Hello Folks,

My 15 yr old TH Marine Surefoot troll motor switch finally failed and Im replaceing with the same Surefoot switch.

The Dealer wired the old switch for my MK 12volt, 55LB motor with the switch spliced in the Negative lead.

Instructions for the new switch are to "splice into the Positive lead". I'd prefer to splice into the Negative lead instead of cutting the Positive lead. Do you guys think it makes a difference? I apprieciate all comments.

Merry Christmas

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Posted by Redlos

Baton Rouge

Member since Jul 2005

1163 posts

Posted on 12/9/25 at 11:01 pm to OYB

Had one many years ago spliced into the negative line as well. I’d wire it up that way and test it.

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Posted by SickTiger

Member since Feb 2023

153 posts

Posted on 12/9/25 at 11:30 pm to OYB

I personally would switch to the positive side. When you run a switch off the positive side in a 12V system, you are killing the power entirely. You won’t find any professional marine wiring that wires a switch off the negative side. Lessens the chance of shorts and accidentally grounding through something else. I would take the extra 5 mins and butt connector the negative and cut your positive in half and put switch in there.

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Posted by OYB

LAPLACE

Member since Dec 2018

451 posts

Posted on 12/10/25 at 5:56 am to SickTiger

BOOM, there it is...

You won’t find any professional marine wiring that wires a switch off the negative side. Lessens the chance of shorts and accidentally grounding through something else. I would take the extra 5 mins and butt connector the negative and cut your positive in half and put switch in there.

sicktiger, thank you for making excellant distinction. I will splice into positive lead.

This post was edited on 12/10/25 at 6:03 am

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