Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/24?

[bankbuster]

Hi All,
I need help to understand whether my motorguide trolling motor is 12V, 24V, or 12/24V. I looked all over many times and cant find a model#. I was told by previous owner that it is 54 lbs thrust.....thats about all I know. So.....I want to hook this on my 17' Hydra-Sports bass boat which has a 1976 Chysler 75 HP on it. My old troliing motor had 1 red, 1 black wire, and 1 40amp fuse. I tried hooking this up the same way but nothing worked. I have power all the way to pedal so i'm not sure whats going on...? I can start from scratch as my boat has no panels, switches etc. I have 1 battery and the fuse and wires......what do I need at this point? I will attach several pics

 

[bankbuster]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

 

[bankbuster]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

 

[bankbuster]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

On the pic above the plug is marked 12-24V DC (that might be the answer there...lol)
On this pic note that the solid black wire goes to the ground and the black with red stripe goes to the 12V.....note the 24V is not used. This is how it came to me. So I took wires out and tried to hook up like old trolling motor but no luck. Am I missing something/doing something wrong or did I just waste my money on a bad trolling motor? Also to note: I known the previous owner for a few years and trust his word. This was a back-up trolling motor when he was fishing the Bassmasters back in late 90's. It is 12-13 years old but was used only 1 time. Thanks guys.

 

[bankbuster]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

ok....heres what I did. Used a simple 2-plug connecter/recepticle (red and black wires) at front of boat. Ran wires back to 2 TM batteries. First battery has positive from TM (w/ 40AMP fuse). Neg from TM goes to other battery. Ran a thick jumper on the other pos. and neg. TM works great.....ran for 3-5 minutes....wires are still cool....I assume this is correct...? Now.....I was going to run all my acc's on the second/back battery. Is this ok. All acc's are fused and are on a 30amp breaker about 6" from battery. NOTHING is ran off engine motor and it has its own battery. So thats 3 batteries total. Is this right? Am I missing anything. Ohh.....no on board charger and no 12/24 whatever switches on TM and no switches for charge/use and all that. Now....am I missing anything? Is this fine? or Safe?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

Yes you are missing something very important:

1) Running ALL accessories through a single 30 amp breaker is very incorrect (unless what you mean is that you have separate fuses for each accessory and each of those is fed from a 30A breaker). Each circuit needs its own separate fuse or breaker. I would assume that the locator (if you have one) has a 16 gauge or possibly 18 gauge wire for power. If something shorted in that circuit the wire would burn up (and possibly your boat) before the 30 amp breaker tripped. That holds true for every accessory. Use only separate fuses for the current demand on THAT circuit.

2) Just because the motor ran on 24 volts does not mean it is a 24 volt motor. It may be a 12 volt motor and and just like a light bulb put too much voltage to it and it burns out. What you DO NOT have is a combination 12/24 volt motor. Those motors would have either three or four wires running from the head of the motor to the plug. Yours has two so that means it is either a 12 or 24 volt model. Use the same technique you did but connect the two wires directly to just ONE of the batteries which gives you 12 volts. I'm betting that motor at 55# of thrust is a 12 volt unit -- not a 24. If it is a 12 volt unit you need to separate the two batteries to provide 12 volts to the receptacle, not 24. You then connect the batteries in PARALLEL (POS to POS and NEG to NEG) to get 12 volts and double the run time of a single battery.

 

[bankbuster]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

Hi Silvertip,
I have a fuse panel for all accessories and 1 8GA wire coming from battery to that fuse panel. The 30amp breaker is about 6" from battery. All my accessories are fused accordingly (3amp, 5amp, etc). So is that ok? Now for the TM, I originally hooked up 1 battery but TM didnt work. I tested for power and it was on all the way from battery to foot pedal. Earlier I tried 2 batteries (in series...loop) as mentioned earlier and that seemed to work fine. Now I am scared of it getting overloaded if its not a 24V.....what shold I do now? ps....you are my HERO Silvertip!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

OK with the accessory wiring -- that's ok. As for the motor, all I can suggest is to connect the two wires (red and black) from the foot pedal directly to one of the batteries. If the motor doesn't run in that configuration but it does on 24 volts then it probably is a 24 volt unit but even then -- that's no guarantee. It may be the bearings in the motor are tight and it takes 24 volt just to make the motor run even though it is a 12 volt unit. With power disconnected, spin the prop by hand. It should turn freely but may have a slight jerkiness to it as the armature poles pass each magnet. If it seems to turn hard then tight bearing are the likely cause and that may be due to water intrusion via the front seal. Those seals are often cut by fish line wrapped around the shaft (very tightly I might add). That too may be why the motor can't start on 12 volts. As I mentioned, most recent 55# and less trollers are almost without exception, 12 volt units. Anything above that are 24 volts.

 

[bankbuster]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

Hi Silvertip.......i tried just one battery again and still no worky. I set up 2 batteries and ran in series (24V) and it works. I "assume" it is a 24V at this point. I've heard that the older TM's, such as this one, are likely to be 24V even though its only a 54lb thrust.......but Im no expert. I did compare this TM, my old TM, and a friends TM.......all props spin and feel the same. Also I noticed that while the prop is spinning I can adjust the speed so slow that I can read the blades on prop. Its pretty darn smooth. I guess Im off to the lake. Hope it all works out. Ill update later. Thanks

 

[NYBo]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

As I mentioned, most recent 55# and less trollers are almost without exception, 12 volt units. Anything above that are 24 volts.

he said the motor is 12 -13 years old. Is that recent enough for that rule of thumb to apply?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

Not being a fan of MotorGuide, I don't know if that applies for certain.

 

[bankbuster]

Re: Please Help identify and hook-up motorguide trolling motor. Is it 12V 24V or 12/2

I took the boat out on Sunday for 5-6 hours and everything worked great. Just to be clear, I ran 2 batteries in series for 24V. I repeatedly checked all wires, connections and fuses. All wires stayed cool, no fuses ever popped and everything worked flawlessly. Bottom line.....with a little research, some trial and error, and most of all.....help from all on iboats forum....I'm a happy angler. If anyone has specific questions, feel free to ask. I hope this helps someone down the road. Thanks so much.