Thread: Trolling motor popping breakers on high!

Both of you should have at least a 50 amp breaker. For a straight 24V system (batteries wired in series) you only need 1 breaker on the positive lead at the batteries.

Mine is 12 volt, only use 1 battery at at time. Only the last foot or so of the positive cable gets hot, negative gets warm, but, not hot. Single breaker on positive lead, about 8 inches from battery. Is it normal for the positive wire to get hot near the battery. I never had this problem with the old MG TM I just replaced, but, it was only 34 lb. thrust, the Edge is 45? Thanks for the replies and advice.

You could have a weak breaker. Change it with the 50-60 amp and you'll be fine.

Bill, wouldn't it possibly cause the wires to get even hotter before the breaker trips by causing it to take longer to trip if you used a larger breaker? Mine is 50 Amp, I'd be concerned about a larger one causing a meltdown or even a small fire? Only place the wire gets hot is near the battery, I've checked the head, the splicing block, and various places along the wire, just the last couple of feet get hot. Heck, it may be OK now, I ran it on high Friday for over 30 minutes ans the breaker didn't trip, wire got very warm, but, not actually hot. OBTW, I asked the local dealer about ordering a different boat than the ones they have in stock and was told that if they ordered just one boat for me, I'd have to pay the shipping, they may not be a regular Xpress dealer, beats the stuff outta me. There's another down in NC near Lake Gaston, that I'm going to check with. BPS is 30 minutes from me and they have what I like in stock in a Tracker, but, I've been leaning toward Xpress.

That's the reason you have to make sure your wire is large enough to be fused at 50A. In normal electrical wiring you choose your fuse based on the wire size and the electrical load on the circuit. The fuse has to be large enough to handle the load, and small enough to protect the wire. If you can't do both, you need bigger wire.

Heat at the battery end is normal, but you may be able to reduce it by making sure that the battery posts and terminals are spotlessly clean and that the terminals are tight.

14 foot wide body, heavy jon boat, prolly less than 12 feet of 6 gage attached to the Minn Kota Edge 45 wiring with a splicing block. Terminal and all are squeaky clean now. I think except for the long runs in one of the little lakes I like to fish, it is OK. Main concern was if it is normal for the wires close to battery to get hot, apparently it is. Thanks all for the responses.