05-01-2023, 01:04 AM
(04-28-2023, 11:43 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: Jeff, it's possible that the second set of wires went to a backup battery, so if one went dead they could just switch over to the second battery. You should be able to figure it out just by finding where the two sets of wires run to. You said at least one set runs to the back, if you have both sets back in the back, maybe one was hooked to the main starting battery and the second was hooked to the trolling motor battery. If you don't find both sets of wires back there, try looking for a hole in the center area of the boat, maybe under the left of right console or even right in the center, where it steps up to the bow area of the boat. They could have taken the battery out and pushed the wires back down into the hole where the wires were run up from.
I agree, a back up battery makes sense. My boat is a 2001 so a little newer and the wire that was run from the back to the front was way too small. It did not fry wires but sure lost a lot of battery power. I rewired my boat to have a starting battery in the back and two batteries at the passenger center console to run the 24 volt trolling motor.
The wire was stiff, but I got some multistrand 2 gage for the trolling motor, 6 gage for the starting motor, ran wires from my new on board charger to the three batteries. So, 6 wires from the charger, two to the starting motor, two to to each trolling battery (which are hooked up in series for the trolling motor). Charger hooked in parallel.
As you can see, there can be lots of wires, depending on what the boat was wired for originally. Perhaps the best way is to get a multimeter, set on OHMS, with long long leads. Disconnect the battery(s) and trace the wires down. Diagram the wires and then plan on a "New Plan". If you can utilize the existing wires, great, if not, best to get new wires and work from there.
I am a bit toooooo old to climb around a boat and pull wire (found that out recently) but PM me with the wiring diagram and perhaps, just perhaps, I can help.