Outboard motor connection to battery

[Marcia]

What a surprise! For Mother's Day my husband REALLY surprised me with a brand new Tohatsu 9.8 outboard that he bought online for our sailboat. It has the capability of hooking up to our battery for electric starts. This is great as I have shoulder difficulties and have had trouble starting our older Nissan. The outboard came with two heavy duty hardwired cables that attach directly to the battery with lug connectors. The problem is these cables are too short to reach the battery in the cockpit lazarette. I'd like to run wires from my battery to a connector in the aft cockpit, but don't know what connector would be suitable to install. Ideally, the battery would be hardwired to the aft connector and all I would have to do is plug the motor in to start it. I've search WM catalogs and Jamestown Distrib. catalogs, but really don't see anything that may be suitable. Any ideas you can give me would be appreciated. I was thinking of a standard 12V connector, but these seem much too small for the wiring. Maybe next year he'll buy me an electric lawn mower! =D I can only hope.

 

[Ron20324]

Marcia, possibly what you want is a "trolling motor plug and recpeticle", which is a little heavier-duty. Page 280 of the West catalog. OR, 20 OR 30-AMP SHORE POWER CONNECTORS WOULD DO, the 20 amp being sufficient.

 

[48dodge]

Why do I think that if I were to buy my wife a new outboard for the boat, she wouldn't be quite as excited...

 

[Clark]

Marcia, you might want to rethink the "plug the motor in to start it". I'm sure you are aware that the outboard has an alternator output that charges the battery so you'll not want to disconnect it very often. Or am I assuming too much?

Otherwise, the shore power ($$) or trolling motor ideas are very good.

 

[sailingdog]

I'd second the trolling motor connector. I use them as auxiliary power outlets on my boat and also for the solar panel connectors to feed the solar charge controller.

 

[Ron20324]

Why do I think that if I were to buy my wife a new outboard for the boat, she wouldn't be quite as excited...

Dodge, it's a matter of perspective. Say you lock your wife and dog in the trunk of the car. After an hour or so, open it up and see which one is glad to see you...

 

[tommays]

My wife was really happy when she got and electric start lawn mower she still does NOT mow the lawn

 

[MacMikey]

I purchased the same motor in the 8hp model and
I took the oppertunity to add a second battery. I used a 1/2/All battery switch. Now I can use the motor to charge both the house battery and the start battery. Please note that in order to reach your one battery I have found it cheaper to buy a set of 12 ft. jumper cables and cut off the ends and splice them into the 6ft length of battery cable that came with the motor. I am not sure of your layout and can only guess that one of these solutions or both will help you solve your problem.

PS: I bought my wife a self propeled lawn mower so she would have more time to go sailing with me. I felt a little gulity casting off the lines alone because she wasn't finished with her chores in time go.

 

[Allan12210]

Plug and Socket Connector

If you go to Ebay and search for Anderson Power Products you will see a 12V plug and socket that is suitable for high amperage loads (i.e., jumper cables, winches, etc.). That may be what you are looking for.

Allan

 

[Manny]

Hi Marcia,

I just went through this. I just got a new outboard with electric start and the supplied cables were not long enough. Check the manual, most likely it will be mandatory that you connect the motor to a battery otherwise you will damage the alternator. One of the easiest ways to extend the cabling is to purchase 2 power posts, 4 crimp on ring terminals, and the appropriate length and gauge wire. In a nutshell, the ring terminals will need to be crimped on each end the of cables, mount the power posts as close to the battery as possible but make sure the cables from the outboard will reach them.
Attach the cables from the O/B to the power posts and then one end of the extension cables to the power posts and the other end to the battery.

Manny

 

[Dan Johnson]

Marcia...

on my last boat I used the larger rated trolling motor plug and socket combo in the transom well for an 8 horse OMC outboard with alternator. Worked like a charm and made winter removal an easy disconnect.

Ran the inboard side negative wire to a common ground post and the positive wire into a 1-both-2 switch to direct charging to either battery aboard. Second 1-both-2 switch at breaker panel selected which battery to draw from. Permited charging one while using the other as "house" power.

 

[Mich222]

Marcia: I had the same challenge with my electric start engine. I replaced the cables from the engine with longer cables, making sure that the additional length was accounted for by a thicker guage wire. This way, there is no junction between the battery and the starter/alternator- eliminating the chance for a loose connection. There is one run of cable from engine to battery. You could have the end connectors (that attach to engine and battery) professionally crimped or soldered, or if you have the tools you can do it yourself.

 

[yugnoir]

I just got a second hand Honda 9.9 with alternator and noticed the previous owner never attached the battery charging DC receptacle!!! He had it for a couple years... does this mean the alternator is finished???