"1981 ranger fish play" 488 mercruiser help with 24v trolling motor conversion pics

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chasthanhburns

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Aug 24, 2008
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"1981 ranger fish play" 488 mercruiser help with 24v trolling motor conversion pics

ok gonna try to get as much info out there right now in hope of a quick way to get this in the water. boat had 12 volt trolling motor that wont turn. the motor in the head rusted when the previous owner put it in the lake with out a bilge plug. the after having in craned out parked it with no drainage. 5 years later i get it. motor froze. full of yuck. leaves mud terrible. i put in a mercruser 470 untell i open up the old one. installed alternator because downer motor also was mistreated and i just presume stator or regulator is bad. i beleave all the rest of the wiring is original. excluding the radio, depth finders, and the auto aerator panel down by the drivers right leg, and i added a float and bile straight to starter battery.
right now i have 2 batteries in front the pos of the front most bat is going to 1 on the switch and the positive of the other to 2. i have the ground on the neg of the of the for most battery. now this ground goes to the front. i presume straight to the top pin on trolling motor plug. finally the common wire from switch goes up front. then to the bottom right pin (clockwise from ground pin).
now i put switch on 2 and jump pos of for most batteries to neg of the other. walla 24 volt at pins on trolling motor plug.
now the light on the deck is brighter than when getting power from switch setting 1. the problem with this is i dont know what the deck switches do. there are 4 of them up there.
the first says 12 volt.???????
the second says deck light.
the third i know lifts and lowers out drive.
the forth is just on off.
my concern is when this is all hooked up for 12 volt there is no jumper wire and there is a isolator back at the starting battery with a pos wire leading up to the front of the boat and a ground also runs with it.
then when the ignition is on the front deck light comes on.
regardless of the switches up front being on or off.
given that when i hooked the front bat bank up for 24volt the light will get brighter when using 2 on battery switch... and when hooked up for 12volt with no jumper the ignition switch turns on the same light, i assume that it would bleed 24volt back into the ignition system and charging system of the starting motor if i was to connect the pos and neg running from the back to the front and connect them to either of the batteries???????
i hope i have been clear enough on the issue for one of you boat genius to help.
hope i get her in the water soon.
washing her down tomorrow. shes had like 4 washes and cleanings and still pulling out crap. such a shame!!!!
 

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chasthanhburns

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ok well it wont let me upload any pics of goodenough size. i went way out of the way to dig out this camera and get these pics today. took them in 3 diffrent sizes and only the small ones will upload. what good is that.
 
achris

achris

More fish than mountain goat
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load your pictures to a hosting site (like photobucket) and post the links here.
 
Silvertip

Silvertip

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Sep 22, 2003
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Why do you have a dual battery switch in the trolling motor system?? It is not needed for 12 volt or 24 volt operation. Is the current motor a 12 volt, 24 volt, or a combination 12 AND 24 volt. 12 volt motors need only two wires. 24 volt motors need only two wires. combination 12 AND 24 volt motors need either three or four wires depending on year, make, and model. I can't tell from your pictures what sort of wiring scheme you have. Have you thought that the dual battery switch might be for the starting and auxiliary batteries?? The deck light gets brighter because you are likely feeding it 24 volts instead of 12 volts. Funny the bulb hasn't popped. Wish I could provide more information but I can't see your boat and the current wiring was done by someone who thought they were being clever -- and maybe they were but I can't see it.
 
Silvertip

Silvertip

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Since the original motor was 12 volts, the switch was probably added by the previous owner so he/she could use BAT #1 to run the motor until it went flat, then switch to BAT #2. Or, he/she could switch to both which puts the two batteries in "parallel" thus using both at the same time but still maintaining 12 volts. In your 24 volt system that switch is not needed, nor can it be used for any purpose in the trolling motor system other than maybe as a MASTER On/Off switch. Since you now have a 24 volt motor, you need two batteries in "series". You need two wires going up to the troller receptacle (one red and one black). Any other wires will not be used so disconnect them and tag them as not used. Don't pull them out as a future owner may be able to use them. Disconnect any wires on the dual battery switch as this will not be used. Again, tag these wires as unused. Disconnect all wires at both batteries as you want to start fresh here.

1) Determine which battery you want as #1 and #2.
2) Connect the RED wire to the POS terminal of BAT #1. Add an appropriate size breaker (see Minnkota manual for size) within six inches to one foot of the positive terminal.
3) Connect the BLACK wire to the NEG terminal of BAT #2.
4) Now fashion a jumper that connects the POS terminal on BAT #2 to the NEG terminal of BAT #1.
5) You should now have 24 volts between the red and black terminals at the receptacle.
6) Connect the red and black wires from the trolling motor harness to the plug so that the RED on the plug matches the RED on the receptacle. Then do the same for the black wire.

If the motor doesn't run or you don't have 24 volts on the red and black wires you either have a bad motor or you did not follow these instructions.
Note: If you want to run any 12 volt accessories from this 24 volt system, connect those accessories to BAT #2 -- not BAT #1. This avoids any potential issues from an accidental grounding (which I will not bother you with). Just take my word for it.)
 
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chasthanhburns

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Aug 24, 2008
Messages
51
Silvertip said:
Since the original motor was 12 volts, the switch was probably added by the previous owner so he/she could use BAT #1 to run the motor until it went flat, then switch to BAT #2. Or, he/she could switch to both which puts the two batteries in "parallel" thus using both at the same time but still maintaining 12 volts. In your 24 volt system that switch is not needed, nor can it be used for any purpose in the trolling motor system other than maybe as a MASTER On/Off switch. Since you now have a 24 volt motor, you need two batteries in "series". You need two wires going up to the troller receptacle (one red and one black). Any other wires will not be used so disconnect them and tag them as not used. Don't pull them out as a future owner may be able to use them. Disconnect any wires on the dual battery switch as this will not be used. Again, tag these wires as unused. Disconnect all wires at both batteries as you want to start fresh here.

