24 volt wiring

[mikec35]

if you have 2 batteries wired in series does it mean you cannot wire anything 12 volt to either of those batteries? Do all of the boats 12 items have to wired to the starting battery?. Thanks

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: 24 volt wiring

It depends on what you need and use, you can have 12 and 24 volt circuits with 2 batterys at the same time.

 

[mikec35]

Re: 24 volt wiring

I am having trouble determining if my trolling motor is wired correctly. I had a 12/24v Evinrude motor that was plugged into an outlet on the front of my boat. You could tell the 12/24 switch on the Evinrude trolling motor was clearly working due to the increased power when you flipped the switch. I have since replaced the Evinrude with a 24v only Minn Kota AT 65. It is plugged into the same outlet as the other trolling motor was but it is running pretty slow, leading me to believe it is not getting 24volts. How can I test the outlet? Also, there is not a wire connecting the 2 trolling batteries together, would the outlet up front that the trolling motor plugs into control the 12/24 v function? Thanks for your help.

 

[mikec35]

Re: 24 volt wiring

I have a volt meter, checked the voltage at the outlet and all I found was 12 volts. Looks like 2 hot wires are connected together and go to one lug on the 12/24 outlet and one ground goes to the other lug. Thanks

 

[Silvertip]

Re: 24 volt wiring

Before you do anything -- you need to let us know what type of wiring you have from the batteries to the troller receptacle. There are two, three and four wire systems. Why? Because some dufus at the troller manufacturer decided it would be a good idea to have a 12 volt motor, 24 volt motors and combination 12 AND 24 motors. With the arrival of 12/24 motors, the boat manufacturers now decided it would be a good idea to make the troller system 12 AND 24 as well. But like so many other dufuses in the world, they didn't talk to each other so we have this mish-mash of wiring. And since most of those boats have now passed through multiple owners who have added their own twist on the system, it is hard to tell what you really have. If you have a a 24 volt ONLY motor all you need are two wires (look at the diagram that was posted.). And yes, you can run 12 volt accessories off one of the batteries. WARNING: To avoid a potential problem, connect the accessories to the battery that has the 24 volt ground wire on it. This would be the left battery in the posted diagram.

 

[mikec35]

Re: 24 volt wiring

I have a 4 wire system. It was 4 wires going to a flat trailer type plug that was then plugged into a round 12/24v receptacle on the front of the boat. Here is a picture of the harness end coming off the batteries. There is no jumper on the 2 batteries. I wired the red and orange together on the new trolling motor receptacle and the 2 blacks together ( see other picture). Should I have combined 2 of these wires and attached to a 3rd post on the new receptacle to get 24volts?Thanks for all the advice!

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 24 volt wiring

I can't tell from the pic, but is that connector the same size as a trailer connector, or is it an oversized "4 flat" connector? If it's the same size I would ditch it and get something more heavy duty, something that can handle 65 amps.

I'm not sure of your wiring, or how to wire the MK troller into it correctly, but 12-24 wiring is a lot more complicated than it needs to be with a straight 24V troller. Depending on the size of wire installed into the boat, the power of the old troller and your new troller, you may need to upgrade the wiring. It depends on length of wire run and how much power (about 65 amps) is going to be pulled across the wire.

 

[mikec35]

Re: 24 volt wiring

The connector and wire are both heavy duty. I would like to leave the wiring on the boat set up as it was in case I want to hook my 12/24 Evinrude troller back up, I'd just like to adapt the wiring from the existing 4 wire set up on the boat to the new twist lock outlet for my new MK troller. Thanks

 

[Fed up]

Re: 24 volt wiring

find one ground, then find one hot. Make sure you have the correct two at the batteries. Build a jumper for the batteries and hook the single positive to one bat, then the ground to the other. cut the rest of the wires back some so you dont confuse them later.

In the future when you decide you need to to do more work with the wiring go ahead and upgrade the wiring to something heavier, if for nothing else, piece of mind.

 

[mikec35]

Re: 24 volt wiring

Thanks.. I was thinking of jumping the batteries but was afraid that it might mess up some 12 volt items I have hooked up like my fish finders or stereo...is there no way to jump where the 4 wires come together where the harness plugs into the outlet up front where the troller is?

