wiring a lowe roughneck

First post and first boat
Bought a 2011 1548 mod v hull lowe roughneck. Bare boat with a 25hp merc outboard. It has no outlets for lights, nothing, except one access point in the bow

I have drawn up a wiring diagram and would like the opinion of the forum on if it will work or not

I plan, currently, to only have a cranking battery and one deep cycle battery since many times there will be 3 adults and possibly deer in the boat and want to avoid any weight issues

The way I understand is that I can run the trolling motor off a positive bus bar with a 50amp inline fuse or breaker I need to add a switch or master between the battery and the fuse panel

here is what I've come up with



and here is the boat


loving it so far

I'd put the boat house/light/systems onto the OB battery and would keep the other battery for the trolling motor.

As strange as it sounds ( everything on the cranking battery except the trolling motor,) that is exactly the way most of the boats that I have bought have been wired. That is how my present 1648 Lowe is wired, too.

I did add a front FF. It is wired into the trolling motor circuit with no interference that I can find.

richg99

Agree with what was posted above, TM directly to your deep cycle, and everything else on the cranking battery.
TM should run as: battery positive, circuit breaker, TM. The TM negative goes directly to the battery, not to a buss.

All your lights, etc., should run: cranking battery positive, breaker, fuse panel, switch, device. Negative side is battery, ground buss, device.
Putting the ground buss near your fuse panel makes running the circuits easier since the length of run will be about the same.
Use tinned marine wire. There's lots of charts on the www to use for determining the correct wire gauge for the length of the circuit.
Some things, like fish finders, don't need to be run through a switch since they have their own on/off.

This may help..

https://www.minnkotamotors.com/Support/Battery-Selection---Rigging/

Thanks guys

I had read elsewhere to run everything off the deep cycle battery instead of the cranking battery since the cranking battery really wasn't designed to provide continuous power.

But I had also read to run your TM on it's own battery

I thought doing it this way was splitting the difference.

Makes no matter to me really which battery is using as long as the outboard will crank and trim

After I drew that diagram, I realized I didn't need the FF and things with on/off switched on a switch panel and will run those straight from a fuse boxe or positive bus bar

You probably don't need a "positive buss," your fuse panel serves that power distribution function.
If you have a combination fuse & switch panel, and you have an accessory (like a fish finder) that you don't want switched, then it's probably easier to just use an in-line fuse and run your connections directly to the battery. Running a fish finder directly to the battery can also help eliminate possible interference from other devices.

RivRunR said:

You probably don't need a "positive buss," your fuse panel serves that power distribution function.
If you have a combination fuse & switch panel, and you have an accessory (like a fish finder) that you don't want switched, then it's probably easier to just use an in-line fuse and run your connections directly to the battery. Running a fish finder directly to the battery can also help eliminate possible interference from other devices.

Click to expand...

I'm probably over complicating it

I plan on running anything with it's own on.off switch off the fuse panel directly for the reasons you stated

are there any switch panels that have spst and dpdt switches combined? some of the spotlights I'm looking at have hi/low and would like to be able to run either/or instead of both all the time or would I need a single pole double throw switch?

rtm0004 said:

I had read elsewhere to run everything off the deep cycle battery instead of the cranking battery since the cranking battery really wasn't designed to provide continuous power.

Click to expand...

Then buy a dual-purpose battery! They have the cranking amps needed, but the design of the plates is heavier to allow more frequent and deeper discharges. That's all I used when I ran boats offshore with 2 or 3 battery installations. I NEVER ever had an electrical-related issue in 40+ years of boating, at least when I had done all of my own circuits and wiring.

FWIW I buy all my batteries at Walmart as they are made by Johnson Controls, the same people who own/make the Optima line of gel-cell batteries. Each battery also has the date of Mfg code on them and they're always fresh, i.e., I personally would not buy a 6-month old battery even if new.

rtm0004 said:

are there any switch panels that have spst and dpdt switches combined? some of the spotlights I'm looking at have hi/low and would like to be able to run either/or instead of both all the time or would I need a single pole double throw switch?

Click to expand...

I expect there are dpdt (on/off/on) switches on some panels since that's a standard switch for nav and anchor lights. Not exactly sure what you're asking about on the spotlight, but I don't think that either type of switch could control the hi/low selection. Typically a spotlight will have only two wires, so although you could control the on/off with a switch, I don't know how you'd separate the hi/low circuits without tearing into the light.

One thing about the WalMart batteries. Be certain to check both the water level and the charge. Don't assume they are OK out of the store.

Since I had to charge at home first, I found some were needing both water and charge.

Guess I'll be the odd-ball as I would wire it the way you have pictured.

I run a "small" cranking battery for the motor and a larger deep cycle for everything else (TM, lights, etc).

Is there a right or wrong way, I highly doubt it.

DaleH said:

rtm0004 said:

I had read elsewhere to run everything off the deep cycle battery instead of the cranking battery since the cranking battery really wasn't designed to provide continuous power.

Click to expand...

Then buy a dual-purpose battery! They have the cranking amps needed, but the design of the plates is heavier to allow more frequent and deeper discharges. That's all I used when I ran boats offshore with 2 or 3 battery installations. I NEVER ever had an electrical-related issue in 40+ years of boating, at least when I had done all of my own circuits and wiring.

FWIW I buy all my batteries at Walmart as they are made by Johnson Controls, the same people who own/make the Optima line of gel-cell batteries. Each battery also has the date of Mfg code on them and they're always fresh, i.e., I personally would not buy a 6-month old battery even if new.

Click to expand...

I will look into that when it's time for a new battery

as far as the lights - the few I've looked at with hi/lo have separate cables that allow you to run them hi&lo off one circuit or split the positive wires and have a hi or lo option

thanks for all the feedback, hopefully it will all go smoothly

I think it's simpler than I've made it to be in my head and I'm over thinking but I've never done this before and want to gather as much info as possible prior to the project

Could be the angle of the photo, but either your boat looks a tad narrow for a 1548 or that is one huge motor!

Ictalurus said:

Could be the angle of the photo, but either your boat looks a tad narrow for a 1548 or that is one huge motor!

Click to expand...

it's a 4 stroke 25hp - it's got some size to it