Minnkota 555

[S.A. Baker]

Rewireing an old cobbled up bass boat. Has a mid 70's minnkota 555 bow mount trolling motor. Distance from the battery to the motor is 16 ft. What gauge wire should I run to it,and what size circuit breaker? Also....anyone know the thrust rating of this old motor and the current draw? Thanks...Steve

 

[gm280]

S. A. Baker, it looks like that MinnKote is a 33bls trolling motor. And surprisingly there are some parts still available for it yet. Most folks install a 50 amp circuit breaker in their trolling motor wiring and that will certainly work well... I would use 6 gauge wires or if you want 4 gauge and I think you will be ready to troll...

 

[S.A. Baker]

Thanks...I did some looking and just didn 't find any info. I was thinking 8 or 10 gauge wire. Guess I have to rethink that! I sure wasn 't going to use it with the lamp cord that was in it! I can't imagine they could have run that motor with that length of 16 ga. !

 

[gm280]

Thanks...I did some looking and just didn 't find any info. I was thinking 8 or 10 gauge wire. Guess I have to rethink that! I sure wasn 't going to use it with the lamp cord that was in it! I can't imagine they could have run that motor with that length of 16 ga. !

If you would try to use that trolling motor with lamp cord attached, you can figure on a small fire or smoke from the wires burning up. The long run from the battery to the actual trolling motor makes the larger gauge wire the correct size. If your battery was right at the trolling motor, your could possible get away with 8 gauge. But 6 gauge will support 50 amp in that long of a run. $ gauge is ever better. So it is both the amperage draw of the trolling motor AND the length it has to come from that determines the wire gauge... JMHO!

 

[S.A. Baker]

Yeah...they couldn't have run that motor with the lamp cord that was installed! I saw the results of an electrical fire yesterday at a marine dealer. Lund V-hull decked out bass boat style. Everything totally burned out,with 3 ft long holes burned through the aluminum hull on both sides of the front deck! That sucker got REALLY hot! I wonder if somebody went for a swim?