Routing starter cables to reloacted battery advise please.

[Monster1]

I decided to relocate my starting battery to under the side console of my 1448 to get the weight off the back of the boat. I'm hanging the new 20hp Suzuki tomorrow. How can I route the power and ground cables (4ga) from the outboard to the side console? I originally thought just going under the rear bench and in the strake channel into the battery box. Kinda leary about routing wires under the "to be" installed floor. My other thought was to route the cables with the throttle control cables passed the throttle control, underneath the console and down the console leg. What is going to be best way? This is a pic of the battery switch and fuse block I mounted today under the side leg of the console to give you a bit of an idea where the battery box will be.

Thanks

 

[MrGiggles]

I'd follow the control cables. I wouldn't want them laying in the bottom where they'd frequently get wet.

 

[Ray Clark]

This past season I ran with the outboard battery cables under the aft bench, under the deck, and into the battery box in the center bench. In the pic below, you can see how the support structure for my deck has spacing for cables to run under it.



I have a tiller steer, so I don't have other rigging to follow as Mr. G has suggested. My boat is also very dry, so I'm not concerned with factory-insulated battery cables sitting in water.

I was concerned with passing the cables under aluminum structure and the possibility of sharp edges nicking the cables or gradually wearing through the insulating layer. To counter that, I installed plastic piping under the benches to provide conduit for the cables to travel in. I used 1" irrigation pipe, the kind that is used in underground sprinkler systems. I used a hot air gun to soften the plastic so I could route it and make deformations where needed.

Once you have that cable run, you'll really hate to pull it if you need to pull the outboard off the boat and then reinstall it. This season, I've added a quick disconnect coupling close to the outboard so that I can just unhook and remove the outboard and leave the cable run in place.

 

[InSaneFisherMan]

Here is an excerpt from ABYC E11.

 

[JL8Jeff]

I moved my battery up to my center console and the floor was already in place so I had no real option other than to run it up the side of the boat with the control cables, steering cable and wiring harness. It's not pretty but there weren't really any other options. My steering cable had to be up on the rear side bench to get a straight shot into the steering connection so might as well run all the other cables in the same spot. I could probably make some sort of cover where they lay on the floor but I'm used to stepping over them so it's not really an issue for me.

 

[Still Afloat]

Personally, I would consider using a lighter weight starter battery and leaving it near the transom. A 20hp Suzuki is fine with a small motorcycle battery. Also, considering voltage drop the extended wires should be oversized compared to the wires coming off the outboard.

If you are really weight conscious here is the 5 pound starter batter that I use for my 20 to 30hp outboards; https://no.co/nlp30

Even this is overkill but, I wanted some storage capacity for nav lights, etc.

 

[InSaneFisherMan]

I'm hanging the new 20hp Suzuki tomorrow.

Just in case you need the setup manual

 

[LDUBS]

Personally, I would consider using a lighter weight starter battery and leaving it near the transom. A 20hp Suzuki is fine with a small motorcycle battery. Also, considering voltage drop the extended wires should be oversized compared to the wires coming off the outboard.

If you are really weight conscious here is the 5 pound starter batter that I use for my 20 to 30hp outboards; https://no.co/nlp30

Even this is overkill but, I wanted some storage capacity for nav lights, etc.

I sure like that idea, especially the weight savings. However that battery seems to be way below the minimum CCA/Ah spec's for the Suzuki motor (see attachment in post #7). How do we reconcile that?

 

[Still Afloat]

I sure like that idea, especially the weight savings. However that battery seems to be way below the minimum CCA/Ah spec's for the Suzuki motor (see attachment in post #7). How do we reconcile that?

LDUBS, you may have been looking at the A/hr storage capacity which isn’t the same as CCA. That little Noco battery has a 700 Amp peak starting current. It will easily start a modern 30 hp outboard.

 

[LDUBS]

LDUBS, you may have been looking at the A/hr storage capacity which isn’t the same as CCA. That little Noco battery has a 700 Amp peak starting current. It will easily start a modern 30 hp outboard.

Thanks. I definitely was looking at the Ah rating. I also missed the "or" part of the specs. Until now did not realize these lithium batt's don't use a CCA rating. A 5 lb battery is sure appealing in when weight is a consideration.

 

[Buster]

Personally, I would consider using a lighter weight starter battery and leaving it near the transom. A 20hp Suzuki is fine with a small motorcycle battery. Also, considering voltage drop the extended wires should be oversized compared to the wires coming off the outboard.

If you are really weight conscious here is the 5 pound starter batter that I use for my 20 to 30hp outboards; https://no.co/nlp30

Even this is overkill but, I wanted some storage capacity for nav lights, etc.

Any issues with alternator charging that lithium battery? I considered that option for my 9.9 but since I couldn't find any information on it charging with the motor's alternator I went with a small motorcycle battery. Curious if you have solid info on working with the alternator or it's just been working for you.

 

[davidj65]

Personally, I would consider using a lighter weight starter battery and leaving it near the transom. A 20hp Suzuki is fine with a small motorcycle battery. Also, considering voltage drop the extended wires should be oversized compared to the wires coming off the outboard.

