[Kevin Booker]

I am trying to wire my outboard starter, lights and trolling motor on a 14' Skiff. I am new to the wiring and I don't fish at night a lot but I am starting to a little more. Right now I have it rigged with a starter battery for the outboard and the all around light, with a my main deep cycle upfront for the trolling motor.The outboard will not drain the deep cycle as it is only a 20hp Merc. I want to run these all on the one battery as the outboard will charge the battery but mainly for weight distribution(moving the battery to the rear. I am new to wiring and have looked at a million things but I don't know if I have it right. I would hate for the electronics to get fried because I make a small mistake. Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[yobata]

This is a pretty good read: http://newboatbuilders.com/pages/electricity13.html

 

[Whiskey Angler]

It looks like you have your Outboard + lead routed direct to your TM....don't do that.

I've got some suggestions below, but you really need to research and understand how and why circuitry should be done before you attempt it. Sure, you can follow someone's lead and probably make it work, but electrical problems suck and can be very dangerous, so its good to deeply understand before attempting.

Look at it like this:
Each power component-

• Outboard + and - leads direct to battery posts with no breaker
• TM + and - leads from TM direct top battery posts with a breaker within 12" of your + battery post
• Lights + lead to switch with in-line breaker within 12" of +battery post and two + leads from switch to lights (same as you have shown) & your - leads direct to your battery- post.

This means you will have 3 connections (ring terminals) on your battery + post and 4 connections (ring terminals) on your - battery post.

DO NOT skimp on you trolling motor wire gauge and connections. 12V TM's can and will start fires.

Lastly, larger than necessary wire gauges for your lights. Large wires for accessories (like 14 ga for lights) will help you make stronger connections that wont wiggle, break and corrode as quickly as some thin/brittle small gauge.

 

[Whiskey Angler]

It looks like you have your Outboard + lead routed direct to your TM....don't do that.

I've got some suggestions below, but you really need to research and understand how and why circuitry should be done before you attempt it. Sure, you can follow someone's lead and probably make it work, but electrical problems suck and can be very dangerous, so its good to deeply understand before attempting.

Look at it like this:
Each power component-

• Outboard + and - leads direct to battery posts with no breaker
• TM + and - leads from TM direct top battery posts with a breaker within 12" of your + battery post
• Lights + lead to switch with in-line breaker within 12" of +battery post and two + leads from switch to lights (same as you have shown) & your - leads direct to your battery- post.

This means you will have 3 connections (ring terminals) on your battery + post and 4 connections (ring terminals) on your - battery post.

DO NOT skimp on you trolling motor wire gauge and connections. 12V TM's can and will start fires.

Lastly, larger than necessary wire gauges for your lights. Large wires for accessories (like 14 ga for lights) will help you make stronger connections that wont wiggle, break and corrode as quickly as some thin/brittle small gauge.

Never mind... I now see you are using a positive and neg.bus bar. The neg. bus is fine, but I would hook the TM + with breaker direct to battery and the OB + lead direct to battery. That way, you can individually fuse the light circuit and the TM circuit.

 

[Kevin Booker]

Never mind... I now see you are using a positive and neg.bus bar. The neg. bus is fine, but I would hook the TM + with breaker direct to battery and the OB + lead direct to battery. That way, you can individually fuse the light circuit and the TM circuit.

Thanks a lot for the advice. Yeah, I am using a bus bar. Didn't know about going directly to the battery. you are saying just splice in an inline fuse on the TM(50W is what I read)? I planned on using heavy wire(4) based on the length and the drop off. So I am OK just stacking my neg leads to the battery?