24V minkota

I bought an Alumacraft that has a 24V 74lb. Powerdrive. I feel like the trolling motor does not have the full power it should. Also, the auto pilot is eratic. I called Minkota and they said it is a sign of the motor not getting the full 24v. Here is what I have:

The trolling motor has 2 wires and is spliced to a female 4 prong plug that has 3 wires; red orange and black. That connects to a male 4 prong plug with a red, blue lined black, orange, and black wire. Those 4 wires connect to the batteries.

When I originally bought the boat the previous owner had the red and orange to the positive pole and the 2 blacks to the negative pole of a single 12v battery.

I believe I have it wired the way shown in the Alumacraft manual: red to a positive, orange to a positive, and both blacks to individual negatives. Batteries are fully charged.

What am I missing? Is the plug with the 3 wires supposed to have 4 wires; with 2 black wires?
Thanks!

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I don’t know about the 3 wire plug, but it sounds like you may have the batteries wired incorrectly. Take a look at this diagram.

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1073/9770/files/24v_wiring.png

Thanks, Blank. That diagram is the typical way it would be wired. However, the boat has a Alumacraft plug and wires (I think) which has a certain wiring sequence. I forgot my manual up North. Once I get it back I will upload their specific diagram. In the meantime, I was hoping that someone had that same wiring in their boat.

What that three wire plug is typically used for is so you can have both 12 and 24 volts at the plug.

Get a voltmeter and see what you have at the plug. Should be 24 volts on red/black, 12 volts on orange/black

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yeah i suspect the wiring isn’t right. the orange is for 12v typically. many motorguides were set up to be able to switch between the 2. the diagram above should be the way you need it to be.

what model of boat do you have? I have Navigator 175cs that came with a 12v TM when I bought it. I had a little confusion when I switched to a 24v.
orange and black to one battery, red and black to the other.
If you the the tape off the wire connection to the plug the red wire needs to be hooked to the orange wire for 24v. red to orange, black to black.

Me again I hope I got the colors right, the point I was trying to make is the plug has 3 wires ONLY 2 are used no matter what 12v or 24v

@SLACK

I can’t seem to find my owners manual anywhere which would help answer this question. Hope you or someone can help. Here is what I have at the plug. Power from the trolling motor is connected to the orange wire. The red is not connected to anything. Should both red and orange be connected to the trolling motor wire for 24v? Or, is the red only hooked up for 24v?

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First, do you have 24 volts coming from the batteries to the plug?
I had this set up years ago on a Lund Tyee.
looks like same plug to me –
three wire male plug with red,orange and black.

Red is for 12 volts and orange is 24.

the way the picture looks it is wired right. Not good, but right.
I would redo – cut back and off set and solder them.
Put heat sink over wire before you solder it, then shrink heat sink after soldering.
Or wrap with 3m electric tape when done.
take a tester and check voltage in the plug, charged batteries hooked up right should, will show more than 24 volts.

will add pictures are different — 1st one shows a red and black hooked up and the last one posted shows two black wires going to plug

igotone wrote:

will add pictures are different — 1st one shows a red and black hooked up and the last one posted shows two black wires going to plug

Thanks for the advice!

Poor lighting and different angle in the last picture. The red power from the trolling motor has a strip on the one side.

K – then take a tester and see what voltage you got at the female plug in the boat.
Can’t remember if there is 4 poles or three in the female plug.
anyways take a tester and check. two should make 12 and two make 24.
same ground is use I believe.
multi-tester is a must for checking wiring on boats and trailers.
also nice around the shop and house. Fairly good ones are cheap >$20

It doesn’t matter which wires the plug is connected to if the batteries aren’t jumpered together correctly. If you don’t have a jumper cable going from the positive post of one battery to the negative post of the other battery you are just going to produce longer run of 12 volts versus generating 24 volts.

Sorry superdave
but there are boats that are wired different!
there are ones that are wired where two leads go from each battery to the plug and the plug generates the voltage needed.
Not all are done in the battery compartment. So it can matter.

Beardsly, how is your receptacle wired??

Is this the plug and receptacle you have?

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Nice find Munchy.

Thanks for all the help! Now that I have the right diagram (nice find @munchy!), I was able to ensure the wiring was correct. Which I believe it is. I have 12 volts at each set of terminals at the male plug. I checked the voltage at the female plug/trolling motor and have only 12. So, I need a new plug. Thanks again everyone!