Thread: 24 volt question

Yes you can, the only caviot to that is your going to have to run a heavy cable to connect front and rear battery. Would suggest #2 like welding lead for your jumper.

I have a 10' jon that I use with a 50# MinnKota motor on the transom. I bought a set of jumper cables to make the cable run so I can put the battery up front to equalize the load a bit. I priced heavy cable and the jumpers were much less expensive. Get a set with copper wire or at least copper plated wire rather than straight aluminum as is harder to get a good connection with the aluminum wire. I left the clamps on the battery end and used lugs to join the other end and put the connections inside pieces of plastic tubing to insulate them.

Depending on the lenth of the boat and the amp draw of the motor #6 wire will be sufficient. An 80 pound thrust Terrova will do fine on #6 wire on an 18' boat. The current is the same anywhere in a series circuit so it really doesn't matter if the batteries are not in the same place.

I made a jumper for my batteries using an extension cord. I stripped all 3 inner wires and combined them with a connector. It might be redneck, but it works great and was cheap!

Originally Posted by wildman870

I made a jumper for my batteries using an extension cord. I stripped all 3 inner wires and combined them with a connector. It might be redneck, but it works great and was cheap!

Unless it's a 6 gauge extension cord, you are unsafe doing that. The wire is too small for the fuse/breaker size required to operate a TM. That is a significant fire hazard. An extension cord that could handle that would be anything but cheap.

The extension cord I used was standard 12 gauge stranded, what gauge would that be with all of them combined? The jumper is approx 24 inches in length to wire my two TM batteries in series. I have heavy cable installed from the factory from the battery compartment to the TM. Should I be concerned with that set up?

Originally Posted by wildman870

The extension cord I used was standard 12 gauge stranded, what gauge would that be with all of them combined? The jumper is approx 24 inches in length to wire my two TM batteries in series. I have heavy cable installed from the factory from the battery compartment to the TM. Should I be concerned with that set up?

Not much more than the original 12 gauge. At the very least you should have 6 gauge. I use a regular battery cable from the parts house that has 2 ring eyes. More like 4 gauge.

What cray and catfan said. You are asking for bad trouble using to light wiring in boats. There is no such thing as cheap when it is unsafe !!!!