Green Ground Wire

[Gonzos]

Hi everyone,

I purchased a used boat from a guy yesterday. It was his dads who passed away this past winter. It a 16 foot Sylvan Troller with a 70hp Force motor. So here is my problem:
The dad took the batteries out last year and didn?t mark the wires.

It does have a onboard battery charger and trolling motor and it has a full counsel including am/fm. For the most part I think it is straight forward wirering.

Battery 1, trolling motor pos/neg and charger pos/neg

Battery 2, everything else. The wires laying by battery box 2 are red for positive, black/yellow negative. I assume.

Then there is one thicker black wire with a blue stripe....Positive or negative??

And dose the green ground go to a grounding block or to the negative on one of the batteries.

Anyone with 1996 Sylvan that could send me a picture? This was all a factory optioned boat.

Thank you

Gonzo

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Green Ground Wire

There is only ONE ground on a boat and that's the negative terminal of the battery. A ground buss is just an extension of that point. It's only purpose in life is to prevent having to run separate ground wires all the way from the front of the boat to the back. The single wire connecting the ground block to the battery however, must be larger (typically #8 or #10 gauge). On older boats, wire colors need to be approached with caution since one never knows what the prior owner did or attempted to do with wiring. So unless you follow the wires and indicate where they actually go to or come from, it's hard to tell what the black/blue tracer is for. And just so you know, a trolling motor, battery, and charger were definitely NOT "factory optioned". Those are almost always dealer installed options and their electrical guys are generally not very well trained either.

 

[Gonzos]

Re: Green Ground Wire

Thank you silvertip, and I'm laughing at the comment ?generally not very well trained either". Haaa-hmmmmm......

Dealer installed...that is what I meant to say, not factory installed, thank you for the clarification. I'll take some pictures Saturday and post them maybe that will help identify some wire color issues. I'll also trace the wire back and check where they originated from.

I noticed some loose wire under the counsel too. Worse comes to worse we have a very good and reasonable ?boat doctor? in town. I purchased the boat at good price so I can afford to have it repaired correctly, if needed.

I?m pretty handy though and I like the challenge of a DIY repair. Plus I'm more of a Autumn fisherman, so time is on my side.

Thanks again,

Gonzo

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Green Ground Wire

you see how tricky the English language is! The "not very well trained either" is no reflection on you and I hope you realize that. Because someone is told to install electrical gear because he/she can screw in a light bulb without screwing it up does not make them electrically savy. Hence the "either".

 

[Gonzos]

Re: Green Ground Wire

Ok, I went through all the wiring and cleaned the mess of old abandoned wires. I clean and grounded the two green wires to the aluminum boat. The other wires were pretty straight forward. Black, black/yellow and black/blue to negative and all reds to positive. I wired the onboard charger and trolling motor to one battery and everything else to the second battery. And even though the batteries are enclosed in back the boat, I put them both in plastic battery boxes just because I think it looks cleaner and its safer. Took it out on its maiden voyage and all went good.

WELL the fish weren?t biting, but the boat ran good.

Thanks
gonzo

 

[KellyC]

Re: Green Ground Wire

You should not gound wires directly to your aluminum hull, it will cause corrosion. That is what I have been told and I am sure that someone will hop in here and tell you different if I am wrong.

 

[bouttime007]

Re: Green Ground Wire

Yeah, you dont mean you "grounded the 2 green wires TO the boat" do you?

Dont ground anything TO the aluminum.