Trolling Motor Battery Hookup

[bassin'frog]

Bought a used boat and trailer several weeks ago and am in the process of cleaning it all up, painting, and looking at hooking up my accessories. The boat came with a Minn Kota Riptide trolling motor on the front fishing deck. The motor comes with a 'foot on/off switch'. The previous owner had the red & black 8/20 gauge main wires from the motor hooked up to battery #1. Then he had the smaller red & black wires from the foot switch hooked up to battery #2. Can someone please explain this setup to me? I can't figure out why and don't know if there is a better setup for this. Thank you.
Bob

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trolling Motor Battery Hookup

Is this riptide a 12 or 24 volt motor? There should be NO wires connected directly to ANY battery. The foot pedal connections are via a smaller harness that plugs into a mating harness on the motor. I suspect that the original foot pedal was inoperative and it was messed with. Without pictures I cannot tell you what was done.

 

[bassin'frog]

Re: Trolling Motor Battery Hookup

What I know is this: when I bought the boat, the smaller black and read wires were hooked up to a 12v battery in the back of the boat. The larger (8-10 gauge) wires were hooked up to a different 12v battery under the fishing deck. The foot switch says 'on/off' on it. Thank you for your assistance. Bob

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Trolling Motor Battery Hookup

I have no idea what this "foot switch" is so how about some pictures. There is an optional switch called a "Big Foot". That is entirely separate from the troller but is still wired to the same battery as the troller itself. So is this ON/OFF switch part of the foot pedal or is it a separate item?

 

[bassin'frog]

Re: Trolling Motor Battery Hookup

SILVERTIP

I have no idea what this "foot switch" is so how about some pictures. There is an optional switch called a "Big Foot". That is entirely separate from the troller but is still wired to the same battery as the troller itself. So is this ON/OFF switch part of the foot pedal or is it a separate item?

... Here is a pic of what I assume is the foot on/off switch. On the bottom of this switch it says ' Big Foot'. Thanks for your help....