Battery and Wiring

[BottomDweller]

Hey guys,

Looking to wire my boat up. I am initially going to wire a trolling motor and fish finder. Later I might add a marine radio and bilge pump.

1. I am assuming I should go with as big a battery as possible like an 18 series but will a smaller one work for all of my stuff?

2. Also, how do I hook everything up? Do I need to have a switch panel or fuse box etc., or can I run everything directly into the battery?

3. Last question...I have a 14foot boat. The gas tank along with my self and the motors will be in the back. I was concerned that that was a lot of weight in the back. Can I put the battery forward at the front of the boat?

 

[fender66]

Battery size depends on what you are going to run on it, how long you will run on it, and how big your motor cranking requirements are. Since you don't specify what your motor is, but do say it's a 14 ft boat, I'm guessing that the motor isn't that big. If you intend to run trolling motor on your starter battery....get a bigger battery with higher CA (cranking amp) and higher reserve. (you wouldn't want to be a mile from the boat ramp and not be able to start your motor cause your battery is dead) If you have room and can handle the weight, I recommend 2 batteries. 1 for trolling and one for starting.

You can run everything directly to the battery, but I don't recommend it. You will have a constant draw on the battery and could run into a problem later. On my last project, I did run everything to a fuse box. My trolling motor is on a breaker switch. Everything else is fused and grounded. I've read that grounding to the boat instead of the battery is hard on the boat metals and not advised so I have everything grounded to a terminal block and then back to the batteries.

You can put the battery anywhere you want. Use the proper gauge wires (I used 6 gauge for batteries) or you could run into problems if your wires are too thin.

Pretty generic answers, but I'm sure someone else will chime in soon and offer their thoughts too. Good luck.

 

[Hanr3]

I use two batteries, a deep cycle and a small 12v riding mower battery. The deep cycle feeds my trolling motor and just about everything else. The riding mower battery powers my all around light, bilge pump, nav light, basically my safety devices. This way if I drain the deep cycle while trolling I still have power for saftey reasons.

Never run your devices direct to the battery, you must have a circuit breaker or fuse to protect the wriing and device. You can literallly weld steel with a deep cycle battery. 4x4 trucks use it as an emergency tool to weld on thier trucks. Needless to say, it will fry your electronics and could start a fire if you dont protect the circuit. Nothing worse than a boat on fire, except a boat electrically charged in the middle of water.

 

[BottomDweller]

Can either one of you recommend a specific circuit breaker or fuse box?
I have never done any electrical work at all and have never had any type of electrical devices on my jon boat. Needless to say I am an ameteur at best. Thanks for your postings..This will help alot.

I saw a terminal box advertised at https://www.myjonboat.com/prices.htm....Just scroll down to number 6. Is this what I would need? Would this encompass the circuit breaker/fuse box that I would need?

 

[huntinfool]

This is really all you need for most devices, exceot the trolling motor and your outboard.

https://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_861____SearchResults

Wire all of the positive's to this panel and then to the device. Run all of your grounds to a ground block or to the battery. You can run all of your devices to the battery directly IF you have an inline fuse. But even then it will always be on unless you put a switch on it. This panel above has a switch and a fuse.

 

[BottomDweller]

huntinfool, You say that the switch you pointed out is all that I really need for most devices except the trolling motor. What should I do with the trolling motor? How should I run it through a fuse box?

Sorry guys...Still just a little confused. I am really ignorant to all of this and don't want to cause a fire or my boat to be electrified. Do you know of any diagrams anywhere that explains this in more detail?

Lets say that I were to get 1 good deep cycle battery and have a trolling motor (30 lb thrust) and fish finder to wire. My gas motor does not require any electrical inputs. What do I need to purchase and how do I wire it up?

I was thinking that I would purchase a Main Power Terminal Block like the one seen in the picture below. I would wire the battery positive through this block. The positive leads coming from the block would go into a fuse box like huntinfool suggested and then 1 lead to the positive side of the trolling motor and another positive lead into the positive side of the fish finder. The negatives from each device would run back into the negative side of the terminal block. Did I think through this correctly? Will this protect me and ground everything appropriately? Is there a better/cheaper way?
I am assuming I can add other devices in the same way later..?

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[TeeNick]

Hi guys. I am doing a similar project and instead of starting another topic on this subject, Ill follow this one. Here is my main question.. Is it better to run the negative for each device to the negative post on my battery or to a block?

Here is the breakdown.

Starting motor battery to run bilge, lights, fish finder and access light.

Trolling motor battery will only run trolling motor and accessory plug.

So...

I assume run hot wire from the pos to the switch (breaker panel).

What guage wire for this??

Then Each device run the hot to the switch (breaker panel) and the negative to the battery or the block???

Does this sound right?? Not trying to hi jack the thread, just wanted to keep this in the same area.

 

[bugkiller]

I Have always run the negitive lead directly to the boat and had no problems. Why is this not a good idea??

 

[redbug]

using the boat as a ground is not a good idea it will cause electrolysis and cause pitting of the boat..you are better off running the wires back to the battery

 

[BottomDweller]

Ok, so I bought a battery at Bass Pro Shops. For now I am just going to hook the trolling motor up. I need to buy some 6 gauge wire. You guys mentioned a circuit breaker. Is this the kind I need: https://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/p191.html

If so how do I instal this?

Also when I ground the trolling motor, does the negative from the trolling motor just need to run back into the fuse breaker or does it need to go directly to the battery?

 

[schoeby]

Ok, so I bought a battery at Bass Pro Shops. For now I am just going to hook the trolling motor up. I need to buy some 6 gauge wire. You guys mentioned a circuit breaker. Is this the kind I need: https://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/p191.html

If so how do I instal this?

Also when I ground the trolling motor, does the negative from the trolling motor just need to run back into the fuse breaker or does it need to go directly to the battery?

That will work or this one: https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3541546&cid=CSE:GoogleProductSearch

The circuit breaker should be located closest to the positive battery terminal. Pos battery terminal to circuit breaker. Circuit breaker to pos wire on motor. Neg wire on motor directly to neg battery terminal.

 

[BottomDweller]

This is probably a really stupid question but since I have no experience in wiring, oh well, I'll ask it anyway.......I bought a battery and I am about to wire an old trolling motor. The trolling motor has 8 - 10 gauge standard wire coming out of it. I bought some 6 gauge which I will splice with the 10 to allow my battery to sit at one end of the boat and the motor at the other. Anyway, where the wire connects to the battery I installed a terminal connector. I used electrical tape to secure the connection of the terminal to the wire. My question is, is it ok to use that electrial wire directly on the exposed copper wire where the wire connects to the terminal? I am assuming it is ok but just wanted to double check.

 

[redbug]

i might be missing something but did you just tape the connector on? if so you are asking for trouble.
you need a quality connection a good crimped connection I would also suggest a breaker to protect the motor.
do a search on the site to find info about breakers

 

[BottomDweller]

I have a 50 amp inline breaker but the wire going from the breaker to battery has a terminal connector on the end of it. I did not have a crimping tool so I stripped the wire and put it in the terminal connector and then attempted to crimp it with a pair of plyers and a hammer; it did an ok job but there was still about half an inch of stripped wire that did not fit totally in the terminal so I taped that bare wire with electrical tape so that it was not exposed. Part of the tape is on the terminal and part of it is on the bare wire.

 

[redbug]

okay yes the tape in that case will work...