Trolling Motor Wiring

I read several post on wiring your trolling motor but still need help.

I have a 24v Minn Kota Power Drive trolling motor and two batteries. The two batteries power the trolling motor and just about everything except the engine. The engine has a separate battery. The battery wires connect in the back of a 4 prung plug. One red and one black wire comes from battery #1 and one orange/black and black wire comes from battery #2 (picture 009). All four wires connect to the rear of this 4 prung plug. I measured the voltage where the wires come into the trolling motor and it reads 12v (picture 011); there is one red and one black wire that enters the trolling motor from the 4 prung plug.

I bought the boat a month ago and the seller said it worked last summer. The motor does not work with the current wiring configuration. I charged both batteries, the voltage reads 12-13V on each; I checked the voltage where the wires come into the back of the 4 prung plug - they read 12-13v for each set of wires (the black wire ties into the top and the red wire ties into the bottom of the 4 prung plug).

Any suggestions would be helpful. I tried to attach pictures -also how do you attach picture?.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

If that is a power drive Minnkota then you have some wires to change. It operates on 24 volts only. The batteries need to be wired in series and you only need one red and one black wire going to the trolling motor. If this is an older 12/24 motor then it is not a power drive and disregard this until you determine exactly what you have. Is there any names on the motor other than Minnkota?

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

The Minnkota motor is 2 years old and it is a 24v power drive. I also have a battery charger that connects to both batteries.

How do you post pictures?

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

This wiring scheme has been addressed a number of times in this forum but I'll do it again. DO NOT change any wiring at the receptacle. At the batteries, pick one pair of wires (use the red and black pair). Tape off the orange and black pair as they will not be used. Use the diagram below to convert to a 24 volt two wire system. Connect the black wire to the NEG terminal of the battery on the left. Connect the red wire to the POS terminal of the battery on the right. Connect a jumper between the POS of the battery on the left and the NEG of the battery on the right. Now the only thing you need to do is wire the two wires on the trolling motor plug so they mate up with the red and black wires on the receptacle. Then go fishing. Your charger can stay connected as it is.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

I have all of my other wiring connected to these batteries such as navigation lights, bilg pump, live well pumps, radio, etc. that operate on 12v. What do I do about them?

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

jes100fish said:

I have all of my other wiring connected to these batteries such as navigation lights, bilg pump, live well pumps, radio, etc. that operate on 12v. What do I do about them?

Click to expand...

Tap into the battery on the left in Silvertip's diagram, or get a third battery for this load.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

Yes -- you can connect them to the battery on the left. DO NOT connect them to the battery on the right. It would work that way but you run the risk of some accidental grounding issues that would fry electronics if you did so.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

What size breaker should I use? Attached to the end of the red 6 gauge wires (positive) attaches to the battery are some unusual looking plates versus a regular wire connector, should I remove these if I install a breaker?

Again thanks for the input.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

What size breaker should I use? Attached to the end of the red 6 gauge wires (positive) attaches to the battery are some unusual looking plates versus a regular wire connector, should I remove these if I install a breaker?

Again thanks for the input.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring



I tried to attach a picture of what is at the end of the red wire.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

Are there any markings on the plate or on the underside of it. It may be a circuit breaker. Not knowing what the thrust rating is or the model or the age I can't tell what breaker rating to use. Probably 60 amps though.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

I'm still not comfortable making the wiring change. Here is a picture of the module at the front of my boat where the trolling motor plug attaches. This gives me status of each battery; main motor tilt switch, lights, depth finder, and numerous other wires that I don't know what they provide power too. These two batteries feed all of these.

I'm guessing that if I wire the batteries to get 24 volts that I going to fry these components at this location since they are wired for 12 volts? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

See how important "details" are? Why wasn't this mentioned earlier? We also cannot see how the swtiches are labeled or what they do so the pictures are of little help. All y0u told us was that the four wires from the battery went to the receptacle. Without a diagram of the panel wiring, pictures of the back or switch labels and functions I will not offer further advice since I would be guessing..

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

Sorry for the confusion on my part - I'm all thumbs when it comes to electrcity. I added another battery and created a separate 24 volt system for the trolling motor using your suggestions. I left the panel up front a 12 volt system so that I did not loose those features. I now have 24 volts to the trolling motor but the motor does not work. The battery light on the trolling motor works and shows that there is a full charge. Are there any simple things I can do to trouble shoot the motor? I made sure that the red wire in the outlet matched up with the red wire in the plug in case that made a difference.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

Did the motor "ever work" or did you just buy it without seeing it run? If you followed my instructions and the motor actually is ok it should run. So either you didn't do the wiring correctly or the motor itself has a problem. If you have 24 volts at the receptacle and the 24 volts at the motor and it doesn't work, then the motor is suspect. Does any function on the motor work? Can you borrow a foot pedal from a friend to verify yours is either bad or ok.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

Here is what I was able to do with the motor. It is a 24v PD74 (Power Drive) Minn Kota trolling motor. I took off the plastic cover where the battery tester is located. Inside there is a black sealed control board where the power cord goes into. I was able to test the voltage going into the control board and it was 24v; I measured the voltage going into the battery tester device and it was 24v; I tried to measure the voltage coming out of the control board where the cables run to the motor - no reading; I disconnected these two wires from the control board that provide power to the motor and attached them to a 12v battery - the prop turned. When the prop turned I tried to use the foot pedal and the copilot and it did not change the speed of the prop.

When I bought the boat we could not get it to work; the seller said that he used it last summer and thought there was a loose connection. I did find several loose connections as I was trouble shooting navigational lights. Because of how it was wired when I bought it, the motor has always been run on 12v even though the seller said it was 24v. I started this thread when I measured 12v at the front panel where the motor plug attached.

The only thing that I could have done wrong was the wiring going into the plug. If it is wired wrong, would I get 24v at the black electronics board?

My neighbor owns a 24v Minn Kota and I'll see if his foot peadal fits this motor and try it.

Again - thanks for helping.

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring

If you have 24 volts at the plug and within the motor it is wired correctly.