Bass Tracker Wiring Question

ibilly

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Hello all!!! I can usually find what I need on the forums, but am lost on this one...so here it goes. I have a 1993 Bass Tracker Pro17 that I am adding power tilt and trim to. It had the gas assist on it, but apparently Tracker pre-wired it for power because I found a wiring harness tucked up inside the boat that leads to the controls and also to a power tilt switch at the front of the boat. I have the power trim unit mounted and have tested it by running it up and down by connecting it directly to the battery...it seems to be working properly. Now I just need to connect the wires. I'm going to try and add some pics to make it a little easier, but I've never done it so it may take a few tries;) The harness I found tucked inside the boat has a red, blue, green and brown wire. As I've read in other posts...I believe the blue is up and the green is down, but I'm not sure about the other two. The motor on my trim unit is a standard two wire with with wires for the sending unit included in the harness. I'm not sure if tracker has included relays in the boat and somewhere as I'm unable to find them. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse by posting another trim wiring post, but I'm stuck guys. Thanks for your help.


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stylesabu

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

from the plug it looks like 3 wires and a ground. find wire that is hot with key on, may be hot all the time.then connect volt meter to the other ones, one at a time. observe which wire causes test light/volt meter to light when depressed and thjis way you will know which is up and which is down. power up tilt motor and determine which wire when hot makes it go up and which makes it go down. and do make sure there is a fuse in line
 

ibilly

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

Thanks for the reply Styles. I'm fairly certain that the red wire in the picture is the hot wire with the blue being the up and green being the down wire. I guess I'm at a loss at what to do with the red wire and the ground. Where do I connect them? I must not be thinking right because this sure has me stumped. I was thinking that I would run the red to the battery with an inline fuse and the brown to the negative post on the battery, but if the red already has power...I'm not sure what to do with it. Thanks again.
 

stylesabu

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

sorry i didn't get back sooner.Is red wire hot? if so jump red to blue, does motor go up? this plug is where you connect switch. up need a spring loaded switch, which is normaly open/off. the red goes to middle contact, the blue and green go to outside terminals. I will post picture tomorrow. dont worry about brown wire.make sure red is fused. your motor is already grounded, you are just switching power like a light switch in the house. hope this helps
 

seabob4

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

Looks like a Merc trim plug. Do you have a Merc binnacle with trim/tilt in the handle? If so, the plug should plug right in to the binnacle. If not, you are correct, blue is up and green is down, red comes from the motor and supplies power to the switch. As styles said, if you don't have trim in the handle, you'll need a momentary on/off/momentary on switch.
 

ibilly

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

Thanks again for replying Styles. I just got in from checking the red wire. It has no power. I hooked the red wire up direct to a battery and connected the blue and green wires to the two wires on the trim motor...nothing. If I touch the trim motor wires direct to the battery it goes up and will then go down if I reverse the wires. Like I mentioned before, there is a trim switch at the front of the boat. I checked and there is power to the red wire as long as it is hooked direct to the battery. I guess that solves half the problem. Like you said...I'll put an inline fuse in and connect to the red wire to the battery. Just not sure what's up with the other wires yet.

Seabob...I think the connector is for a Johnson/Evinrude...not completely sure, but Tracker seems to use them for a majority of their boats. The boat has a trim switch in the throttle control and at the front of the boat. I wouldn't think this should be this hard, but it's absolutely kicking my butt!!! Thanks again for the help guys.

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seabob4

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

The trim motor will get it's power through the engine harness. Should have power even with the ign key in the off position. There should be a hot and ground coming off the trim motor. Connect these to the batt, that will give it power. Now, if the green wire is connected to the trim motor (solenoid), when you touch the green to the red, the engine should go down. Visa Versa on the blue. Then it's just a matter of wiring in the switches into the appropriate wires going back to the motor to get the switches to work.

Sit down and think about it logically. Since you have a trim/tilt plug at the helm area, those wires have to go somewhere, not just forward. It's just a matter of finding them and hooking them up.
 

ibilly

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

Seabob...I think what I'm hung up on is the two wire trim motor. Does one of them act as a ground and the other a positive and then by reversing them...do they switch polarity to reverse the motor? I tried hooking the two wires from the trim motor up to the battery and it does raise the motor and also lowers it if i reverse the wires. The red power wire I mentioned earlier does have power to it at all times...even with the key off. I thought by hooking the two trim wires to my blue and green wires and then with the constant power supply the motor would function by hitting the switches. I'm pretty sure my screw up is where I'm connecting the trim motor wires. I'll monkey with it some more and let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks again Seabob!!!
 

ibilly

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

Below is the trim unit I installed. As you can see...it only has two wires to the motor and the sending unit wires.

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ibilly

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

Just got back in from working on the boat. Since the red wire has power to it all the time now...I hooked the blue wire to one of the two trim motor wires and then grounded the other trim motor wire to the boat and now I'm able to pick the motor up with both of the switches on the boat, but I can't get it to go back down unless I change the wire to the trim motor. Since this boat was wired for trim, but never had it on it...I'm wondering if there should be a solenoid at the back somewhere? I think I could hook both trim motor wires to it then hook my green and blue wires to it also and be in business. Or maybe not...hahaha! Seriously guys...I'm not as dumb as I seem to be;)
 

seabob4

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

BTW, what kind and model motor is this?
 

stylesabu

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

here are the pics. this is is off a suzuki dt 75 but they all work the same. heres pic of mine, i will be soldering the connections where the blue scotch locks are. hope this helps. only 3 wires going to switch. I suspect the fuse is blow on you red wire.
 

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ibilly

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

Thanks for the pics Styles!!! They should help me out a lot. One thing I'm unsure of is if I need relays for the system to work. Do the switches in the controls act as a relay or do I need others? If I knew where to connect these two dang trim motor wires...I think I'd have it whipped!!! It just doesn't make sense to me...it's like I'm missing a ground or something.
 

stylesabu

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

I have an up and a down soliniod/relay on mine. one of each. I'll find my factory manual and post a picture of schematic. It does sound like you are missing the soliniods
 

ibilly

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

In the pictures you provided me...are those the relays for the trim that the two wires from the switch hook into? Also...the pink and blue wires that are connected by the scotch connectors...are they positive or negative? I thought that my trim switches on the boat would act as relays. I think this is my problem. I would have to hook the two wires coming from the trim motor into the relays then the blue and green wires from the controls into them too somehow. Thanks again!!!
 

stylesabu

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

yes those wires, pink and blue are hot when i move the switch, one is hot one and the other is hot when i move swutch the other way. the switch sends the signal the the soliniods control the trim motor
 

ibilly

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

Well...I'm going to have to figure out where the relays go. Apparently they go inside the motor by looking at your picture. That clears some stuff up for me. I almost drove myself crazy over this...hahaha! Looking at your pic...can you tell me what color the wires are from your trim motor?
 

stylesabu

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Re: Bass Tracker Wiring Question

the factory wires are pink and green. remember, mine is a Suzuki. also how do you post pics in your responce, I have to use drop down box and attach as thumb nails. ok green circle factory trigger/command wire, yellow and blue are power wires, red from battery , and blue circles are to trim motor. I believe that both wires going to trim motor are grounded by soliniods, and when a soliniod is activated it send 12 volt to trim, this is how it reverses polarity. excuse my spelling drinking again.hope this helps.I will get schematic, just busy
 

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