Thread: Trolling Motor Wireing

Seems like to me my 12 volt I-Pilot Terrova called for a 50amp breaker. I put a 40amp at the battery since I already had one, so far no problems(3 years).
This is the one I used. It is resettable. Ironically this same breaker in a "Marine" model is several dollars more. When I compared the specs and order numbers they were the same unit, guess putting marine in the name raises the price. I know some things are specifically designed for marine applications, but in this instance it was the same item.

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By the way, the breaker is designed to protect the wiring, not the unit, so it needs to be placed as close to the battery as possible.

Originally Posted by BuckeyeKdog

Food for thought. Last spring I rewired my buddies boat in preparation for a new trolling motor. Like yours, he had twin 8 gage leads but we had already purchased the new 6 gage leads and hardware. I ran the new wiring and had everything ready for the new TM. New tm arrived damaged so we remounted to old TM to go fishing. Previously we could run tm 4-5 hours before noticeable deterioration due to battery life. With the new wiring, still had old batteries we ran TM almost 7 hours and it acted like we still had fresh batteries.

Talked to a service guy at a local marina and he told me that what we saw is not unusual and even though the 8 gage wiring is adequate, battery life and run time will be better with heavier wiring. Not sure where his info came from but I know we used the old TM for over a month and never outlasted the batteries. So you may want to go ahead and spend the sweat and upgrade your wiring. IMO you will be glad you did.

Agree completely. It's no big deal to pull two new 6 gauge wires. Install a re-settable circuit breaker and not have to worry about it. That Terrova 55 calls for a 60amp breaker. The breaker/fuse is to protect the end item(trolling motor). The wiring is the least expensive component. You want the wire to fail before burning up your expensive equipment.

You never want the wire to fail, a fire hazard. The breaker/fuse should be first to go - always.

6 gauge wire will not fail. The breaker/fuse will pop if the trolling motor starts pulling more than 60 amps. That's why the recommend 6 gauge wire. You may never pull that many amps any can get away with 8 gauge wire and 40amp breaker. But the first time something goes wrong with the trolling motor you'll regret it. Wire it as recommended by the manufacturer and don't worry about it.