Trolling Motor/Electrical Install Problem

[kmc85]

Hi guys. Thanks in advance for your help. I'm new to working on boats and kinda stuck.

I have an 18FT jon boat and have recently installed a front deck and a 24V trolling motor on the bow. I have two batteries and a circuit breaker at the rear of the boat with #6 wires between the bow and stern.

I thought I installed everything correctly but my trolling motor female plug just corroded 100% two weeks after installing it (it's a sierra WH10540). Just showed up to go fishing but am now trolling motorless. It sound like there's an electrical/grounding problem going on but I don't have the knowledge to know what. I was told to install the ground for the trolling motor plug directly to the aluminum hull (which now seems to be incorrect). What is the proper way to ground the plug on the trolling motor? Do I have to run another expensive wire back to the rear and if so what does it connect to? Is it advisable to ground it within my bow deck/storage compartment (which also houses the gas tank)?

At this point, the two trolling motor and two batteries for it are the only active electrical system on the boat. However I am planning to rewire the nav lights and install a GPS/fishfinder at the rear (presumably on a separate 12V battery).

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Trolling Motor/Electrical Install Problem

Do not wire the ground to the boat or the wire will seem cheap when the boat falls apart. Wire the negative to the negative of the first battery. Wire the positive to the positive of the second battery via a breaker with in 6" of the battery. wire a jumper from the first battery positive to the second battery negative. No wires go to the boat. A few 12v items can be wired on the first battery between the positive and negative of the first battery (only the first battery DO not wire between the batteries for 12v only items) but as most people have a gas power engine then its better to run the 12v stuff on the engine battery that has nothing to do with the trolling motor batteries and only have the trolling motor wires on the trolling batteries.

 

[kmc85]

Re: Trolling Motor/Electrical Install Problem

Do not wire the ground to the boat or the wire will seem cheap when the boat falls apart. Wire the negative to the negative of the first battery. Wire the positive to the positive of the second battery via a breaker with in 6" of the battery. wire a jumper from the first battery positive to the second battery negative. No wires go to the boat. A few 12v items can be wired on the first battery between the positive and negative of the first battery (only the first battery DO not wire between the batteries for 12v only items) but as most people have a gas power engine then its better to run the 12v stuff on the engine battery that has nothing to do with the trolling motor batteries and only have the trolling motor wires on the trolling batteries.

Hey Glenn. Thank you for the help. I do have the positive an negative wires run the way you described back to the batteries (including the breaker). My issue is that my trolling motor plug has positive,negative, and ground wires coming from it. I have the positive and negative connected as you described but what do I do with the ground wire? I have seen other plugs with no ground so is the ground even necessary?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trolling Motor/Electrical Install Problem

No. Because there is no third wire in the motor harness and no need for one.