CTFishTalk.com: Trolling Motor Wire Length - Connecticut Boat Repair, Electronics, and Motor Help ( CT Boat Repair, Electronics, and Motor Help ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

colburn · Joined: 16 Apr 2010 Posts: 125

Does anyone know if the length of my trolling motor wires(pos/neg) will matter? I want to put the battery in the front of my boat as you can't really fish from it and also to offset the weight in the back. Does anyone know if i will loose power? I would use thick wire.(like the stuff an amp in a car)

SeaDog1 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 2629

Hi,

I have my battery in the bow of my 14' boat (weight forward to balance boat) with wires running all the way aft to the trolling motor.
No loss in power what so ever!
You should not have a problem.

SeaDog1

colburn · Joined: 16 Apr 2010 Posts: 125

thanks. that is what i was thinking but just wanted to ask around. what guage wire are you running? and did you re connect it to the trolling motor inside or just the trolling motor 4ft leads?

SeaDog1 · Joined: 21 Dec 2009 Posts: 2629

Hi,

I forget what gauge wire I used.
Just cut off the clamps that the motor had and spliced the wires together with waterproof connectors.

Crimped on closed eyes (battery terminal size) to end of wire and using a wing-nut secured the + and - ends to the battery.

SeaDog1

hoppy · Joined: 20 May 2007 Posts: 393 Location: congamuck

you wont loose any power running a long wire. just make sure you run some thicker wire. the less butt connectors you have along the way the better. if any connections need to be made soildering is a great choice when wiring a boat. they make a nice two wire cable thats incased in plastic. nice stuff but cost you alittle more.

colburn · Joined: 16 Apr 2010 Posts: 125

I ended up getting some 4awg from Home Depot but it did not the current very well. It had thicker inside wire so it didn’t make a good connection to the thin strand. So I went to Lowes to check out their wire. Couldn't find anything with thin strands so I was looking on the net for what kind I should use and found this link....

http://www.minnkotamotors.com/what_gauge_wire_for_trolling_motor.aspx?__taxonomyid=977

After reading that link I decided to get search for some 4AWG thin strand marine wire. I am now waiting for the wire to be delivered in the mail. Like hoppy said I will definitely be soldering my connections then putting the shrink wrap stuff over them.

This is the wire I ordered with one 1/4 connecter per wire
http://gregsmarinewiresupply.com/Zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14&products_id=96

I hope it works out. It didn't seem too expensive since the stuff at Cables and Connectors on the Berlin Turnpike was like 6 $ a ft!!!! I put my order in and got a confirmation email about 1 hour later saying my order had been shipped. The wire was only 10 bucks to ship the 2x17’ of wire. It was the best deal I could find anywhere. Amazon wanted 61 bucks for 50ft the stuff at Cables and Connectors on the Berlin Turnpike was like 6 $ a ft!!!!