trolling motor installation question

[pete mitchell]

As I said in an earlier message I am upgrading my trolling motor from a 12v to a 24v on a tracker pt185, I mounted my new trolling motor on the boat. I read that to convert to a 24v I should connect the red wire from the trolling motor to batt. 1, the black wire from the trolling motor to batt. 2, place a jumper wire from the neg to the pos. on the other terminals. and use a circuit breaker to prevent motor damage...when i took the trolling motor receptacle loose, I noticed that there are 4 wires coming from the receptacle, red, black, orange, black w/blue stripe, I'm not sure what the four wires are for and how to wire them...I would appreciate any info...thanks

 

[Carl S]

I have a 1999 PT185 and here is the way it is wired for 24V. All (3) batteries are in a row on the left rear side (port) of the fuel tank.

Battery 1 which is the one most forward or closest to the live well has the Red Positive wire and the solid Black Negative wire attached.

Battery 2 which is the one in the middle has the Orange Positive and the Black/Blue stripe Negative attached.

Battery 3 which is the one closest to the transom has all the accessory wires and the engine wires attached. The only wires attached to the trolling batteries are for the trolling motor only. NO ACCESSORIES.



Look around in the back by the fuel tank or up front for the other set of wires. If they are connected up front they have got to be somewhere inside of the boat.



I also had to add a jumper wire from the negative side of Battery 1 to the negative side of battery 3 (starting battery). I had to do this because a had a electrolysis problem. I was getting a white powdery build up and or scaling effect on my trolling motor prop shaft and the steering shaft. The jumper wire fixed this.



I am assuming you have a (4) male pin connector for the trolling motor up front. That's is what came on mine. If it is wired the same, the 24V connection is made on the adapter plug that's wired to your trolling motor leads. Take the Red wire from the trolling motor and attach it to the Orange wire of the trolling motor plug. The Black wires from each go together. The 24v jumper is located and molded into the 4 female pin trolling motor plug. A easy check is to plug in your trolling motor plug before wiring it to the trolling motor. Take a volt meter and put the positive lead on the Orange wire and the negative lead on the black wire of the trolling motor plug. If all is good you should have 24+ volt reading. If you attach your volt meter to the Red wire of the plug, I believe you will get a 12v+ reading. If you get 24v+ on the red wire you can use this instead of the Orange wire. One should be 12v and the other 24v. Hope this helps.

 

[Cliff Van Beek]

the most easy way, is what you quoted with using two wires from the batteries to the plug, with the jumper, what Carl is advising may work, but is much more complicated, I have always done the battery in series pattern, much less to remember and or have issues with, you only have 24 bolts to the front, no checking or remembering what you have there.

 

[Carl S]

Well, as difficult as it may seem, that's the way it came from Tracker. Also, if Pete's is wired the same. There is a set of (2) circuit breakers located next to the shift lever/ throttle. I believe they are a set of 25amp breakers, (1) for each trolling battery lead. Can't remember the exact rating, it has been awhile since I had that apart.



I don't know if you get less voltage drop with this type of set up or not. I can say this for sure. When Tracker wired it this way, the (2) sets of wires look like only 10 ga. maybe 8 ga. at best. I tried to get the gauge reading off the wire insulation but I could not find it anywhere.



If you hooked (1) set of these wires in series at the battery, I believe the wiring would be way to small for the load. It should be at least 6 ga. minimum. You would also have to add a larger circuit breaker where the original one(s) are or add a complete new breaker somewhere and eliminate the original ones.



Truthfully, I'm with you GoFIsh, one set of properly gauged wires, circuit protected , hooked in series is simpler and easier. I looked at converting mine to (1) set of 4 ga. wires. The general consensus was that pulling new wires would be a big pain, so I just left it as is.

 

[pete mitchell]

Carl, thanks for the very thorough reply, My PT 185 is a 99 model also so they are apparently wired the same, I called the local BassPro Shops the tech was not familiar with this wiring set up and advised that he would just blank off the orange & black wire w/blue stripe and use the jumper wire as a simple fix, but doing as yours is seems simple enough, I just bought this boat and like it, I appreciate the reply.

 

[Carl S]

Glad to be of assistance Pete. If you have any other questions on this boat let me know. I bought mine used in 2001 and so far it has treated me well. The only problems I had with the boat was, replacing the bilge pump and the live well pump.



This was not a fun project. There is just no room to get your hands down there by the pumps. Plus you need to be a contortionist.



FYI - Watch your tire wear. I had big problems with the tires wearing out on the inside treads of both tires. It did not matter if they were radial or bias ply tires. I would bet my life that they put an underrated axle, for the load, on this trailer. After going thru a set of tires every other year or so, with less than 3500 miles on them, I decided to change the axle. I installed a new 3500# rated axle, leaf springs and new tires last spring.



The axle diameter is a lot larger than the original one. So far, after one 500 mile round trip, the tire wear looks very good. With the old axle setup and new tires, I would see noticeable inside wear starting after a 500 mile trip.