6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

bobbo268 · Jul 3, 2012

hopefully this will be my last stupid question for a while

but i just bought a 55lb minn kota power drive bow mount trolling motor and need to run wires from it to the battery, 15ft away. I tried consulting the minnkota page but their equation was a bit confusing. Will 6ga be thick enough and can i get this stuff from home depot or should i order it online?

oh, and will an inline 50amp breaker be good enough?

Silvertip · Jul 5, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

1) Is 6 gauge thick enough? Yes
2) Is a 50 amp breaker big enough? No -- you need a 60 amp
3) Can you get the wire at Home Depot? That depends. Yes you can get 6 gauge wire. You need 6 gauge stranded, not solid conductor. You need marine wire if you are a salt water boater and that is not available at Home Depot or their competitors and it is recommended for all boats. But you can get by with conventiional wire if you boat on fresh water.

So you see -- you asked three questions -- not just one "last one".

fishrdan · Jul 6, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

Order the 6ga wire from genuinedealz.com, it's about the same price as the big box stores, it will be tinned marine wire and you'll have it in 2-3 days. Also, order all the tinned connectors and heat shrink tubing you'll need. Don't know if they have the correct style breaker, but it would be worth looking around their site.

Oh yeah, if you know the "exact" length of cables you need, they can crimp and heat shrink the terminations for a nominal fee.

bobbo268 · Jul 6, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

thanks, i found that site, genuinedealz but was hesitant to order from them, just because of the name, sounded like some chinese front company that would take my money and run, and then i found them on ebay with the same products for same price and will be ordering from them on ebay. thanks for the help

TerryMSU · Jul 6, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

Silvertip said:
1) Is 6 gauge thick enough? Yes
2) Is a 50 amp breaker big enough? No -- you need a 60 amp
3) Can you get the wire at Home Depot? That depends. Yes you can get 6 gauge wire. You need 6 gauge stranded, not solid conductor. You need marine wire if you are a salt water boater and that is not available at Home Depot or their competitors and it is recommended for all boats. But you can get by with conventiional wire if you boat on fresh water.

So you see -- you asked three questions -- not just one "last one".

Silvertip is mostly correct (as always), but one comment. I had the same question about the breaker. I bought a 50Amp, because that was all I could get and I did not want to wait. I am not sure what pounds my TM is but I believe it is 45 pounds. So far, I have had no issues, but I do not run for a long time at full speed.

Silvertip · Jul 6, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

A 45# troller can use a 50 amp breaker. A 55# motor draws 46 amps max which is too close to 50 amps. 60 amps is preferred.

bobbo268 · Jul 7, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

can i use one of those cheap small "short stop" type breakers, or do i have to get the $60 manual reset ones?

fishrdan · Jul 7, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

Personally,,, I would use the cheap $10 50 amp manual reset breaker as the 55# MK troller only draws 46 amps "at stall speed". Below stall speed it draws less current. If you have issues popping the breaker, then spend $60 on the expensive breaker. If you don't want to have issues and don't want to re-wire, and want to spend $60, then by all means buy the better breaker.

I'm using cheap 50 amp breakers on my 24V 70 amp troller and haven't popped them, even with heavy use of WOT on the troller for several minutes.

EVIL "X" · Jul 7, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

Being an industrial/commercial IBEW union electrician, I'd say, don't forget. the breaker or fuse is sized to protect the wire, not the equipment.

bobbo268 · Jul 8, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

Evil X you're throwing me off here. So are you saying that a 50amp won't protect the equipment and i should go bigger?

Rancherlee · Jul 8, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

I put a cheapy 50amp on my 55AP and it hasn't kicked out yet. 6 gauge is more than enough for a 15' run, 8 gauge would have worked too for up to a 20 foot run. Most of the amperage/gauge charts you will find are for solid core AC wiring, multi-stranded wire will handle quite a bit more amperage than the equivalent soild core.

Silvertip · Jul 8, 2012

Re: 6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

bobbo268 said:
Evil X you're throwing me off here. So are you saying that a 50amp won't protect the equipment and i should go bigger?

Circuit breakers and fuses do not protect equipment as you were advised. It is the equipmpent that draws cujrrent through the wires. If the equipment draws so much current that it blows a fuse or pops a breaker then it is the problem and is toast. If the breaker is too small then the load the equipment poses will pop the breaker or fuse annoyingly often when no problem exists. Go too big and the wires burn before the breaker pops. 50 amp breakers on a 55# motor will work until you run for long periods at max speed or until you get into weeds and stall the motor. Motors draw maximum current at start up and when stalled. Once a breaker pops it degrades. The next time it degrades more and after just a few cycles it can no longer hold its rated current.

6ga wire for minnkota 55lb?

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