# Help needed for basic two battery rewire on Carolina Skiff



## jasonrl23 (Jul 27, 2009)

springbranch42 said:


> First time doing a rewire and have a few questions / would like to get a second set of eyes on my (extremely crude) wiring diagram.
> 
> 1. Why would one use fuses vs. circuit breakers on the switch panel? What brand is recommended for the panel?
> 2. Planning on using 4 ga wire from engine/tilt/minn kota to battery and battery to bus. Will 8 ga suffice for the rest?
> ...


Regarding your trolling motor question. Minnkota has a reference chart that crosses amps vs pounds of thrust. I believe it’s in the FAQ section.


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## VANMflyfishing (Nov 11, 2019)




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## VANMflyfishing (Nov 11, 2019)

1. Why would one use fuses vs. circuit breakers on the switch panel? What brand is recommended for the panel? Blue Seas makes a good fuse panel with a neg bar. fuses prevent an overload of current. 
2. Planning on using 4 ga wire from engine/tilt/minn kota to battery and battery to bus. Will 8 ga suffice for the rest? I used 14 gauge marine duplex for everything and 4 ga. anchor marine for battery. 8 gauge is a little overkill.
3. How can I determine what circuit breaker to use for the mini kota? It's a fairly old Minn Kota turbo 65 2x max current. at 60v breaker would work.
4. I don't have a center console to in which to mount the electronics. Is there a reasonably priced dry box I could use to to mount the switch panel? Harbor freight has a nice inexpensive dry boxes. I'd recommend the blue seas weatherdeck ones and mount to a bulkhead.


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## andy race (Jan 15, 2018)

the reason someone would use a fuse over a circuit breaker is because the fuse reacts faster offering better protection, a circuit breaker is more convenient since all you have to do is reset it where as the fuse has to be replaced. I like fuses on electronics but a circuit breaker on a trolling motor should be fine. I have had several boards go bad on fairly new terrova's and ulterra's that i wonder if they had an inline fuse or filter capacitors on the boards maybe they would not have failed. minn kota is now strongly recommending disconnecting the trolling motor when charging the batteries, I think for this reason, waiting 2-3 weeks or longer for a new board can get old


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## Monty (Jan 10, 2018)

One of my disappointments in adding a 2nd battery and using a Perko switch (the red circular switches) was there really isn't a "House" battery. Its either battery 1 or battery 2 or both. Not this is my starting battery and this one runs the live well and depth finder. If one does that, it will be off the circuit for charging from the engine. But I think the expensive battery managment systems (like the Power Pole one) might do that.

Bummer on blowing trolling motor circuit boards. Chargers usually put in so little amps one think that would not happen.


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