Wiring up electric

[hatch]

Okay first and foremost I'm not good with electrics. I've had a lot of well documented issues with my electric and I have recently recieved it back from
Jarvis Walker. After reading a little bit I've realised now that I really shouldn't connect the electric straight to the battery without a circuit breaker or Andersen plug. Now that I've got it back again I want to make sure I set it up correctly so I can minimise the likelihood of problems again.

First and foremost what is the benefit of having an Anderson plug? Do I really need it or will a 50amp circuit breaker suffice?

I have a solder and all the necessary tools required to do the job. But I have
Never soldered before. Would it be worthwhile getting someone else to do it? Or is it simple enough to do myself? Where should I put the circuit breaker? Is there anything else important that I need to know?

Cheers Clay

[rodmy]

Not sure about circuit breakers had one electric motor no breaker no problems, my second boat got an electric 2nd Hand for it, had a breaker on it left it on. So I am not sure, I asked Minn Kota at the Boat Show could not get a straight answer.

Andersen plugs are very secure and convenient. Buy them on on e bay you will save lots of $$.
Soldering easy I went to tech school when a teen, learnt it there

[danh124]

Hey mate I would gues that you could do it yourself.
The benefit of a circut break is simply protection.
If an electric appliance should have a problem such as a short circuit overheating etc the a circuit breaker ensures that it is protected from further damage.
It achieves this by deliberately being the weakest link in the circuit and will actually cut the power to the circut by either blowing (like a fuse) or tripping an electronic switch (like a safety switch) this ensures that you know there is a problem and further more ensures that this problem doe not continue and cause a fire or damage to your equipment.
So a long way of saying you need one.

As for soldering it is not that hard, use the soldering iron to heat the wire and apply the solder material to the heated wire not the iron.
Whilst continuing to heat the wire and apply solder material watch the molten solder travel through the joint completely and then remove the solder and iron.
Give the joint a few seconds and the joint will be strong enough to be unsupported.

So my advice is get some battery and starter wire (6 gauge) and an appropriately sized fuse for your elect (ask the guys at the shop you get the wire from) and an inline fuse holder and some heat shrink wrap.
Run the 6 gauge wire from the negative terminal straight to your elecy, then you do essentially the same thing with the positive but you solder the fuse and holder in the positive wire. Place the fuse somewhere easy to inspect and change.

If you want to remove the elecy periodically then include an Anderson plug up the front somewhere I haven't bothered as I never remove my elec.

By the way I am not an electrician or anything this is just my advice based on my experience of doing this on my own boat.
Good luck

[crabcrusher]

Clay if you get inspired add both..

The anderson plug is a great way to disconnect he motor from the battery circuit, but offers no protection. It is purely one, if not the best ,easy to install DC connector that is suitable for amperage of 32amps and greater...

There is no real need to solder such a connector, as the lugs that it comes with are best crimped, with a decent set of pliers( most good pliers will have a small semi circle section at the back of the jaw of the pliers)or if accessible a set of electrical crimpers.

The cable utilised should be of flexible braid at a diameter of no less than 10mm2 for 50 amps.. Which is what i believe, from memory the watersnake runs at.

If your after a circuit breaker! match this to manufacturers recommendation, and install local to the battery, inline with the positive wire.. This wont stop you having issues with the motor, but will trip if your motor is put under excessive load, say from hitting rocks or in shallow sand..

One of the most important things is to have a decent connection at all points.., so it pays to inspect all as maintenance, to ensure the copper does not have oxidisation or corrosion, and if so clean...

IMO dont try and solder large sized cables if you dont have experience,, as it an be challenging if you dont have a decent iron or heat gun....

Andersons all the way.... And yes Ebay is the go...

[Charlie]

Went looking for a breaker for my first electric which is when I discovered there are different types and a 50 amp model doesn't actually trip at 50amps so after some confusion fitted a fuse, five years on the same fuse didn't bother with the next boat and just wired it straight in.
In theory if you run aground and the prop stops turning the amps go up and your motor can fry, in practice nothing bad happened so far.

[Benno094]

Narva do a 50 amp auto reset breaker. Don't need to worry about carrying fuses and the unit itself is sealed, so you don't need to worry about extra contacts, etc corroding. Perfect for this application.

[hatch]

My leccy and battery get taken out after every session so a Anderson isn't really a necessity. So I will probably skip on that. I will get a 50 amp circuit breaker and get it in before my next session! Thanks lads!

[hatch]

What's the best way to clean oxidation (light flaky green stuff) over the end of the wire terminals?

[Fishigan]

1 tablespoon of bi-carb soda in a cup of boiling water. Poor it over affected area. Rinse it off with boiling water.

[Norto]

Hatch,
Mate one thing you have too make sure of when soldering and that is that all connection points have to be clean or the solder will not take. The best way is to use some fine wet and dry sand paper it gets it really clean and ideal for doing the job. If you have a small wire brush this is good for cleaning off any oxidization or scaling as well.

If you are using a soldering iron melt a little bit of solder on the iron before touching it to the wire or connection point as this will help with heat transfer and it won't take as long to get the point hot. If you have the wire and connection point clean enough ,once it gets to the right temp you will see the solder disappear which means it is running into the joint at this point keep feeding in solder until you feel it has had enough ( usually it looks like it fills up and will start to drip off).

If you can, get some resin cored heat shrink for each joint it is available from the electrical wholesalers as when you heat it up to shrink, it will seal the joints keeping out the moisture.

I personally have not worried about a CB and have mine connected straight through.

I am a sparky mate and this is just the way i did mine does not mean you have to do the same though, and I did install and anderson plug simply so that i can remove my motor easy.
regards
Norto.

[Wario]

Hatch, If you're removing your leccy & battery after every season then surely that's reason enough to put in the anderson plug so that you don't have to undo terminals etc on the battery. ?? I also question why you'd want to remove them both? Is it just so they don't grow legs?

Also you need to be careful running your leccy from just one battery, they tend to flatten batteries quickly. You don't want to get stuck out on the blue with no starter/motor battery.

I have duel batteries (one for the leccy & one for the main motor). The leccy has an Anderson plug (for easy removal of the leccy) & a circuit breaker in line to the leccy battery (the circuit breaker also has an on/off switch built into it for easy turning on/off so there can be no current draw or leakage from that leccy battery when its not in use).

Additionally I have a 3 way battery switch (Off/1/2/Both) that isolates both batteries (or joins them) & I installed a VSR - a Voltage Sensitive Relay that detects when the main battery is charged to 12.7v & then it switches to the leccy battery to charge it (when the main motor is running).

This setup works perfectly. None of this wiring is difficult, just common sense. Good luck

[chanlo]

Im looking at the VSR too to join my batteries together but I talked to one guy and he said his motor doesnt make enough charge to recharge the electric motor (deep cycle) battery as well as the starter, have you had any problems with this?

[Wario]

No. What sort of motor do you have? I have a Yamaha 4stroke 70HP which charges both just fine.

[chanlo]

Originally Posted by Wario

No. What sort of motor do you have? I have a Yamaha 4stroke 70HP which charges both just fine.

I have a 2 stroke 70hp.
The guy i was talking to had a 60hp 4 stroke and an 80lb (i think) dual battery setup.

I'm about to wire it up now under the floor and look to add the VSR once tax money comes in.

[twitchtwitch...]

I was under the impression that unless your motor was 90/100HP or more, then the motor won't properly charge both batteries. The alternator won't keep up. Remember the motor doesn't really put adequate charge into the battery at idle/slow troll speed, high rpm needed for charging