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Connecting electric motor to swtich and marine battery

7K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Lawnplugger 
#1 ·
I purchased a coxreel with an electric motor. The motor came with a switch to connect to the to the electric motor that in on the cox reel and a 12 volt marine battery.


The switch is a metal box that has the switch solenoid and circuit breaker. I know little to nothing about hooking such an electrical switch. Here is what is in the box

-The solenoid has two large bolts connections and then a 3rd smaller nut/bolt connection
-The switch has two smaller Phillips screws which look like wires should hook up to them
-The circuit breaker has two bolts/nuts that look like wires should connect to them

The electric motor has two wires off of it

The battery is a marine battery with a positive and negative terminal

I am not sure how all of this hooks up together. I am also unsure what gauge wire I should get to connect all of this up. I have enclosed some pictures of the switch containing the solenoid, breaker, and switch as well as the electric motor

Thanks for any help
 

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#2 ·
This is actually a fairly simple connection, but it will involve several wires. You've identified the components correctly, that's a good start.

First, we need to determine wire size. If there's a nameplate on the motor, does it say 'amps', or anything like that? If not, how about the amp rating of the circuit breakers? How far from the battery is the controller? How far from the controller to the motor?

To actually connect it, first run a wire (based on the amp draw of the motor) from the battery negative to the bolt that holds the solenoid to the frame. Next, run a similar wire from this bolt to one of the motor leads. Make sure you can swap the motor leads, as we don't know which way it'll turn yet. That's it for the negative side.

Now, for the positive side. First, run a wire (based on the amp draw of the motor) from the positive side of the battery to one side of the circuit breakers. Don't hook this up to the battery yet, that'll be the very last step. Next, run a similar wire from the other side of the circuit breaker to one of the big terminals of the solenoid. Now, run a small wire (16 or 18 gauge will do) from the same terminal on the solenoid to one side of the switch. Now run another small wire from the other side of the switch to the small terminal on the solenoid. Now connect the other motor lead to the other big terminal on the solenoid. We're almost done.

Now, you can connect the wire to the positive side of the battery. If you have a voltmeter, measure voltage from this wire to the battery terminal before you connect it. It should read zero. If it doesn't look for a wiring error. If it reads zero, go ahead and connect it. Now, hit the switch, but remember, you have a 50/50 chance of the motor turning backward. If it turns backward, simply swap the two motor leads, and it'll turn the other way.

Rob
 
#3 ·
Hi Rob,

Thanks for the reply.

The motor says 35amps. I don’t see any information on the circuit breaker. When you ask how far the controller is from the battery is the controller the box containing the switch, solinoid, and curcuit breaker? All of the components, the box that contains the switch, solenoid and breaker, the motor, and the battery are all within 2 or 3 feet of each other.

Your instructions are perfectly clear to me. For the wire besides the gauge of the wire, does it matter what type of wire I use such as copper.

Thanks,

Gerry
 
#4 ·
For 35 amp at 12 volts you will need at least min of 8 gauge size automovite wire typically for postive side useally a red colour cable will do the task and the automovtive grade cable are useally found most auto part centre but for some reason you can not get red cable you can get in black but make sure you taped the postive cable with red tape near termation point.

Merci,Marc
 
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