Replacing 12/24 trolling motor.

[95 Tracker]

Total restore of my 95 Tracker pro team 18. Going to take the plunge and get an ultrex. My factory wiring brought 4 #8 wires to a 4 pin motorguide plug. There are 2 seperate 30a breakers on each 12v battery circuit.The series/parallel connection was done on a switch on the footpedal. My question is can anyone think of a reason that I shouldn't/couldn't just series the batteries for 24v then parallel the existing black wires on the negative and the red and orange on the positive then hook up the motor to the 2 positive and 2 negative pins in the plug? I will leave the 2 existing 30a breakers to protect the wire, but should I add another breaker for motor protection? 30 year electrician, I'm confident it will work, just wanting thoughts and opinions. Thanks

[FrancoCialone]

Rewire the whole thing with 6 gauge marine grade wire in series, use a 60a circuit breaker, and use a quality trolling motor plug, or if you don't want a plug, a circuit breaker with an on/off switch ( to isolate the motor while charging the batteries). If your doing a "total restore"", do it right !

[95 Tracker]

The decks and carpet are done already. I will pull them back up to get to the wires if someone can tell me how a single #6 is better than parallel #8s electrically speaking. What size Is the wire going from the plug to the trolling motor?

[CatFan]

You are fine paralleling the wires as you suggest. Many people get caught up on the fact that you can’t use a single 60A breaker for two smaller wires, but you have the right idea. As you know, the two #8s have almost 25% more cross sectional area than a single #6. The only disadvantage I can see for the #8s is that making connections is a little more complicated.

[95 Tracker]

Thanks for the replies.

[Woody b]

8 gauge is sufficient for an Ultrex as long as the wires are under 20 feet long.

[wmitch2]

You can "Double-Up" the eights and connect to two of the pins on the plug in. I would remove the 2 30amp breakers and install 1 60amp re-setable breaker. Also, you need to hook the batteries in series to get the 24v you need. Battery 1: pos to breaker then to TM. Neg to battery 2 Pos post. Battery 2 Neg to TM.

[CJ1]

It worked fine for me on my old Stratos. Could not see the benefit to rewire as the existing wires were still good and as has been commented on have more than enough capacity. CJ