I need help with getting 24 volts to my trolling motor

[H@ystack]

Hey all. I have a 2016 Carolina skiff jvx 18. I fully grasp how to run batteries in series to get 24 volts, here is where I am stuck though. .

The boat is prewired. It has 2 sets of wires. Battery 1 red and black and battery 2 red and black. I tried running them in a series. With a jumper but that didn't seem to work with this plug. I tested the voltage at the connections where they attach to the plug and that was 24 volts but that did not compute out the other side correctly.

I think I'm using these pre-wired wires incorrectly.

I had battery 2 wires taped up and put away while I used battery 1 cables to attach to my batteries in a series. Positive off battery 1and negative off battery 2 with the jumper in between. Thesee were all done with the "battery 1 cables"

Now I started thinking , maybe the switch/plug is designed to know when you have battery one and battery 2 set up separately it will relay the series within the receptacle?

I don't know. I can't find anyone that grasps the 2 sets of wires and how they correlate.

The trolling motor is running now but pretty sure it's only pulling 12 volts. I have battery one connected and battery 2 connected separately.

 

[alldodge]

This is the typical 24V wiring


Now if you have a plug which the motor plugs into you can have other issues. Could use a better understanding of what you have.

Do you have 3 batteries?

 

[Silvertip]

The boat was already wired correctly for 24 volts. The jumper you tried back at the batteries is done at the receptacle where the trolling motor plugs in. The standard configuration is to run the two sets of the wires (12 volts on each pair) to the connector. You then plug in the trolling motor and go fishing. If you want a two-wire 24 volt system THEN and ONLY THEN would you jumper the batteries as you tried. Two wires then run to the receptacle The connector on the trolling motor must then mate up properly with the receptacle. But why do that when the boat is already wired correctly. You do nothing at the batteries.

 

[H@ystack]

The boat was already wired correctly for 24 volts. The jumper you tried back at the batteries is done at the receptacle where the trolling motor plugs in. The standard configuration is to run the two sets of the wires (12 volts on each pair) to the connector. You then plug in the trolling motor and go fishing. If you want a two-wire 24 volt system THEN and ONLY THEN would you jumper the batteries as you tried. Two wires then run to the receptacle The connector on the trolling motor must then mate up properly with the receptacle. But why do that when the boat is already wired correctly. You do nothing at the batteries.

I actually found that out before I saw this, but thank you for wanting to help!. I ended up doing process of elimination (smart with 24 volts huh) and found that out. Fairly intuitive design really but I swear none of my fishing and boating buddies had ever heard of that.....one is an electrician. I rigged battery one to wires one and then two to two obviously. I dismantled the plug to the trolling motor and hit it with a meter and was shocked (pun intended) to see the 24 coming through. I didn't think the receptacle would do that for you but it sure did. It's very nice. Makes it much easier to charge

 

[Silvertip]

The reason it is done that way on newer boats is to allow for either 12 OR 24 volts without any rewiring.