Wiring Questions-Fuse Block for Downriggers

[Tim Mills]

I bought a couple of used downriggers , they came with 18 gauge wire with 2 pin connectors.

 

I'm switching the 2 pins to Minn Kota Trolling Motor Plug and Receptacles.

I was told to use a fuse block between the starting battery and the down riggers- below is a 30 amp Fuse Block from Princess Auto.

 

A couple of questions regarding the wiring:

1. What gauge wire from Battery to Fuse Block and Fuse Block to Receptacle?

(I bought some 14 gauge 2 wire they sell by the ft at Princess Auto for Trailers)

 

2.Can someone explain how to wire this from the battery to the fuse block and from the fuse block to the receptacles?

 

Thanks,

Tim

 

 

[little mountain]

im a sparky. the 14/2 is enough.keep one color as ur positive and the other as ur negative.usually on 12 volt red is pos and black is negative.a direct current motor will run in reverse if the pos/neg is backwards. so if the motor is backwards simply change the polarity of the wires.the fuse block should have a spot for the feed wires and should be marked as pos/neg.off the fuse run the positive wire and should b a common neg terminal. hope this helps

[NANUK]

According to Big Jon's installation instructions, It says to use 10 AWG wire from battery to the receptacle,

same for my Cannons, I used 10 guage marine grade wire (tinned) with an in-line fuse as per their instructions.

[Tim Mills]

Thanks for the advice guys.

[John Bacon]

Shouldn't the fuse match the wiring? E.g. 15 amp fuse for 14ga wire; 20 amp for 12ga?

 

Wouldn't 18 gauge wire be long gone before a 30 amp fuse was tripped?

[Fisherman]

Shouldn't the fuse match the wiring? E.g. 15 amp fuse for 14ga wire; 20 amp for 12ga?

 

Wouldn't 18 gauge wire be long gone before a 30 amp fuse was tripped?

That's what I would be inclined to believe. I run 12 ga stranded and tinned marine wire just to be on the safe side.

[little mountain]

the fuse block is rated for 30 amp max. if u are using 30 amps than u would use 10 gauge wire. if u are feeding two fractional hp motors that came from manufacturer with 18 gauge wire the current must b low.its never a bad thing to oversize the wire. all the inputs r good advise

[SlowPoke]

I would run 10 awg wire from the battery to the block in case you ever decide to run some power hungry accessories from it. You will also want to add and ground block/bus near the block connected to the battery the same way otherwise riggers and any additional accessories will need to be grounded to the battery directly.

Consider returning the MinnKota receptacles; they are expensive and too large for your rigger wiring. The small rigger wire will be floating and flexing constantly and will break off. A larger wire is gripped by the receptacle to avoid this.

A two-wire trailer plug style connector will suit your needs much better between the rigger and fuse block.

[Tim Mills]

Thanks for the replies. I bought some 10 awg for the battery to block wiring.

I ended up buying a better fuse block made by Blue Sea Systems at West Marine. Its better quality than the Princess Auto one and it came with good drawings and instructions.

 

SlowPoke- The Minn Kota plugs and receptacles I am using are the smaller one's. They are not perfect but the best I can find at this point. The reason I don't want to use the trailer connectors is that I want a fixed location for the receptacles so I don't have wires come through hatches while fishing.

 

I plan on mounting the receptacles in the side walls next to the round black access hatches.