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The small trolling motor I have has a boiler plate message stating that a 60 amp circuit breaker should be placed as close to the battery as possible when using the TM. Is it necessary?

I would be good insurance.

scuro wrote:The small trolling motor I have has a boiler plate message stating that a 60 amp circuit breaker should be placed as close to the battery as possible when using the TM. Is it necessary?

Is it necessary to install it as close to the battery as possible or is it necessary to use?

As Ed pointed out, it is insurance that you don't fry your trolling motor so yes, I would say it is necessary. Is it necessary to install it as close to the battery as possible, I don't think so but the engineers recommend it for a specific reason so I would listen to them.

Ya you put it by the battery, so if you get a short in the motor it will kick the breaker at the source, not melt the motor and wiring before a power surge gets to one mounted at the bow.

Ah...a short in the motor...here I was thinking the it would be pretty difficult to short the wiring from the motor to the the battery. That makes more sense.

I've never had one, never had a problem, I see why you would I'm just cheap when it comes to little things like that.

A short-stop breaker that connects directly to the positive terminal and automatically resets is less than $10.
Cheap and super easy to install, I'd consider it a must have and a no-brainer.

Actually, you want the over current protection (OCP) as close to the source as possible because a short between the source and the breaker can and often does lead to some pretty catastrophic failures i.e. wires hot enough to cause fires or batteries getting hot enough to vent tons of gas/boiling acid, to occasionally exploding.

Imagine a dead short between on the wires before the breaker. Its really not going to do a damned thing to the motor itself, the current is going to take the path of least resistance, being the short in the wires. Those batteries are going to feed those wires power with no restriction until either the wire melts and blows apart, or the batteries explode. If you're running #6, the batteries have plenty of juice left in them and a solid short somehow occurs, things can get pretty ugly in minutes with little warning.

You most definitely want the breaker as close to the battery as possible.

I personally prefer to use a 60Amp fuse, they "blow" more reliably if there is a problem. I have had cases where the motor is in weeds and the breaker gets really really hot... but doesn't quite trip out. Actually melted a hole in my battery box (which is how I discovered this problem)! A fuse also has less voltage-drop when you are using the motor, so you will squeak out an extra 5-6% performance on "hi" when using a fuse compared to a breaker.

Pain to carry extra fuses though.

I've seen plenty of old MG's and MK's go up in smoke and melt wires from bow to stern, my 60 amp breaker on my 36v system is wired right at the battery feeding the 6 guage hot wire to the bow plug. I have a good system that runs full capacity for 14-15 hours, but you never know when something in the motor head or board is gonna' give up.