minkota trolling motor problems

[hatchieman]

I've got a minkot tm and I am having problems with the power sorce. I am not getting any juice threw the foot pedal. I have power from the battery to the plug and out of the plug. I think there is a switch that is going out. does anyone know anything about this problem. If you need more specifics let me know and I will get them for you.

[Barnacle Bill]

What model is it? 12 or 24 volt? Why do you think there is a switch?

[NIMROD]

The foot pedal switch could be bad or bad conection. I would use a test light and check each side "power in and out" on each switch.

[hatchieman]

It is a minkotta maxum 24 volt. the reason is I think it is the switch is because I did as above mentioned and tested the foot pedal switch.
I had to disasemble to diagnose the problem. after I moved the wires around It worked again. there is more than likely a bad connection in the circuit. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this problem.

the only other thing is I had my boat serviced and the mechanic put some type of 24v fuse block on the positive wire, I have had problems with these fuse blocks in the past. and had to take it off to work. Is it necessary to have this fuse block or not?

I think I called the mechanic every name in the book when I got on the water to fish sunday and my tm would not work. So off coarse I naturally blamed him.

[ibfestus]

I don't see how the fuse block could cause a problem unless it is blown.

Do you have to have a fuse block? No, but if I had one a few years ago I wouldn't have lost my boat and everything in it. I was on KY lake when I smelled something getting hot. I saw smoke coming from the air vent and when I opened the deck the 2 trolling motor batteries were on fire and blazing (right next to the gas tank). I used the fire extinguisher until it was empty but the fire was still growing. The Water Patrol guy told me he had never seen a fiberglass boat that was on fire and successfully extinguished. It was an almost new Stratos with a 150 Merc.

[Barnacle Bill]

Recheck all the wires in the pedal. Using needle nose pliers grab each wire near where it is soldered and try to shake it. What happens over time the wires get hard and brittle. Just looking at them they appear to be connected but when you shake them you can find the bad connection at lot easier. And yes you should have a circuit breaker on the TM's positive lead as close to the battery as possible. Idealy 6 gauge wire should be used from the batterys to the TM but 8 gauge is acceptable for a 24V motor.

[crappielimits]

May be a circuit breaker that needs to be reset.

[hatchieman]

@ibfestus I think I will keep that fuse block on there after hearing that story.

I got to looking and checking around with my voltage tester and for some reason one of my battery's did not and will not hold a charge. has anyone experienced this problem also with 12v deep cycle batteries?

[justinp61]

Did you check the electrolyte level? If it won't hold a charge it's bad.

[ibfestus]

A couple of points. If the open circuit voltage of the problem battery is between 10 - 11V it likely has a dead cell.

In the case of my fire, we never figured out where the short ocurred but the biggest reason the fire couldn't be extinguished was due to the plastic battery boxes they were in. The boxes burned like a torch and after the wires had burned up, they kept feeding the flames. