Trolling Motor Wiring Help

[AToboyek]

Hey guys, I have a Minnekota Maxxum 24 volt 74 Lb Thrust (74/H) Hand Tilller Bow mount trolling motor. Coming out of the trolling motor is 4 8gauge wires. 2 reds 2 blacks, I have two batterys, what is the proper way to hook this up to get strictly all 24volts all the time? Do I have to jump batterys? But then id have wires left over (a red and a black)? Thanks!

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring Help

You only need one red and one black wire.

 

[AToboyek]

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring Help

What do I do with the other 2? 1 red 1 black

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring Help

View attachment 95749You only need one red and one black wire.

Nope -- it doesn't work that way. First, are you sure of the wire colors. Are there really two reds or or is there one red and one orange? Is this a 24 volt ONLY motor or is there a switch on the motor to allow 12 OR 24 volt operation? Makes a difference. Some boat manufacturers ran four wires, three wires, or two wires from the battery(ies) to the bow. Your motor requires a four wire configuration --and a rather simple one at that. You need two batteries obviously. You need a four pin receptacle and a four pin plug for the troller motor cable. You run a separate pair of wires from each battery to the receptacle. I suggest you use Red/Black from one battery, and Orange/Black from the other. This will let you identify which wires go to which battery. The 24 volt connection is made in the motor. You are essentially feeding two totally independent 12 volt feeds to the motor. The motor takes care of the 24 volt connections. There are no "jumpers" at the batteries in this configuration.

 

[AToboyek]

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring Help

Yep 2 reds and 2 blacks, no orange. I had intially hooked 1 pos and 1 neg to one battery and the same with the other pos and neg to the other battery and the troller worksm but doesnt seem like its 74lb thrust, that thing should be humming good, its seems like its stuck in only 12volt operation, there is no swtich, its a hand controlled troller.

 

[AToboyek]

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring Help

 

[AToboyek]

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring Help

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring Help

Have you properly "paired" the red and black wires? It may be that the red wire on the left must be paired with the black wire on the right and vs versa.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring Help

The Maxxum is a straight 24V motor. Only one pair needed. Just tape off the unused wires at both ends and store out of the way.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trolling Motor Wiring Help

While it may be a straight 24 volt motor, it would not have two pairs of wires if they weren't intended to be used. These motors typically had two separate 12 volt feeds -- not a single 24 volt feed. Much like a 220 volt motor which has two 110 volt feeds but with a common neutral.