MinnKota 4 Prong

[Msn26753]

hanks in Advance for any Help.. I just purchased 3 year old Minnkota Maxxum 70Lb trolling motor. It has a Red and Black Wire. My old trolling motor was a motorguide with a 4 Prong Plug. My Boat has a 4 Prong Female Plug. cut to the chase- how the hell you hook that up..lol... Heres some more info. that may or maynot be needed. The Boat plug has 4 wires 2 red, 2 Black. The OLD Motorguide plug has 2 Red, whte, and black wire to plug.

The manual in my MinnKota Book it calls to run 2 batteries with a jumper from positive to negative on the batteries. This is not how mine is ran in my boat. And truthfully I dont want to mess with running it any other way if possible.
The question is Can I hook this up easily any way. can I get a 4 prong plug for Minnkota. I really dont want to run new wires from batteries to front of boat, since there are already wires there... Any help would be great.

[apenland01]

I have a four prong plug on my Ranger.  Female on the boat and male on the foot pedal.  If that 70# is a 24v, your batteries would have to be setup with a jumper or it won't work.  Did you have 12v on it before?

[Msn26753]

No- it was 24 volt... I believe from what I read is that the jumper was in the female plug. Not really sure 100%. But that is the way I understood it.

[apenland01]

Okay, if it was already setup as a 24v, then your two wire/4 prong male plug on the trolling motor should just need to be connected inside the plug to match what the female receptacle on the boat has setup.  I would think you could just connect one red and one black wire on the female receptacle, basically converting the female receptacle from a 4 wire to a 2 wire system.  I believe mine is setup so that the red/black opposite each other are paired.  My boats at the lake or I would take a picture for you.

I think if you google converting 4 wire system to 2 wire you might some helpful tips.  I just got a new 4 prong plug replaced a couple of months ago when my Ultrex got replaced.  Whatever the tech did was easy because he didn't have to run new wires or anything.  So it's basically a 4 wire/prong Ranger plug that is connected to a 2 wire trolling motor.

Somebody good with electrical issues would be more helpful than me I'm afraid.... 

[Princeton_Man]

I'd use a voltmeter to check the voltage and polarity of each wire, just to be sure.

[Msn26753]

So, My old Trolling motor was a 12/24V. Motorguide Brute756. I guess thats where the problem is.  The Jumper is in the receptacle and not jumped at the battery. After talking with a few people, It sounds like my best option is to unhook all the wires and jump it at the battery instead. Then buy another receptacle and plug. Its alot more work, but I was hoping for a Plug that would work. I tell ya what, I went to 2 stores looking at their plugs and they were out of everything. So I better just do what gets me by, lol...  Im still stunned at finding out that a 24V trolling motor uses smaller wire then a 12V. being that there are less amps going thru the wire. Doesnt make sense to me, but that was on my learning lesson today...lol

[Princeton_Man]

So, My old Trolling motor was a 12/24V. Motorguide Brute756. I guess thats where the problem is.  The Jumper is in the receptacle and not jumped at the battery. After talking with a few people, It sounds like my best option is to unhook all the wires and jump it at the battery instead. Then buy another receptacle and plug. Its alot more work, but I was hoping for a Plug that would work. I tell ya what, I went to 2 stores looking at their plugs and they were out of everything. So I better just do what gets me by, lol...  Im still stunned at finding out that a 24V trolling motor uses smaller wire then a 12V. being that there are less amps going thru the wire. Doesnt make sense to me, but that was on my learning lesson today...lol

Me mindful of the wire gauge being used. That Motorguide Brute 756 was 56lb thrust. If youre replacing it with a 70-80lb thrust motor the current draw will be a lot higher. You could end up melting insulation and having a fire.