If you are really weight conscious here is the 5 pound starter batter that I use for my 20 to 30hp outboards; https://no.co/nlp30

Even this is overkill but, I wanted some storage capacity for nav lights, etc.

Are you using the starter battery for navigation lights, etc? Or do you mean physical storage space for a house battery?

 

[InSaneFisherMan]

Any issues with alternator charging that lithium battery?

A number of lifepo4 batteries require a DC to DC charger for alternator charging to prevent overheating and damaging the alternator.

Suzuki, states in the user manual to use a lead acid starter battery.

 

[InSaneFisherMan]

A 20hp Suzuki is fine with a small motorcycle battery.

Not a lithium starter battery.

 

[Still Afloat]

Are you using the starter battery for navigation lights, etc? Or do you mean physical storage space for a house battery?

I can”t speak for the poster but, in my case I’m considering keeping the LED NAV lights on the starter battery. I’m working on a small Jon build. I don’t night fish much and LEDs have a low current draw so you could run the NAV lights for a few hours without concern. In the worst case the new 9.9 to 30hp EFI outboards will pull start easy. I’m not at the wiring stage on this boat yet and might just keep the lights on the house battery.

I’m not suggesting that a small starter battery will replace a house battery.
However, having long runs of starter wires to larger house/starter battery would not be my first choice for several reasons.

 

[Still Afloat]

A number of lifepo4 batteries require a DC to DC charger for alternator charging to prevent overheating and damaging the alternator.

Suzuki, states in the user manual to use a lead acid starter battery.

Good point.

The Noco NP30 is intending for starting current surges and charging from an alternator. I still top all batteries off with proper type of charger when back at the house.

 

[davidj65]

I can”t speak for the poster but, in my case I’m considering keeping the LED NAV lights on the starter battery. I’m working on a small Jon build. I don’t night fish much and LEDs have a low current draw so you could run the NAV lights for a few hours without concern. In the worst case the new 9.9 to 30hp EFI outboards will pull start easy. I’m not at the wiring stage on this boat yet and might just keep the lights on the house battery.

I’m not suggesting that a small starter battery will replace a house battery.
However, having long runs of starter wires to larger house/starter battery would not be my first choice for several reasons.

I'm figuring out this process myself right now. I am leaning toward a group 27 deep cycle located midship for LED night lights, nav lights, and a fish finder; and a small motorcycle battery for a 25 4 stroke Yamaha, located in the back under the tiller seat. I'm thinking of running the conduit for the accessories underneath, with mounting anchors epoxied just under the deck. I have no gunwales to run anything under. It is fairly straightforward to remove and replace the decks.

As far as using a starter battery to run accessories, is there anything in accessories that could damage the motor relays? I s there anything in the motor that could affect accessories?

Sorry for the simple questions, I'm new at this and trying to sort it out.

 

[Monster1]

Thank you for all your help. After unboxing the motor, I discovered that it already has starter cables preattached. They are small gauge and look like maybe 6ga. Definitely not 4ga. Anyway, after seeing the control wiring harness that came with it and knowing the mess of spaghetti when I mount the control to the side console. I'm going to have to built a small cover or at least zip tie everything up in the stern corner out of the way. This will be a good spot to mount a few terminal lug posts to run the factory cables to and then from there to the starting battery. Being it's a 14ft jon boat, I want to keep it simple. If I ran all accessories at the same time, I think I'd have a hard time making even a 20 amp load. So I think I'm just going to use one battery as my battery for starting, nav lights, bilge pump, and fish finder. Not too concerned with running a battery completely down and not starting the motor as this motor is also pull start. When in doubt, follow ABYC guidelines (as one poster suggested).

 

[Still Afloat]

Thank you for all your help. After unboxing the motor, I discovered that it already has starter cables preattached. They are small gauge and look like maybe 6ga. Definitely not 4ga. Anyway, after seeing the control wiring harness that came with it and knowing the mess of spaghetti when I mount the control to the side console. I'm going to have to built a small cover or at least zip tie everything up in the stern corner out of the way. This will be a good spot to mount a few terminal lug posts to run the factory cables to and then from there to the starting battery. Being it's a 14ft jon boat, I want to keep it simple. If I ran all accessories at the same time, I think I'd have a hard time making even a 20 amp load. So I think I'm just going to use one battery as my battery for starting, nav lights, bilge pump, and fish finder. Not too concerned with running a battery completely down and not starting the motor as this motor is also pull start. When in doubt, follow ABYC guidelines (as one poster suggested).

Not a lithium starter battery.

It works fine for small outboards but, if you want to stick with a heavy lead acid starter battery for a little tin boat that is your choice. I will continue to use lead acid starter batteries for my bigger motors until there is a better option.

I certainly don’t consider ABYC as the holy grail that must be followed to the letter on a little tin boat.

 

[thill]

For many years, I used a single, dual-purpose group 24 amidship on my 14' jon, and it ran everything without complaint. Lights, Lowrance, trolling motor, etc.

I had a pull-start Evinrude 25, and I added a stator and charging circuit to it. I think it was only a 6 amp charge, but it worked great!

That boat was so light, the trolling motor never used enough juice to mention, and the engine charged it back up during runs. I was extremely happy with my choice. Never touched it for years. A really solid setup. The only cables I added were extension cables for the Minn Kota.