What gauge wire?

[wolverine]

4 gauge TINNED marine wire from the batteries to the motor if you're putting your batteries up front for better weight balance. Do not use jumper cable wire as it just won't do the job. Marine wire is expensive, but use it and you won't have to worry about failures. Buy smart-buy once. 6 gauge tinned for riggers. If you have a buss bar forward also use 6 tinned from the batteries. Gauges, radios, lights, etc, 14 gauge tinned. I've helped fix umpteen boats that were wiring nightmares. The worst are the ones who had put non tinned wire in and it shorted out and the owners fix was to just run another piece of non tinned wire to replace it. A lot of new boats mfgs used to use non marine tinned wire to cut cost. Of course it fails eventually. Make sure that all connections are sealed tight and are properly grounded.

[sickbayer]

I was planning to put essentially everything except the main motor onto the same battery as the kicker so it will charge the whole time I troll. I don't have a fancy pants boat like you so my electronics are staggering haha! FF, 1 Downrigger, helm electronics, that's about it.

lol fancy pants eh? my boat was staggered too, spent the time to make it so it was workable on.

[Matt]

Thanks wolverine that is some helpful info. I am planning to spend the extra bills and get good marine grade stuff, money is not an issue when it comes to performance and downright safety. Having wiring go caput 20 miles upriver is not in the gameplan.

Sickbayer, I'm workin one step at a time and getting the boat to where I like it. There is always something! Hoping a Tr1 will be in my future within the next year.

[FishingFool]

16ft round trip, I imagine 6 AWG should be fine for your smaller kicker. So ~8ft in length on each end.

The cables on my motor is 6AWG and it has ~6ft cables . And that's with a 60HP motor and no problems there.

PS, I just bought some cables too from Geniune Dealz for my trolling motor. Great prices and the product is suppos to be very good. It just shipped today.

Do you got a link for the site? I might order some on the net if that's the way to go. My boat is 17' overall and from the batter box to the windshield (the batteries are going on the shelf under the winshield/helm) it can't be much more than 6-8' so it is definitely going to be less than 20 feet round trip.

http://genuinedealz.com/


I dont remember what the prices are at West Marine. But I know it's more expensive than online. But if you're only getting a short length, maybe it wont be so bad buying it from the store since you'll get it right there.

[Matt]

I dont remember what the prices are at West Marine. But I know it's more expensive than online. But if you're only getting a short length, maybe it wont be so bad buying it from the store since you'll get it right there.

I think buying from them would work out for me. I will need the heavy guage wire for the main motor and the kicker both, and the smaller stuff for everything else so I will probably get 20-30 feet of both, plus while I am at it I will just get all the terminals, connectors, and shrink wrap other than that I will just need to buy the 2nd battery, a box, and devise an adequate mount. I will go ahead and post before and after pics. Won't get to do the job for probly 2 weeks I'd guess.

[G-Man]

You'll also need some monster crimpers for wire terminals of that size and they don't come cheap. I opted for the solder terminals as I have the necessary tools and bulk solder to handle wire of that size. Check with where ever you end up buying from if they have a crimper that you can use, "in store", to attach the terminals after you cut the wires to length.

[Matt]

I have access to the tools I will need so that shouldn't be an issuse although that is a good point.

[hewesfisher]

I would run downriggers and electronics or anything that uses battery power off one battery and to that battery i would have my kicker hooked up to. leaving battery number 2 for main engine.

On my tub i have gps, stereo, FF, broadband sounder, auto pilot and downriggers all hooked up to a bus terminal from there i use 10 gauge to my number 1 battery which is hooked up to the kicker. My amps never drop below 12.5 my other battery is main engine.

That's how I have ours wired too.

[FishingFool]

just want to update, I received my wires from Genuine Dealz. Looks good. I got the 6 AWG that's bonded to each other to keep the install clean.

Only thing is, the box it came in got destroyed. Had 2 huge holes on the edges, but luckily none of the smaller parts fell out.

[MarkFromSea]

I am crackin up over some of the numbers,,,,,, since it's all a 12 volt system, voltage doesn't matter, cept maybe that voltage regulator and that should be internal to the kicker charging output, the kicker should quit putin out voltage when it reads the battery is fully charged, and it will be a lower voltage while charging a battery. Take your out put reading ONLY when it is hooked to the battery. Otherwise it's only "voltage potential" useless unles there is a load. LOL

The ONLY thing that matters on your system is amps! If you know your cold cranking amps to start the motor, google "ugly's", find your wire size there based on amps, it never hurts to upsize your wire a bit. If you only hand start your kicker, and the kicker output is to charge the battery, match your wire size to the output amps of your kicker. Your distance isn't going to require an upsize, it's less than 100'. We've been around boats long enough to know that dirty/coroded terminals is usually the cause of our electrical problems. clean em and Jell em!

quick tidbits: 10 ga =30 amps, 12ga=20amps, 14ga=15amps,(single strand, THHN, aka romex LOL) upsize one ga for multi strand.... on a boat, extended run, 30 amps or less, UF would be fine, and the UF I have is grey so it would look good. You'll have to look up the cranking amps requirement on your main, ect for the big wire. voltage doesn't matter but here is more fun stuff: a battery cell is about 2.2 amps each x 6 cells = 13.2 volts on a fully charged battery..... if you put a meter to a battery and it reads 13 volts or better, it's not going to do any good to put a charger on it. That's just a good way to shorten the life of the battery. If after you charge the battery and it doesn't hold the charge or the meter reads 11 volts or less,,, 13.2 - 2.2 = 11volts BAD cell,,, toss it and get another, Costco!

