Re: riptide wireing
Steve, First of all WELCOME ABOARD. You will find alot of helpful info here!<br /><br />Is this a new or used Riptide? You should have speed control at the motor tiller handle or foot pedal. Better yet, for about $150 sheckles you can get the co pilot remote control set up for some Riptides and be able to control the trolling motor anywhere in the boat.<br /><br />I have a Riptide Powerdrive 74lb 24 V. setup and believe the 65lb. is 24 V. also. If so you will need to have 2 12V batteries and wire them in a series (ie. Bat#1 positive to hot power source, Bat#1 neg. to Bat#2 Positive, Bat#2 neg. to neg power source.) Sounds more confusing than it really is. I would recommend you use 8 or 10 guage wiring into a plug rather than hardwiring the trolling motor directly to the power source. Also not a bad idea to put an in line fuse or breaker in your wiring plans.<br /><br />Also, do yourself a big favor and use AGM or Optima deepcycle batteries instead of flooded cell bateries. You won't have to worry about battery acid spills and corrosion compromising your connections and will get a lot longer service life from them. New batteries are my next boat investment this season.
