Trolling Motor Wiring - What you need to know before you start

[@daltonfisher9023]

Deadly video man knows his stuff the 24v vid is gold too

[@GoldenChannels]

Thanks, Dalton! Glad to be of help.

[@jimmywilson1388]

Thanks for the video. I knew about some of the things you were talking about but I also learned a lot.

[@GoldenChannels]

Jimmy, thanks for the comment. Glad to help.

[@frankseymour4162]

Really great video, thank you. I learned a lot.

[@GoldenChannels]

Frank, Glad you liked it. Thanks for taking the time to let us know you found it of value.

[@wesleywillard]

Thanks for making this

[@GoldenChannels]

Wesley, you're very welcome. We're here to help, if you have any more questions.

[@mirceapancu.]

Great video!!! Congratulations!!!

[@GoldenChannels]

Thank You! Glad you liked it.

[@fishva]

Thanks, very helpful information!

[@GoldenChannels]

Thanks for the comment, Daniel. Glad to be of help!

[@josh.kaptur]

this and your 24v video have been hugely helpful to me. Can you give a link to the chart you were using that shows wire gauge and length of run recommendations? I think I'm going to have about 25 feet of run from 24v battery pack to trolling motor socket, plus the cables on the unit itself.

[@GoldenChannels]

Josh, thanks for your kind words. We have a calculator that is specifically designed to help you choose the right wire for your trolling motor install here: www.goldenchannels.com/electric-trolling-motor-power-loss-calculator/ This calculator lets you start with the manufacturers recommended wire sizes, and see what happens as you increase wire size / cost. The ampacity table I use is here, as well: www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm We're still tooling up to make custom lengths of trolling motor power wiring. There is a shortage of tooling around these days, hopefully we will be doing this by the end of April.

[@josh.kaptur]

@@GoldenChannels I'd be more than happy to buy pre-fabricated cables from you if the price was right in exchange for what I learned from two of your videos. Reply here if you're offering it and info about how I can get in contact with you.

[@GoldenChannels]

@@josh.kaptur my work email is [e-mail] Thanks for the offer.

[@michaelflowers6048]

Automotive wiring is perfectly fine in freshwater when the connections are coated with a corrosion inhibitor. Saltwater needs to be marine wire.

[@GoldenChannels]

Thanks for your reply, Michael. Maybe this discussion itself is worth a video. Yes, power cables are fine using this approach, and bus bars and open connections can benefit from a corrosion inhibitor of some kind. This is the old "put vaseline on your battery terminals" advice, which still holds. Marine engine connectors are already designed to keep water out. They have silicon seals on the wire, and a seal on the connector itself, to keep moisture permanently out. Obviously, automotive connectors are in a completely different category than ring terminals or lugs. The higher in frequency the signal, the less value a corrosion inhibitor provides, and can even create issues. You should never use it in RF cabling connectors, and those connectors should be well covered in self fusing rubber tape. A great example of this can be seen on some cellular towers. Often, you will see football size balls of self fusing rubber tape over connections on antennas an RF cables. The reason for this, is that moisture of any kind inside a coaxial cable can create thin layers of oxidization, and this can lead to either capacitance, or a diode effect within the cable itself, which will cause the cable to fail. Often, drying it out will not solve the issue and the cable will have to be replaced, since the moisture will "wick" internally, and replacing the connector itself will not fix the cable, and often multiple feet of the cable will have to be chopped to find clean conductors.

[@michaelflowers6048]

@@GoldenChannels I myself completely rewired my bass boat do to the fact the original owner had ran house wiring when they rewired it. I had to replace everything wire wise. I ran everything in automotive wire, used heat shrink connectors and heat shrink both. I used an electrical corrosion inhibitor paint along with liquid tape. No corrosion, oxidation, or anything in 10 years.

[@GoldenChannels]

@@michaelflowers6048 That is what I would expect. As long as you didn't use corrosion inhibitor in your RF connectors, or spray it into the connection to your fish finder transducer, the job should last forever. My point was that DC wiring will always allow corrosion inhibitor to be used. But, RF and higher frequency signals would benefit from another approach. Corrosion inhibitor is not a "cure all" for every electrical connection. It is almost never used in outdoor cellular applications, for example. And a similar rule would apply to a VHF radio antenna lead. Spraying it inside your outboard engine compartment, except where the battery connection lug/ring terminal is, is a waste of the spray and your time. Applying it on your fish finder connections follows the same rule. The connectors are better dry and their seals will prevent moisture in the first place.

[@michaelflowers6048]

@@GoldenChannels exactly.

[@michaelflowers6048]

@@GoldenChannels another thing a lot of people don't know about wiring their fish finders is that their wiring needs to be completely separate from all other wiring to prevent electrical interfaces on their screens and get a much better image