want to put a trolling motor I have on my boat..

[93civEJ1]

OK...i have a 16 ft fiberglass fish / ski boat.

I also have a motorguide 30lb thrust 12volt foot controlled trolling motor laying around that I would like to hook up.

Ok...currently my boat only has one battery, but obviously in the past its had 2 because there are wires in another area for one.

First question...will a 30lb thrust work for this boat? i know it may be slow at trolling but its better than nothing right? Also, on the foot board it looks like there are just two bare wires for hook up....a negative and positive?? how do I need to do those?

At the front of the boat i have a little switch board that has a few switches on it..if i remember right, one says "charge and run"....the other says like bat 1 / 2....also have a tilt switch (that works)..and I also have some sort of weird prong plug in that I guess is for a trolling motor?

Can someone tell me what i need? I guess I need some kind of adapter to use the hook up in front...an adapter for the bare wires right? now...the plug recepticle would I guess run to the back of the boat somewhere?

Also...the charge run switch...what does that do? Since I only have one battery for the motor....(livewell pump is on it..as well as depth finder)

does the motor charge the battery itself when ran?

I just need help figuring this all out.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: want to put a trolling motor I have on my boat..

You have one those boats that was set up for a 12 volt motor, a 24 volt motor, or a combination 12 volt OR 24 volt motor. 24 volt motors required two batteries wired in series. 12 volt motors require one battery. Things got complicated for 12/24 volt motors so some strange wiring practices were used. The real problem is that those wiring schemes were mucked with by their owners because they thought they knew more than the boat manufacturer. So what you have now may not begin to represent the way the wiring originally was. So here is the description of what the switches USED TO DO. They may not work that way now.

RUN/CHARGE: This switch permitted charging both batteries in a 24 volt setup by temporarily switching them to a parallel configuration. You set the switch to CHARGE to charge them using a 12 volt charger. You set the switch to RUN to run the troller.

BAT 1 - BAT 2: That switch probably selected which battery was being monitored by a Voltmeter or Battery Condition meter.

You need to take a closer look at the battery compartment because this cannot be a 12/24 system with only two wires. There needs to be either three or four wires (uisually two blacks, a read and an orange, or Black, red and orange.). If there are only two wires then someone removed some wires.

Not to worry. Since your 30# motor is a 12 volt version, you only need one battery. You run the two wires from the battery to the trolling motor. Red = POSITIVE and BLACK = NEGATIVE. To avoid having to figure out missing wires, just buy a new two terminal trolling motor plug and receptacle. Plug goes on the troller power cord and the receptacle goes in the boat. Red wire to the POS terminal on the battery and black to the negative terminal. YOu need a 40 amp circuit breaker within six inches of the battery on the positive lead. Here's a diagram. Unless you add a dual battery swtich you cannot charge the troller battery from the engine. In fact, it most small outboards don't have a big enough charging capacity to make this investment worth while. By a 6 - 8 amp on board charger and plug in at the dock.

 

[93civEJ1]

Re: want to put a trolling motor I have on my boat..

You have one those boats that was set up for a 12 volt motor, a 24 volt motor, or a combination 12 volt OR 24 volt motor. 24 volt motors required two batteries wired in series. 12 volt motors require one battery. Things got complicated for 12/24 volt motors so some strange wiring practices were used. The real problem is that those wiring schemes were mucked with by their owners because they thought they knew more than the boat manufacturer. So what you have now may not begin to represent the way the wiring originally was. So here is the description of what the switches USED TO DO. They may not work that way now.

RUN/CHARGE: This switch permitted charging both batteries in a 24 volt setup by temporarily switching them to a parallel configuration. You set the switch to CHARGE to charge them using a 12 volt charger. You set the switch to RUN to run the troller.

BAT 1 - BAT 2: That switch probably selected which battery was being monitored by a Voltmeter or Battery Condition meter.

You need to take a closer look at the battery compartment because this cannot be a 12/24 system with only two wires. There needs to be either three or four wires (uisually two blacks, a read and an orange, or Black, red and orange.). If there are only two wires then someone removed some wires.

Not to worry. Since your 30# motor is a 12 volt version, you only need one battery. You run the two wires from the battery to the trolling motor. Red = POSITIVE and BLACK = NEGATIVE. To avoid having to figure out missing wires, just buy a new two terminal trolling motor plug and receptacle. Plug goes on the troller power cord and the receptacle goes in the boat. Red wire to the POS terminal on the battery and black to the negative terminal. YOu need a 40 amp circuit breaker within six inches of the battery on the positive lead. Here's a diagram. Unless you add a dual battery swtich you cannot charge the troller battery from the engine. In fact, it most small outboards don't have a big enough charging capacity to make this investment worth while. By a 6 - 8 amp on board charger and plug in at the dock.

in the battery compartment, yes there are more than just 2 wires....there are quite a few. My one that is in the boat currently cranks the motor...and also have my fish finder hooked up to it (is this ok)

So what I need to do I am guess is buy another battery for just the trolling motor? If yes...what do you recommend? I see different ones...dual purpose...starting, etc...or just plain deep cycle. I am not looking to spend a fortune on one. Also, what is the benefit of an onboard charger as opposed to just hooking up a charger at the house after getting off the water?

How long can you troll with say a 30lb thrust 12 volt trolling motor on a battery??

 

[93civEJ1]

Re: want to put a trolling motor I have on my boat..

I have seen lots of mention at wal-mart batteries for cheap since they are everywhere. What size do you guys recommend for a 12v trolling motor? with 30lb thrust? the battery specs confuse me. As far as reserve capicity etc.

Also....since I already have 1 12volt battery for cranking the engine and using my fish finder...and will be adding 1 more battery for my trolling motor....is there a way I can take advantage of the switch panel at the front of the boat for anything? now that it was mentioned...yes it does have a volt meter up front on the panel along with the tilt switch..the run/charge and batt 1 / 2 and the trolling 3 prong plug in. Can I use any of that..or do I just need to buy a new plug / adapter and leave the other stuff as useless???

 

[Silvertip]

Re: want to put a trolling motor I have on my boat..

You should NOT wire the troller to the starting battery. It will leave you with a dead battery. The battery for the troller should be the largest capacity deep cycle (generally a group size 27) you have room for and can afford. Batteries are like buckets of electricity. The more capacity (reserve minutes) the battery has the longer it can run the motor. Leave the locator and other accessories on the starting battery. Connect only the troller to the troller battery. You don't need to spend a fortune on a deep cycle battery. Shop around and compare these two thngs 1) Group size and 2) reserve minutes (or AHr = amp hours). If you have a farm store in your area check there. I just bought a group size 27 deep cycle for $69.00 at my local Fleet Farm store. Your motor draws about 30 amps maximum. Since a deep cycle reserve minute spec is based on a 23 or 25 amp draw which is close to that 30 amp spec, your motor would run wide open for about 175 minutes which is typical for that size battery. It also depends a bit on how old your motor is. The speed coil motors draw the same current at slow speeds as they do at high speed.