Trolling Motor Wiring

  • red89
    Hudson
    Posts: 918
    June 27, 2012 at 2:23 am #1239008

    I just got a 12v Minn Kota Maxxum and after inspecting the existing wiring set up in the boat, I am wondering if I need to replace it. The max amp draw is 50, so I know I need atleast a 50 amp breaker on the + wire.

    First, There is about about 3.5 feet of wire coming from the new foot pedal with ring terminals, that appears to be about 6awg.
    The Power plug that I cut off my old trolling motor has a few inches of 10awg wire. Then there is about 10″ of 8awg wire coming out of the back of the receptacle. This splices into about 11 feet of what appears to be 10awg which runs to the battery.
    I looked at this link from minnkota, but I don’t know how to apply it with all these differnt wire gauges involved. Why would the power plug/receptacle come with two different wire size? Do I need to get a new one, or should I just hard wire it to the battery?

    http://www.minnkotamotors.com/what_gauge_wire_for_trolling_motor.aspx?__taxonomyid=977

    bcauz3y
    Ramsey, MN
    Posts: 3
    June 27, 2012 at 2:32 am #1079014

    i would probably just pick up a new receptacle, and rewire the whole thing in the largest gauge you need in any portion of it. so if you need 6 ga, just do everything in that. you will have to buy less wire than too.

    bad wiring can be an absolute nightmare, and it sounds like you are setting yourself up for a headache one day, and odds are, it will happen when you least want it to.

    probably won’t cost you more then 30 bucks and an hour of your time.

    Angler II
    Posts: 530
    June 27, 2012 at 3:13 am #1079023

    I just wired my 70lb 24v with 8 GA recommended by a well known minn Kota specialist. Paired it with a 50amp breaker and everything works flawlessly. 8 GA should be fine for you

    jon_wbl
    Posts: 289
    June 27, 2012 at 3:58 am #1079040

    2x
    If you re-wire with all 8 GA and go with the 50 AMP breaker if will work flawlessly

    red89
    Hudson
    Posts: 918
    June 27, 2012 at 4:08 am #1079041

    Quote:

    I just wired my 70lb 24v with 8 GA recommended by a well known minn Kota specialist. Paired it with a 50amp breaker and everything works flawlessly. 8 GA should be fine for you

    Did you wire yours with a plug/receptacle?

    I can’t understand why the one on my boat would have came with 10awg on the plug side and 8awg on the receptacle side. I know that there is some math that goes into this stuff and I just don’t want to much voltage loss. The trolling motor that was on there before was the same voltage and lb. thrust and it worked fine as far as power, but im wondering if I would get more power with a thicker wire if it could use it.

    If I just wire it straight to the battery with 8awg, do i leave that 4′ that comes out of foot pedal and just splice it together? I’m not sure what the point of having the plug-in anyway, except that I think you are not supposed to have your stuff plugged in when you charge the battery.

    Angler II
    Posts: 530
    June 27, 2012 at 1:05 pm #1079085

    Yes i re-wired a new female plug and installed it on my boat. Before this my boat had the same wiring as you describe and it was nothing but problems. I would suggest changing it all out and running new wire. I installed a plug only so I could take the TM off to cover the boat when traveling long distances.

    red89
    Hudson
    Posts: 918
    June 28, 2012 at 5:28 pm #1079609

    I bought a MKR-20 Minn kota trolling motor plug and some 8 awg attwood trolling motor wiring from fleet farm. Wire was about $30, which is more than I expected.

    Any comments on that plug?

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