bought a boat and put my trolling motor on 24v minn kota
but do not think i am getting 24v has 2 batteries but not sure
exactly how to check put volt meter on motor and says 12v if i am reading right and batteries say the same thing any suggestion would be helpful thanks

OK here goes, at the batteries your
red wire (+) to the trolling motor should be on the positive post of battery #1

the black wire (-) should be on the negative post of battery #2.

There should be a short battery cable or Heavy wire connected to the Negative post of battery #1 and connected to the positive post of battery #2.

This will produce 24 volts to the TM.

If you have the two batteries connected positive to positive terminals and negative to negative terminals then your system is sending 12 volts to the TM.

Hope this helps.

Good job, Toontroller!

thanks toontroller i have 2 posotives and 2 negatives going to my plug and i thought they should be crossed but just wasnt sure
and also they have 40amp fuse on each line so if i do cross them that way will i blow the fuses? you help is greatly appreciated

Just make sure the jumper is from battery #1 and battery #2 and you will be fine. If you get mixed up and jump the same battery the fuse will blow quick.

*DON'T* cross those wires. If your boat has a plug with a 12/24 switch, it'll have the jumper wire inside and you can connect 4 cables to it.

Otherwise *do not* connect both batteries to the plug.

For 12V it's okay to have 4 cables (2 from each batt) hooked to the plug.

But for 24V, you only want to see 2 cables connected to the plug, one from each battery, and a wire connecting the two batteries, just like toon described.

old plug could have been but just put in a brand new minn kota
plug that only has 3 prong for wires so im guessing i need to jump the batteries

jtexas is right..what you need to do is run the cables like Toontroller says and either change the panel plug or figure out which of the connections match up with your old TM plug..the panel plug has a "switch/jumper" inside it for the 12/24..
at least my old OMC did...

the 3 prongs enable you to use it with a 12/24 motor - where the motor has a 12/24 switch - one prong for 12 volts, one for 24 and common ground. With it hooked up for 24V only, one of the prongs will be disconnected.

Here is a real simple drawing for what jtexas is talking about.
It's real simple because the artist is real simple....