I just need to someone to see why when I use my charging bay the negative and positive wires to it get hot. And just to make sure it is all wired correctly in the back.
I am in Oak Cliff

Bentman63, I've been boating for many decades, but I have never encountered a "charging bay". I guess you mean "the charger". As I stated before, you get heat wherever you have excess resistance. Excess resistance can be caused by several things: corrosion, loose connection, inadequate wire for the amps being drawn, or broken wire strands inside the insulation. A poorly crimped connection is a frequent cause (which doesn't make good electrical contact, resulting in the heat).

You provide a clue in that the charger wires get hot - both the POS and NEG it seems. I'm betting you have an improper installation that is causing this - and the issue exists at both battery terminals. It's possible the ring terminals have oxidation on them - it doesn't have to be visible rust to be an issue. Some people stack rings on a battery terminal, and if one or more rings have oxidation/corrosion, resistance will be high. This results in the wiring for the charger getting hot because the charger is dumping more amps trying to overcome the voltage drop.

All the wiring connections to the battery need to be inspected, and the rings cleaned (you can use emery cloth for this). The outboard rings should go on first, followed by the ring terminals for the charger, then anything else. Dielectric grease should be used on all components to reduce the problem developing again. A good mechanic would have the knowledge/skill required, as would a person with decent electrical experience, even some DIY folks. My bet is you have poor connections at the battery terminals for one or more of the stated common issue reasons.

Thx. Tomorrow I am going to check all connections. I have learned that I need a 2 bank charger so as to charge 2 batteries.So, looking at them now

That's an important good start. The other "square one" thing is DO NOT have any wires that connect the two batteries together. That means no "POS-to-POS" wire and "NEG-to-NEG" wire. If you ever have that, the two batteries are in parallel (so not isolated). The battery in worse condition will always "drag down" the better battery, causing both to fail - and neither to do it's job. A battery will never last very long in that configuration. ....There's another member here who was ready to buy new batteries and a new dual bank charger when he had heat much like you do. In the end, he didn't even need either - he just corrected the poor connection problem he had, resulting in no more hot wires. Yours needs to be corrected, and mechanic inspected probably, or you won't be happy with the service from the new battery.

Also, with the boat being smaller, I'm guessing you only ever needed two batteries, not three, and both should be in the back of the boat. Having one up front will make the boat plow horribly and get very poor fuel economy, not to mention lower speed. You also want them close together so that new two bank charger can charge both. I strongly suspect whoever put the 2nd parallel connected battery in the boat had no clue whatsoever about what they were doing, and it never should have been wired that way. It doesn't work very well, as you have discovered.

I am going to re-run the trolling motor to the rear again. I am getting a pro mariner tomorrow

what tm do you have?
are current batteries connected? pos/pos, pos/neg? 12 or 24v?

a little more info would maybe save you some money.

like said, first thing is to clean and tighten all connections, especially grounds.

a pic is worth 10,000 words on here too

The trolling motor is probably the one that came with the 95 tracker. It is a 30 thrust motorguide.

Batteries are 12v

Ok, here is what I have and what a dummy I am.

When I bought the 95 Tracker last year it had 2 batteries in the back. They were connected together. There is an onboard charger that I would just plug in.
All was good.

A)1st issue
Recently while at Aquilla the trolling motor quit working.So, I used a test light and determined that there was a bad connection in the positive cable going to the back.( now I am thinking that may have been a wrong conclusion).So, what I did in the meantime was put a battery in the front compartment and connect the TM to it.
I was planning on running new 10 gauge wires to the back soon.



B) About 2 weeks after the trolling motor incident I was raising the motor to take the Transom saver off and I had no power.
I used a test light and both batteries had power. But that didn't mean they had enough to do more than turn a light on.
So, I plugged the charger in and checked it later that day. I had power again. I unplugged the charger. The next day I had no power again.
The cranking battery had the charger connected to it and some other smaller wires that I assume or the bilge, aerator etc..The other battery just had the Garmin fish finder at this time.I used the test light and tested for a draw and there was no draw, What I did was plug in charger and later I took the negative cable off and hooked the test light to the negative cable and then touched the negative battery post. The light did not come on.
I finally ended up taking the battery with just the fish finder out of the boat and just connected the fish finder to the cranking battery for now.
NOTE- This picture has the charger disconnected


C) I bought a new deep cycle battery that I haven't installed yet. My intention is too install it in the back to replace the old one that I think is bad. Then I am going to re-run the TM to it and connect that Garmin to it as well.


D) So, this is where I am at now. I need to install new battery in the rear of the boat. I need to re-run the TM to the new battery.

E) I want to charge both batteries at the same time. But the onboard charger only has one bank. (which is why the previous owner had the batteries connected together). I need a 2 bank charger.


So, my plan is this.

1.Remove one bank charger
2. Install new battery and 2 bank charger.
3. Clean old battery connections
4. Run TM cables to the rear again (fun fun)I must have pulled them and can't seem to see the the existing cables.
5. Connect everything up and see how it works.