Thread: Wanting to go from 12v to 24 volt system

The top pic is two 12 volt battereis ran in series to get 24 volt. The bottom pic is two battereis in parallel that still gives 12 volts.
Use the top diagram with an inline circuit breaker rated for the amprage on your trolling motor. I ran 6 awg tinned copper wire for my 80 pound Minn Kota Terrova with a 60 amp inline breaker. The setup works great!!!!

Skeeter, I can't believe that a 2002 skeeter boat would come with a 12 volt trolling motor. I thought only bass tracker did that. Good luck running the wire up to the front of the boat. You may have to hook the new wiring up to the old and gently pull it threw. It is best if you have two people to do this unless you can pull side panels to access the wiring. Get the biggest trolling motor you can afford.

No I was not going to run the TM or 24v to fuse pannel. I asked about fuse panel because there are no extra slots in mine, and with the addition of new electronics, which are larger and more than what I had before, if I should upgrade to a larger panel and while doing so is there something that I may not be aware of as far as what else I should do on the panel while I am at it.

Yes I understand how to run batteries in a series for 24 and if I didnt before I sure do now! lol Thanks for the diagrams guys, they are actually pretty good.

As far as running the wire to the front of the boat, its not a problem on this boat as it runs through a channel in the boat, and all I have to do is before taking old wire out, tie on to it and have a retrieving line there for the new wire to be tied to and pulled back through.

So there isnt anything extra I will need to do to make this work other than finding a new panel for extra slots. Its been a while since I did any major wiring so I am taking it slow and asking questions as well as doing some research on it.

If you see me next time and my hair is all frizzed up and out, you know I made a mistake once or twice. lol

Thanks guys for all the info and help. Let me know if I missed something or didnt understand something correctly.

Originally Posted by LSL Angler

Skeeter, I can't believe that a 2002 skeeter boat would come with a 12 volt trolling motor. I thought only bass tracker did that. Good luck running the wire up to the front of the boat. You may have to hook the new wiring up to the old and gently pull it threw. It is best if you have two people to do this unless you can pull side panels to access the wiring. Get the biggest trolling motor you can afford.

Yea still trying to decide which one I need. This old one has been good to me and is very responsive, but I need a little extra power for those windy days.

Originally Posted by Speck

The top pic is two 12 volt battereis ran in series to get 24 volt. The bottom pic is two battereis in parallel that still gives 12 volts.
Use the top diagram with an inline circuit breaker rated for the amprage on your trolling motor. I ran 6 awg tinned copper wire for my 80 pound Minn Kota Terrova with a 60 amp inline breaker. The setup works great!!!!

So whatever the TM says it runs on for amps get a breaker that goes up to that or just below? I cant remember how that works exactly.

Originally Posted by Little Skeeter

So whatever the TM says it runs on for amps get a breaker that goes up to that or just below? I cant remember how that works exactly.

The TM you buy will have the reccommended breaker size. Minn Kota says a 60 amp breaker for an 80# TM

You should really run three batteries. Two in series for the trolling motor, and one for the rest of the boat. If you try running your electronics off of one of the trolling motor batteries you will probably get a lot of noise on your electronic when you run the trolling motor. It will also run down one of your batteries faster than the other. Your Trolling Motor wiring should be adequate. When you increase the voltage, the current decreases proportionately for the same amount of power.