty standard on most bass boats nowadays. Yes you can splice it in. Use butt connectors and shrink tubing at the splice, and make sure you install a fuse or breaker inline. Quote
Super User slonezp Posted July 22, 2013 Super User Posted July 22, 2013 You can install this http://greatlakesskipper.com/en_us/tracker-220-02445-h-boat-trolling-motor-harness-w-50-amp-shortstop-breaker# and in addition you will need is the male plug adaptor for the TM wires. Quote
Loop_Dad Posted July 23, 2013 Posted July 23, 2013 If there is no resistance in the wire or connection, you will not lose any power. But thing is there's not such wire or connector. They all have some. Anywhere you have resistance, your battery juice will turn into heat and you use your precious juice. The smaller gauge has bigger resistance. Low quality connection produce bigger resistance. Do this with quality otherwise I think your biggest risk is burning the wire or overheating the connector. I was told that if you go to places like West Marine, they have all you need for this kind of job. Quote
BadContrakt Posted July 23, 2013 Author Posted July 23, 2013 To clarify, Are you planning on running 2 motors off one battery, or replacing the transom mount with the bow mount? You can run a MINIMUM of 8ga, although 6ga seems pretty standard on most bass boats nowadays. Yes you can splice it in. Use butt connectors and shrink tubing at the splice, and make sure you install a fuse or breaker inline. So you don't think the length of wire will cause a problem? Also, I've never had an inline fuse on a trolling motor. I have one on my depth finder but on the trolling motor? Quote
Super User slonezp Posted July 23, 2013 Super User Posted July 23, 2013 So you don't think the length of wire will cause a problem? Also, I've never had an inline fuse on a trolling motor. I have one on my depth finder but on the trolling motor? Why would it? There are 20-22' bass boats on the market with the TM batteries in the stern and the TM on the bow. Just use 8ga minimum, 6ga recommended. You need to fuse everything electrical on the boat. A fuse and a circuit breaker accomplish the same thing. You're looking at a 50-60 amp fuse/breaker Edit: A 50amp breaker can run you from $10 to $70 depending on how fancy you want to get. The $10 breakers work just fine. Did you look at the link I posted? Quote
BadContrakt Posted July 23, 2013 Author Posted July 23, 2013 Why would it? There are 20-22' bass boats on the market with the TM batteries in the stern and the TM on the bow. Just use 8ga minimum, 6ga recommended. You need to fuse everything electrical on the boat. A fuse and a circuit breaker accomplish the same thing. You're looking at a 50-60 amp fuse/breaker Edit: A 50amp breaker can run you from $10 to $70 depending on how fancy you want to get. The $10 breakers work just fine. Did you look at the link I posted? It's a Minn Kota Power Drive V1 55lb 12 volt. Any idea what size fuse that would be? I'll see if I can find out myself on the interwebz but if you know offhand that'd work too. Quote
Super User slonezp Posted July 23, 2013 Super User Posted July 23, 2013 It's going to be a 50 or a 60amp. I'll look as well Quote
Super User slonezp Posted July 23, 2013 Super User Posted July 23, 2013 Minn Kota 55 PowerDrive V2 55-lb Thrust Freshwater Bow Mount Trolling Motor, 48" Shaft: Deploy-Assist lever puts you in motion and in pursuit of fish quickly and easily Depress the lever to deploy the motor and you're ready to go When it's time to move, it stows easily and securely, ready for action whenever you are Control speed, steering and momentary and constant on/off with the foot pedal Features the industry's highest IP68 waterproof rating and an 18' cord 55 lbs of thrust Indestructible 48" composite shaft Electric steering with ergonomic foot pedal Push to test battery gauge Weedless Wedge 2 prop Variable speed with digital maximizer Max amp draw: 50 12V system requires one 12V deep cycle marine batteries Maximum boat length: 21' Minn Kota Trolling Motor (Thrust Freshwater Bow Mount) Model# 1358710 Quote
Super User slonezp Posted July 23, 2013 Super User Posted July 23, 2013 Less than $10 http://seachoice.com/products/electrical/breakers/manual-circuit-breaker-50-amp/ Quote
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