jgalen0025 Posted August 9, 2017 Posted August 9, 2017 Hi all! I am new to the forum and have limited experience with bass fishing, boats and trolling motors but in general, I do everything myself where physically possible. With that said I recently installed an Ultrex i pilot link, 80# 52 inch shift model onto my new to me 16 foot multi species deep v side console (2001 Mon Ark). The wire gauge recommended is 8 awg at a minimum but the power wires coming out of the foot pedal are labeled 10 awg. Am I missing something? The ring terminals that are stock don't even fit on the circuit breaker recommended by Minn Kota? Also, I do plan on buying the compatible hummingbird fish finders but do not own them yet. Is there anything I should know while using the remote only for operations as opposed to the fish finder? In addition, any pointers and comments are welcome! Quote
Russ E Posted August 9, 2017 Posted August 9, 2017 the reason they suggest 8 awg wire is to get all of the power to the motor and prevent voltage drop between the motor and batteries. it is a combination of voltage, amp draw,wire size and distance. voltage drop indicates the electricity was dispersed through the wire instead of making it to the motor. for example: if your 24 volt motor pulls 30 amps on high speed and you have a 12 guage wire running 20 feet between the battery and motor you would have a voltage drop of 1.91 volts. if you have the same setup with 8 guage wire there would only be a drop of .75 volts. what this means is, the larger wire will waste less electricity and help protect your motor from overheating. electric motors do not like runnning below their rated voltage. Quote
Mjmj Posted August 9, 2017 Posted August 9, 2017 Depending on the distance to the battery 8awg might be right. I ran 16' and use 6awg. There is a plug that MK sells to run larger AWG wires to one side of the plug and your trolling motor wires to the other end. Quote
Russ E Posted August 10, 2017 Posted August 10, 2017 3 hours ago, Weedwhacker said: the reason they suggest 8 awg wire is to get all of the power to the motor and prevent voltage drop between the motor and batteries. it is a combination of voltage, amp draw,wire size and distance. voltage drop indicates the electricity was dispersed through the wire instead of making it to the motor. for example: if your 24 volt motor pulls 30 amps on high speed and you have a 12 guage wire running 20 feet between the battery and motor you would have a voltage drop of 1.91 volts. if you have the same setup with 8 guage wire there would only be a drop of .75 volts. what this means is, the larger wire will waste less electricity and help protect your motor from overheating. electric motors do not like runnning below their rated voltage. although this was a longwinded answer, I was trying to state not to undersize your trolling motor wiring. Unfortunately I have seen a lot of OEM wiring that was way undersized. 8 guage minimum. 6 would be better. Quote
jgalen0025 Posted August 10, 2017 Author Posted August 10, 2017 I am referring to Minn Kota's own installation guide "Conductor Gauge and Circuit Breaker Sizing Table". They specify that for the 80# motor it requires the 60 amp circuit breaker and a minimum of 8awg (5 - 15 feet of wire). The stock wire that comes out of the ultrex pedel is ~5ft long and is only 10 awg. Based on Minn Kota's recommendations, their provided power cable for the motor is undersized. In addition, I bought the minn kota branded 60 amp circuit breaker recommended by them and the ring terminals on the stock cables are too small to fit the circuit breaker terminals but they would fit if the stock wire was 8awg with properly sized ring terminals. In other words, it seems that Minn Kota went against their own recommendations with regards to the size wire powering the trolling motor. I hope I explained it well enough? Quote
MI.Kayaker Posted August 10, 2017 Posted August 10, 2017 Minn Kota's recommended gauge table is based of the distance from the end of the factory leads. As far as the stock terminal rings, I cut mine off and ran a butt splice with the circuit breaker near the batteries. 1 Quote
sully420 Posted August 10, 2017 Posted August 10, 2017 On 8/9/2017 at 2:58 PM, jgalen0025 said: Hi all! I am new to the forum and have limited experience with bass fishing, boats and trolling motors but in general, I do everything myself where physically possible. With that said I recently installed an Ultrex i pilot link, 80# 52 inch shift model onto my new to me 16 foot multi species deep v side console (2001 Mon Ark). The wire gauge recommended is 8 awg at a minimum but the power wires coming out of the foot pedal are labeled 10 awg. Am I missing something? The ring terminals that are stock don't even fit on the circuit breaker recommended by Minn Kota? Also, I do plan on buying the compatible hummingbird fish finders but do not own them yet. Is there anything I should know while using the remote only for operations as opposed to the fish finder? In addition, any pointers and comments are welcome! Use 6 Gage believe me i learned the hard way. 24v = 6 Gage you will need a 6 gage adaptor for the plug outlet but if your batteries are in the bow get the 6 gage if your batteries are in the Stern you might be ok with 8 but why risk it if you are diy Quote
Super User slonezp Posted August 14, 2017 Super User Posted August 14, 2017 On 8/10/2017 at 1:20 PM, MI.Kayaker said: Minn Kota's recommended gauge table is based of the distance from the end of the factory leads. As far as the stock terminal rings, I cut mine off and ran a butt splice with the circuit breaker near the batteries. and if you read the table correctly, it's total run. So, if your batteries are 6ft from the trolling motor the total run (+ and -) is 12ft Quote
MI.Kayaker Posted August 14, 2017 Posted August 14, 2017 9 minutes ago, slonezp said: and if you read the table correctly, it's total run. So, if your batteries are 6ft from the trolling motor the total run (+ and -) is 12ft "*Wire Extension Length refers to the distance from the batteries to the trolling motor leads." Quote
jgalen0025 Posted August 14, 2017 Author Posted August 14, 2017 Thanks all. Got everything wired up over the weekend so I will be calibrating this weekend! Any pointers for using just the link remote and no fish finder? Quote
Super User iabass8 Posted August 14, 2017 Super User Posted August 14, 2017 3 hours ago, jgalen0025 said: Thanks all. Got everything wired up over the weekend so I will be calibrating this weekend! Any pointers for using just the link remote and no fish finder? The ultrex remote isn't a substitute for your 2d sonar....again..all it does it jog your boat in different positions 5 feet for every time you push the button. If you don't have a graph, you don't have any source of depth unless you stick a broom handle in the water. With that, my pointer is you hopefully know the water before you run into things. I don't use the remote. Quote
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