wiring bow mount trolling motor

[tnj8222]

12/24 volt i want to wire it for 24 can i just cap off the ground? i want to put it on my jon boat. or do i ground it to the boat? when i wire it do i put the wires from the motor to pos to pos and neg to neg, then on the second battery go from pos to neg and neg to pos... is that right???

[spindog]

Ya bro, put them in series for 24. Motor positive on first battery and negative of second= 24 [Just like a flashlight]
The ground dos not ground to the boat, probably to tie into battery for 12 volts?

[tnj8222]

just what i thought. ground ties into neg? or not used on 24? thanks spindog

[hewesfisher]

Wire it just like the second battery group in the top row labeled "series" (shows 2 6v batteries in series to make a 12v "battery") in the center of the top row. Connect your trolling motor leads to the remaining positive and negative leads of your now 24v battery and enjoy. :thumleft:

[tnj8222]

Thanks. Since its 12/24 if I set it up with two 12v parallel, would this increase battery life for the day?

Setting it up 24v would make it more powerful correct? Or am I way off here?

[Rich McVey]

24V will have higher thrust at max, than 12V will.

for the same thrust, 24V will use less current that 12V.

2 12V in parallel will have 2x the run time than 1 12V.

Sounds like you got it right to me.

[G-Man]

Just an additional comment regarding boat wiring. Don't ground your system to your boat's hull, ever. Run a separate wire for your ground (-) just as you would for the power(+). Electricity requires a loop to operate and the ground or negative is also referred to as the return path. If you use your aluminum hull as a ground, you'll have the current for your electronics coursing through your boat. Not good for the hull, the fish are usually put off by it and it poses a safety risk as well.

[Rich McVey]

Good Call G-Man... HUGE difference between GROUND and NEGATIVE.

In a DC system, the negative and the ground are commonly refered to as the same thing but if you have multiple items connected to the hull or frame and consider it the same, you can get what is called a ground loop that can cause disturbance in sensitive electronics. Thats why you dont want to assume the frame or hull can be used as the GROUND/NEGATIVE/RETURN. Best bet is to go ahead and run the positive and negative wires the full length and NOT connect to the hull except where the instructions say to. There is typically a isolated ground connection if that is required.

The trolling motor and fish finder will have different electrical patterns in their return currents. Same with a cars charging system and the radio... ever get the whiring sound in a self installed car radio or CB? Ground loop causing interference.

[hewesfisher]

After reading replies, now I have to ask a question - is your bow mount motor 12v or 24v? While you might be able to run your 24v motor off 12, I certainly wouldn't try it the other way around!!!! In either case, you should use the correct voltage to prevent problems with the trolling motor. I was under the impression your motor was 24v and you were asking how to properly connect 2 - 12v batteries in series. If it's a 12v, then you do not want to do that, you want to run 2 -12v batteries in parallel.

And like RaMcVey and G-Man said, never, ever, ground your batteries to the hull in an aluminum boat. Outside of your boat becoming an emitter, it will also eat itself up. Using sacrificial anodes keep stray electrical currents from "feeding" on your aluminum hull.

[tnj8222]

its actually a 12 / 24 it has a toggle switch to go back and forth. so i was dumb and didnt look at the motor that well before i started asking questions. it has three wires, one red with a white stripe, one red, and one black that i need to wire. since its a toggle switch i know one of the reds are for 12v and the other red is for 24v obviously the black is for negative. so i how do i figure out which one is for 12v and which is 24v? i watched a few physics videos on youtube so i know have a way better understanding between parallel and series for batteries. right now i want to just set it up 12v and will add two more batteries later for the 24v aswell. should be able to run that thing all weekend on three batteries lol.


thanks guys your awesome for helping. thats why washingtonlakes.com is the best!

[BentRod]

Have you looked on the manufacturer's website for an owner's manual?

[tnj8222]

Have you looked on the manufacturer's website for an owner's manual?

i did look but couldnt find one. its a older bow mount, perfect to throw on the project boat.

[BentRod]

Let us know the make and model and maybe someone can tell you which wires are what.
Otherwise, given black is negative, you could always try connecting 12 volts to one red wire and then the other red/white wire and if the performance is less on one than the other, the one that yields the least amount of thrust would most likely be your 24V wire. Logically I would assume the red/white would be your 24v, but that's just a guess.

[hewesfisher]

Let us know the make and model and maybe someone can tell you which wires are what.

I did a quick search for 12v/24v convertible motors and the only brand that came up was Evinrude. Is that the brand motor you have?

[tnj8222]

Its a minkota brute 41 lb its pretty old. It's the old white model

[BentRod]

Are you sure it's a Minn Kota? My quick search shows the Brute was made my Motorguide.
If it is a Motorguide, I couldn't find anything for the Brute 41 yet, but have found a schematic for the Brute 550. Here it shows the red/white wire is for 12v and the red wire is for 24. I guess my logic was wrong. I'll let you know if something else turns up.

Brute 550 schematic

[tnj8222]

Are you sure it's a Minn Kota? My quick search shows the Brute was made my Motorguide.
If it is a Motorguide, I couldn't find anything for the Brute 41 yet, but have found a schematic for the Brute 550. Here it shows the red/white wire is for 12v and the red wire is for 24. I guess my logic was wrong. I'll let you know if something else turns up.

Brute 550 schematic

Yeah its a motorguide. I wired it a few minutes ago and quickly found of that yes red white is 12v thanks for all the help everybody

[hewesfisher]

Another happy WA Lakes angler.