Minn Kota wiring

[AaronTC05]

I'm working on wiring up my new Ulterra in my boat and have a couple questions for people who have done it before with any newer minn kota:

1) Why do the power leads from the factory come with a connection that doesn't fit the threaded post on a 12v battery?  Do they assume most people are going to need to extend the wire or cut em off anyway and install a plug?

2) This page (https://www.trollingmotors.net/blogs/wiring-electrical/86990983-motor-wiring-overview) from trollingmotors.net says to "Make sure to buy the same gauge of wire as the rest of your trolling system" under the jumper wire section.  I found wires in 4 AWG at the store so I bought them to run between batteries (24v system) and from one battery to the circuit breaker.  Will it work okay to use this larger gauge jumper wire in the scenario?  If I need to extend my wires from the motor the manual recommends 6 or 8 gauge depending on the length. Will these different lengths cause a problem?  If I remember correctly you can always go bigger than necessary but not smaller (ex I should use 12 awg wire to extend).

3) I may need to drill a hole between the two dry boxes to accommodate two batteries.  Any suggestions for how to protect the wires from the sharp edge of said hole?  Is there some sort of insert I can buy?  Or just ring it with electrical tape?

 

Thanks!

[delcecchi]

You can use 6 or even short runs of 8 gauge wire.   4 is great, especially if it is going a long ways.  

 

Most people are set up so the trolling motor has a plug that plugs into a socket in the bow of the boat and the batteries are in a compartment under the floor, so that is why the trolling motor comes (or my terrova did some years back) with crimp connections so you can put the right plug on it.   Different boats might use different plugs.  

 

Does the Ulterra come with a plug or two in the box?  

 

Yes, they sell rubber grommets to put in the hole.   You can buy them in assortments on Amazon, or I would bet at an auto parts store, or even someplace like fleet farm. 

 

Grommets are cheap, might as well do it right. 

[gunner55]

We've bought the right size rubber stoppers that we've drilled out to fit the wires.  Got ours at Ace. You might want to look into some of the flexible plastic conduit that's available too. We have the plug ins in the bow & transom as we have a 12V for the bow & a 24V for the transom( not used a lot)