I don't understand my boat's trolling motor wiring.. pics

[stephenspann27]

 

[stephenspann27]

I picked up a 2005 Minn Kota 101 36v Riptide. It has two wires coming out of it, the pigtail has been removed. (I bought the motor off craigs list). Ok so the boat.. it's a 1998 Sunbird 19' fish and ski. The boat has two switches near the trolling motor plug, one is a rocker switch, one is a two position on off switch. There is a switch at my console that seems to correspond with these.. (I can see the light come on in the switch when I flip the console switch). The last question i have is.. the plug my boat has is 3 prong.. I don't understand the need for three wires?

 

[stephenspann27]

 

[Teamster]

I've seen some boats have a power switch foe a bow mounted depth finder,..

And a power trim/tilt switch to trim the big motor up if you take yourself a little too shallow while fishing from the bow,...

Not sure what yous have going on though,..........

 

[stephenspann27]

yea, I found out the plug is 3 prong for 12/24 volt. The on off switch is for switching between those. The rocker switch is tilt/trim..

 

[Silvertip]

The plug is not just for a 12/24 volt setup. It is for a two or three wire setup which can be 12 volt, 24 volt, 36 volt, or a 12/24 volt setup. But it has three terminals because that means the boat builder does not need to have two, three (and four) wire connectors to accommodate the various schemes. Just because there are three terminals in the receptacle does not mean you need to use all of them. Your 36 volt motor is a two wire system consisting of three 12 volt batteries connected in series. Use the red (+36 volts) and black (negative) wires on the receptacle and go fishing.