1) Determine which battery you want as #1 and #2.
2) Connect the RED wire to the POS terminal of BAT #1. Add an appropriate size breaker (see Minnkota manual for size) within six inches to one foot of the positive terminal.
3) Connect the BLACK wire to the NEG terminal of BAT #2.
4) Now fashion a jumper that connects the POS terminal on BAT #2 to the NEG terminal of BAT #1.
5) You should now have 24 volts between the red and black terminals at the receptacle.
6) Connect the red and black wires from the trolling motor harness to the plug so that the RED on the plug matches the RED on the receptacle. Then do the same for the black wire.

If the motor doesn't run or you don't have 24 volts on the red and black wires you either have a bad motor or you did not follow these instructions.
Note: If you want to run any 12 volt accessories from this 24 volt system, connect those accessories to BAT #2 -- not BAT #1. This avoids any potential issues from an accidental grounding (which I will not bother you with). Just take my word for it.)
Click to expand...

just got home from working on boat and did almost what you you said. i pulled the deck pannel out and removed the commom worie from bat switch from the panel, also removed the neg from front battery bank.
you advised bat 1 as pos but i used neg. i then connected bat 2 pos to switch 2, and jumped pos of bat 1 to neg of bat 2.
i also conected the pos fro my isolater in back by starting bat to the pos on 1 bat in front bat bank, also conected ground from back to neg of bat 1 in front bank.(the isolater is not conected to alternator or starting bat yet).

want to varafy be you guys this will work first. however i used volt meter and checked all conections including at isolater and there appears to be no 24v leading back to isolater.
likewise there is no 24v to front deck light now. all power to deck light is proveded by acc or run on ingnition.

put some jumper cables to starting motor and poured gas into carb anf ater a while she started.
thinking shell see the water this year. gonna go back out and put the panel back in tomorrow then maybe fill her up.

new issue. i loosened the endes of the water cooler last year before winter and now cant seem to tighten then enough so water leaks out of bothe ends when hooked to water. gonna ebay them caps now. any one want to donaite the bigger water cooler for this girl?
 
Silvertip

Silvertip

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Messages
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No -- you didn't' do as I said which is why the system doesn't work. Get the switch and the isolator out of the troller bank. You Don't need them and the switch serves no purpose in a 24 volt system.
 
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chasthanhburns

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Aug 24, 2008
Messages
51
Silvertip said:
No -- you didn't' do as I said which is why the system doesn't work. Get the switch and the isolator out of the troller bank. You Don't need them and the switch serves no purpose in a 24 volt system.
Click to expand...

i will. i hac that work done before i read your post, but i had to take the jeep out to mudfest today saturday and sunday. first thing monday will pull bat switch and batteries from front bank.add two deep cycle bat to front bank will then move one starting battery to back along with switch. maybe even move both starting batteries from front bank to back runn two of the in parralel to switch two one that is back there two switch one and commom to starter. then alt. to se3porator and one line to pos on bat 1 and other on pos of the two bank starting battaries.maybe over kill but dont want to be left out in the watter dead and all the equiopment is there so no extra price.
 
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chasthanhburns

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Aug 24, 2008
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question? 24volt bat bank. bat.1 pos to trolling motor, bat. neg to bat.2 pos, bat.2 neg to trolling motor neg. cani i install my two battery charger to both batteries hoocked up in series. now this bat charger is for 2 12volt batteries? i took voltages from both batteries while they were hooked together and only got 12volts out of each so i assume its fine but wanted to get the feelers out before i go for it.http://www.bbcboards.net/attachment...p-24v-trolling-motor-conversion-pics-dsci0005.
 
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chasthanhburns

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Aug 24, 2008
Messages
51
well took her out and wouldnt start tell i poured gas into carb. then would only stay running if gas was poured in carb to keep it running.( i know stupid dangerous). took it home and started it with gas can held above the carb with hose to fuel pump. it ran tell it got to hot cuz i didnt turn the water hose up after startup. water was boiling out of overfull tank. let it cool down and got it started and warmed up.
shut it down and conected fuel pump back to tank.ran for a while but then quit. temp was not hot this time. tried to start it again and seemed like battery was low.hard to crank. hooked cable to jeep, and cable were bad. hit them with a hammer and seemed to fix them. started up again but again seemed harder to crank than should have been. then died again. started back up with a little throttle and ran for a while then die again.
charging batteries again then back at it tomorrow.
also seem to be leaking from livewell. will plug that up if i get it to run long enough that i can put it in water again.
1, could this be a fuel pump going bad, but good enought to run but not at idle for extended period of time before lack of fuel? ie. will a fuel pump go out slowly?
2, if i overheated the motor could i have damage somthig that would cause the engie hard to crank issue? ( keep in mind it will start and idle with just a little throttle for a bit, then will be to hard to crank for a couple of minutes)
3, when i turned ignition key off boat kept running a couple of times. anyone know where i could be getting back feed from? i chocked it up to bad groung at neg cable but cant verify tell it starts and stays started. battery cables were loose.( i know stupid and dangerous. i burnt my thumb agian. dont know if ill even learn not to skimp on time tightening battery cables.)
4, fuel gauge worked at gas station but once boat was running gauge went under e when ignition was on. any ideas?
5, anyone wanna buy a boat? lol kidding!!!
 
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