Have a Great Day!

[FishingFool]

I've always assumed 12.6v+ is fully charged.

At least that's how it is with 2 of my batteries that's in the living room right now. I'll charge them up. They will read 13.0v about an hr after being fully charged.

After sitting for a couple of days to let it settle, it will settle at 12.7v. Both of them. Will stay at that voltage for at least 4 weeks. They are AGM batteries though.


But I do have one of those small 12v sealed batteries. Seems to hold it's charge at 13.0v just fine.

Testing done with a digital battery tester.

[Anonymous]

FF - your batteries are fine, different designs different resting voltages.

Mark, of course voltage matters, especially in a 12 volt system. A loss of 1 volt due to undersized wire causes a little over 8% drop in performance. That same drop in a 120 volt system is under 1%. Downriggers, electric trolling motors and sonar units all suffer in performance as the supply voltage drops.

Electricity works pretty much the same way water does, pressure is equal to voltage and flow rate is equal to current/amps. For example, say you need to have a 5 gallon per minute flow rate from your hose but you are only getting 4. There are two things you can do, increase the size of the hose or increase the supply pressure. Since you can't really change the supply voltage on your boat the only way to get increased current flow to the items that need it is to increase the size of the wire.

Here are few facts that you can use in working on your boat's electrical system.
#1: Electricity prefers to travel over the surface of a conductor. More surface area, more current capability, this is why multistrand wire has a higher current rating than single strand wire of the same gauge. The more strands the better, but you'll end up paying for it as well.
#2: 12vdc systems are designed for short runs. The longer you make a run, the more voltage you will drop and performance will suffer. To counter voltage drop, use a larger gauge wire and keep runs as short as possible.
#3: Standard lead acid batteries will last longer when kept fully charged through the use of a battery tender. Use a Battery Desulfator as well and you can extend the life of your batteries by at least two fold.
#4: Electricity requires a closed loop, run the same gauge wire for your individial grounds as you do for your individual sources.
#5: Over voltage will cook your battery and shorten it's life. If you are constantly topping off the fluid in your cells, chances are your charging system is suppling too high a voltage.

[Matt]

Well I was poking around in the boat today and I am not sure how well my plan is going to work out... I was hoping to move the batteries onto a step that is located below the window in all wooldridge boats, but the step is not large enough to accommodate the battery (mainly the battery box is too large); there is the possibility I could mount them under the bow deck but there is no le el surface up there....

Is there any lower profile battery option for a battery that would be rated with proper voltage?

[G-Man]

Matt, AGM batteries, such as Optimas, do not need to be mounted on a level surface. The electrolye is not in liquid form and the system is sealed. You can purchase batteries in almost any size and configuration, keep in mind it will cost you a bit more for non standard sizes. Here is an example, just don't look at the price! Odyssey Battery

[Matt]

That is good to know about mounting on a level surface. The other issue with mounting them in the under-deck storage is they would be mounted directly to the hull of the boat so I can't run any screws through it to affix a bracket to hold them in place.

[G-Man]

JB Weld the bracket, the stuff is amazing. Before I forget, mounting the battery in the front of your boat will subject it to much more physical abuse than if it was mounted in the the rear of the boat. AGM batteries take this type of abuse much, much better than standard batteries that use a liquid electrolyte.

[FishingFool]

just a heads up, Cabelas has their AGM on sale at the moment.

[Matt]

JB Weld the bracket, the stuff is amazing. Before I forget, mounting the battery in the front of your boat will subject it to much more physical abuse than if it was mounted in the the rear of the boat. AGM batteries take this type of abuse much, much better than standard batteries that use a liquid electrolyte.

We are on the same page it sounds like, I was thinking of getting an aluminum bracket and using JB weld to bond it directly to the hull. I was also wondering about the pounding that the batteries will take up front, it is a sled too so in a chop things get pretty funky. I was thinking the best way to position them would be sideways so the long portion faces front to back, then have them leaning up against one another for stability, the front of the boat has a 15* rise I believe.

FF thanks for the heads up I'll scope that out.

[MarkFromSea]

With DC, I could be wrong, but I doubt it. If my memory is correct, I've been taught in classes about wire sizing, CIRCULAR MILS is the bottom line on how many amps a wire can safely carry. LOL I guess I should break out my "Ugly's" to verify. It's in my work van in one of the electrical parts boxes........ LOL Just reread some of your info G-Man, it's 12:15 in the morning but I'm getting up and heading out to get my ugly's... LMAO My memory is shot,,,, And MOST CERTAINLY never under size a wire since that will give you a voltage drop, DUH! Other than that it is all a 12 volt system! When selecting the correct wire size on a sport fishing boat, AMPS is the only thing that matters!

A quick look at the book, circular mils are the same for wire of the same gauge, but the overall diameter of stranded wire is larger than single strand. You know what, it really doesn't matter, I wouldn't use single strand on a sport boat anyway, have a good night and good fishing when you get out there!