24 Volt Battery Wiring

[motoman]

I have just purchased a larger Bass Boat and am replacing the 12/24 trolling motor with a straight 24 volt trolling motor . The boat already has two batteries for the trolling motor . I am confused about the wiring . I currently have a red and black battery cable connected to each battery running to the plug in the front of the boat . Will I still be able to to keep the four cable with a straight 24 volt trolling motor and only change the plug for the trolling motor ? Or will I have to remove one of the black and red cables from each battery to put the batteries in a series or parallel with only two wires to match the trolling motor ? I have seen diagrams to show how to wire in series and parallel but not to connect all four . I would rather not pull the wires from the front of the boat if it can be wired as is and be correct .

 

[wrvond]

To get 24 volts out of two 12 volt batteries, you are going to have to wire them in series, which means you are going to have one positive and one negative going to the controller/motor.
It's possible to do some fancy wiring up at the plug to get your batteries in series, but it would be a real challenge to say the least.

 

[alldodge]

Without getting into chargers and such this is basic wiring for 2 and 3 battery setup

 

[fishrdan]

Post up a picture of the plug and receptacle. If it's a Marinco 12/24 setup, all 4 battery cables run to the receptacle and then the 24v series jumper is made inside the plug.


The clear disk on the back side of the plug has writing on it (-, 12 and 24) showing where to connect the wires. The silver strip under the clear disk is the 24V jumper.

 

[motoman]

Thanks for the responses . I am still a little confused . Fishrdan ,I am not able to post a picture at this time due to the cold weather and the boat has been put in storage . I did check the plug before storage and this is the plug that appears to be on the boat . There is also a switch on the tolling motor that changes it from 12 to 24 volts it is a Johnson trolling motor . I was thinking that if I only needed the two wires from the two batteries that I could remove a black wire from #1 and put the negative from #1 to the positive of #2 . Then the negative from #2 to the motor along with the positive from #1 to the motor .

 

[fishrdan]

"If" the boat has the Marinco 12/24 receptacle and plug, there's no reason to re-wire the batteries, just connect the plug to the new trolling motor the proper way and you're done.

 

[Silvertip]

Leave the wiring as it is. Use a voltmeter to verify which two terminals provide 24 volts. Wire the plug accordingly and go fishing.

 

[motoman]

Leave the wiring as it is. Use a voltmeter to verify which two terminals provide 24 volts. Wire the plug accordingly and go fishing.

That's what I am thinking !!!!!! Just add the appropriate circuit breakers to the batteries and go . The current wiring has is supplying 24 volts to the motor now .