Wiring Tracker 1542 with (2) 12V batterys - Please Help!

[Lowry107]

Please excuse my electrical ignorance but I need some help with how to wire my boat. I am wanting to run (2) 12V batteries. I will use one of them for the Trolling Motor Only, which is a Motorguide pro series 46 lb thrust. i plan on wiring it straight to the batter with 10 AWG wire. The second battery i want to run a fish finder and (2) lights. What i dont know is how to wire the second battery with the 3 components.

Here are my questions:
1) Should i use a buss bar or some type of fuse panel? if so what size?
2) What does a typical system such as this look like? Does anyone have a wiring diagram that would help?
3) Any other suggestions?

Again, i am very basic when it comes to wiring something. If you have any advice at all it would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Lowry107

 

[hunterguy86]

Are you doing a console or tiller steer motor?

Regardless, all circuits need to be fused. I would think 16 gauge wire would be big enough to run the lights.

The fuse is designed to protect the wiring as well as the device. If there is a short, and the fuse doesn't blow, it can start a fire. You can use a fuse block or a switch panel with built in fuses. Use a bus bar for the grounds. Do not ground through the hull of the boat.

Be sure to use good connectors. Solder is best but if you don't know how to do that, you can use crimp connecters. I prefer to use a crimp and seal connector (has built in heat shrink) and then cover over it with heat shrink.

Good tools make all the difference.


Give us some more info on the setup and we can give you some more feedback as to the install.

 

[Lowry107]

hunterguy,

thanks for the response. As for as more information on the set-up, I will be putting my battery for the fish finder and lights near the middle bench seat of the boat. It is a 105 Amp Exixe Deep cycle marine battery. I would like to put the fish finder near the front of the boat so i can see it while sitting on the front casting deck i just built. I am trying to find a (2) toggle switch pannel to put near the front of the boat as well to be able to turn the lights on and off, as well as the fish finder so i dont drain my battery. I just dont know what size or type of fuse box to use, as well as what size fuses.

Also, when i ground all of the wires to the buss bar as you stated in your earlier post, where do you mount the buss bar? i have aluminum framing underneath the deck i could ground a buss bar to if that would work.

Do you need more information than this? If so Im running out of ideas!

Thanks again,

Lowry107

 

[Lowry107]

also i am just running a tiller motor off of the back

 

[user 7806]

Here's how I did mine https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=24496 the fuse panel I used has a ground bus bar built into it. The ground bus bar goes to the negative terminal on the battery. The switch panel was made out of parts I bought at Radio Shack. The fuse block came from Amazon. You will want to use Marine wiring too which I bought at West Marine, they sell it by the foot.

In my case I have 1 battery that powers everything, the only difference with yours would be that you have a sepeate battery for the trolling motor motor.

 

[gillhunter]

Please excuse my electrical ignorance but I need some help with how to wire my boat. I am wanting to run (2) 12V batteries. I will use one of them for the Trolling Motor Only, which is a Motorguide pro series 46 lb thrust. i plan on wiring it straight to the batter with 10 AWG wire. The second battery i want to run a fish finder and (2) lights. What i dont know is how to wire the second battery with the 3 components.

Here are my questions:
1) Should i use a buss bar or some type of fuse panel? if so what size?
2) What does a typical system such as this look like? Does anyone have a wiring diagram that would help?
3) Any other suggestions?

Again, i am very basic when it comes to wiring something. If you have any advice at all it would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Lowry107

I think that 10 AWG wire for the trolling motor is undersized. You also do not want to put a switch on the fish finder. Check out this link. Franner has done a really nice job planning her project and I think most of your questions will be answered. https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=24532

 

[RivRunR]

Gillhunter is right, you can do a search on here and find all kinds of good info...

What you are looking at is a 2-circuit system:

1. Trolling Motor circuit: positive side should be bow battery + to circuit breaker, to trolling motor. Ground side can be TM directly to battery negative since this circuit is your TM only. You need to do some research on your TM to see what amps/recommended breaker size to get (typically 50 or 60 amps). Wire gauge should be 8AWG minimum (6AWG is better). If your TM is not permanently mounted to the bow, you may want to install a TM plug. You don't want to wire your fish finder to this circuit, even tho it's conveniently up front, because your TM may cause interference on your finder.

2. Accessories circuit: the positive side should be rear battery + to circuit breaker, to fuse panel, to switch, to accessory (lights). Circuit breaker needs to be sized to amp draw running thru the fuse panel, but with only lights and a FF, I'd imagine that'll be pretty small - maybe 5 - 10 amps. I'd use the same 8AWG wire used in the TM circuit to make the battery-to-breaker, and breaker-to-fuse panel connections. Since you are only running lights and a FF, grounds can be direct to battery, or to the ground side of a fuse panel (if it has one), or a common ground buss bar. If you decide to go with either the fuse panel's ground, or to a ground buss, then the path is battery neg (8AWG) to panel/buss, then your 14AWG accessory negative. Using 14AWG should be fine for your panel-to-switch, switch-to-device, and device-to-ground runs.

For switches, you don't need a switch for your FF since it's already equipped with an on/off. So you really only need a single switch for your nav lights, which should be an on/off/on DPDT switch to allow you to run the bow nav + anchor lights, or the anchor light only. If you think you'll be adding more stuff later, you might want to get a switch panel, but for just lights you don't really need one.

Here's a link to some Blue Sea Systems fuse blocks. Something like the 5028 (6 fuse), or 5025 (6 fuse with ground) may be what you're looking for. If you want a ground buss, something like the Blue Sea Mini Buss would be the ticket. You can Google these for best prices, etc.

I order most of my wire, connectors, etc. from Tinned Marine Wire because they have about everything you need, price is pretty reasonable, and they ship quick.

Hope this helps!

 

[Lowry107]

Thanks a lot guys. Im learned more in those 4 post than i have my whole life i feel like!

 

[Bob Landry]

#10 is too small. The MotorGuide TM has #8 leads that would attach directly to the battery. The instructions state that if any additional wire is used, it is to be #6. Use a Blue Sea power post with the appropriate ring terminals to join the different size wires of that size. No one makes step down crimp connectors that large and soldering will be extremely difficult, and you will likely not get a good connection. That MG wire size info is not motor size specific, so regardless if you add wire, use #6. Also, use AWG not SAE wire. SAE is smaller and does not handle as much current. Put the TM circuit breaker within 7" of the battery and use the size specified in the instructions for your specific TM.
For grounds, use a separate buss bar. Some switch/fuse panels may have an integrated ground buss, but it will be small and difficult to work with, especially if you add components ata future time. Mount it somewhere out of the weather and forget about it.

All power leads should be as close to the power source as possible. The fuse is to protect the wire, not the device. if the device fails and creates a short, it's beyond saving, so the intent now is to protect the wire and prevent a fire.