 

[Fed up]

Re: 24 volt wiring

as long as you only have your accessories hooked to a single battery. I dont think that you can get 24 from up front simply because those 12/24 TMs had internal switching, while your new tm doesnt.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: 24 volt wiring

I would love to help but you are throwing too many variables in the mix -- including a twist lock for the new troller. But what you have is two totally separate 12 volt circuits (one red/black, and one orange/black) going up front. Those four wires feed a four terminal connector and it is the 12/24 switch on the MOTOR that determines whether the motor sees 12 volts or 24 volts. Trolling motor plugs are available that have a jumper strap in them that allows this system to operate at 24 volts ONLY. If the current receptacle does NOT have a mating plug with a jumper strap, then change the receptacle to one that does have a mating plug for that purpose. You then change the plug on the 12/24 motor and wire it with the standard connections (as it is now) and you add the same connector to the 24volt motor WITH the jumper strap set for 24 volt operation. I can't comment on the safety of the 12 volt accessories since we don't know how or where you have those wired. On a 24 volt system they should be wired directly to the battery that provides the ground for the 24 volt system.

 

[mikec35]

Re: 24 volt wiring

The twist lock is actually a Marinco 12/24v locking plug and the boat has the mating Marinco outlet. Went to the Marinco site and found how to wire the plug that goes on the troller but no info how to wire the outlet. Thanks

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 24 volt wiring

The twist lock is actually a Marinco 12/24v locking plug and the boat has the mating Marinco outlet. Went to the Marinco site and found how to wire the plug that goes on the troller but no info how to wire the outlet. Thanks

I have Marinco 12/24 socket/plugs on both my boats. Look at the back of the socket and it should tell you where the wires go. If I remember correctly the back of the socket says A+, A-, B+, B-. (A = first battery, B= second battery)

When you insert the plug, the plug jumpers the batteries for 24V. Remove the plug and you have 2- 12V batteries at the socket. (Hope that made sense...:facepalm

 

[mikec35]

Re: 24 volt wiring

I got it figured out.. thanks to the advice of the fine folks on this forum! What a relief to have this repair behind me! Any suggestions for using the red plug on a charger for charging my two batteries through the outlet? Any 10amp deep cycle charger? Is 2 amps too low to charge both batteries? I am also thinking of purchasing AGM batteries as these wear out and understand they should be charged with 10amps each, will this type of charging with a 10amp charger send 5 amps to each battery? Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: 24 volt wiring

Again -- how you wire the charger to the RECEPTACLE determines what you are charging. If the boat is wired as you say it is, you have two totally independent circuits going tot he batteries. As far as the RECEPTACLE is concerned the two batteries are NOT connected to each other in any way. You can and should use a higher current (10 amp in your case) charger as two batteries in parallel look like one giant battery to the charger. So using another mating PLUG, you Jumper the A+ and B+ terminals together. You jumper the A- and B- terminals together. You then have two wires (A+/B+) and (A-/B-) that you connect to the charger. Both batteries get charged. As for buying AGM batteries - PLEASE use the SEARCH function to research that decision. If you have deep pockets and can afford them go for it. But at 2.5 - 3 times the cost for less capacity it doesn't make economic sense when you can buy a group 27 deep cycle with the same or higher capacity for $75. But that's just my opinion. You will likely sell the boat long before either set of batteries (reasonably cared for) will need replacing.

If you want to charge the two batteries individually, then you attach TWO sets of wires to the charging plug. One set to A+ & A- and the other set to B+ and B-. You then connect the charger to the A= and A- pair to charge one battery. Connect to the B+ and B- pair to charge the other.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: 24 volt wiring

Any suggestions for using the red plug on a charger for charging my two batteries through the outlet?

So using another mating PLUG, you Jumper the A+ and B+ terminals together. You jumper the A- and B- terminals together. You then have two wires (A+/B+) and (A-/B-) that you connect to the charger. Both batteries get charged.

I'm pretty darn sure that's how the red plug is wired. The red plug is a "charging" plug, positives jumpered together and negatives jumpered together.