Wiring help

[bcklash]

I have a 21' deck boat that until this year had a 12 volt trolling motor on it. Now I have a 24 volt trolling motor and I'm sure that it's wired right, here is the problem, I have a phase charger on I can't seem to get it to charge the the batteries.

2 wires from the troller positive to post on one battery neg to the post on the other battery and a jumper wire connecting the other 2 post, pos. to neg.

now here is the problem 4 wires coming from phase charger. How do I wire it.

[Rebbasser]

+ to +, - to - on each battery. When you say 4 wires I'm guessing you have a 2 bank charger with connections for 2 batteries. Hook one bank(+ and -) to each battery. If you just hook it to the + on one and the - on the other it will not charge. Each battery has to be hooked up to a separate bank.

the nice thing about these chargers is you plug it in when you get home and unplug it when you head for the lake. Just set it and forget it.

No need to hook up both troller positives. One is for a 12 V and one is for 24. Since you are using a 24 V you can disconnect the 12 V wire if you want to. Mine is not connected.

[bcklash]

This is a phase charger, charges when your big motor is running.

[Rebbasser]

Sorry, brain not working. That one I'm not familiar with.

[bcklash]

Originally Posted by Rebbasser

Sorry, brain not working. That one I'm not familiar with.

that makes 2 of us LOL

[bassun]

Howdy ho -- Is this a 24V phase charger? The only ones I found while digging around a bit were 12V. If you're running a 24V system (wired in series for your trolling motor) it may either A: Just not have enough gitty up to do anything, and/or B: burn up.

As for a phase charger, to the best of my knowledge:

Two wires will connect to your alternator, and the other two will connect to your battery/s. If it's designed for a 24V series system, I would assume you would connect two to the alternator, and the other two to + Terminal (batt1) and - Terminal (batt2). But, this is all speculation...

For a 12V system, it's 4 wires: two to the alternator, two to the battery. Quick and easy. 24V...well that was just a guess.

[bcklash]

Yes it's a 12/24 -24 phase charger.

[zooker]

he may have one of those bridge systems on the deck boat..but bassun is right about the chargers..

zooker

[nofearengineer]

I know it doesn't sound very helpful, but you need to find out the make and model of your charger, and consult the manufacturer through their website, phone, whatever. Get a user's manual on it. When it comes to electrical systems, taking the advice of guys on a message board doesn't protect you from a lot of loss. If the manufacturer's literature or representative tells you to do it wrong, and something gets damaged, they're on the hook to some degree.

This goes double if you're a novice. I'm an electrical engineer, and despite knowing how most of these devices work, I first go for the manual almost every time. I know all too well how one company will wire theirs slightly different or has different standards. Research before you wreck yourself or your boat.