# Jon Boat Wiring



## JLeephoto (Apr 12, 2008)

Hey guys, I'm a mechanical/electrical moron, so would appreciate some advice on how best to accomplish this. I have 14' Jon that needs to be balanced well to run right. It looks like the previous owner was running a deep cycle battery for both his trolling motor, bilge & cranking. There is a t/m plug in the bow that runs back to the battery. I just bought a 2nd size 27 battery to power a 43lb. bow mounted trolling motor and would like to place this new battery close to the bow for better balance. I'm debating just running the trolling motor directly to this battery or if it would be better to run both batteries in parallel so I could use the existing plug and have increased run time on the T/M. But, if I did run them in parallel, wouldn't I have to worry about killing the battery used for cranking? If I run the T/M direct to the new battery, what's the best way to make a clean connection? Thanks for any input.


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

separate the tm wires from the cranking battery and attach them to the new battery. you want to keep the starting battery separate. a starting battery is not made for the slow amp draw of a tm.unless it is a dual purpose battery.


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## JLeephoto (Apr 12, 2008)

The electric start motor is actually on a deep cycle 27 as well but the idea of running down both batteries if parallel does worry me. Thinking of keeping them separate but connecting the TM to the new battery with the same 3 prong receptacle in case I need to switch trolling motor connections quickly.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

you really shouldn't parallel a new battery with an older battery.it's best to use identical new batteries for that application.


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## JLeephoto (Apr 12, 2008)

Thanks, you guys confirmed my suspicions. So plan is to direct wire (with receptacle and 50a fuse) to the new battery keeping this battery for TM use only. That will also allow removal for charging.


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## Snobal (Jul 26, 2005)

Track down the existing t/m receptacle wires and pull them back up to the front if that's possible. Then you can just reroute them to the new battery and trim the length to suit your needs.


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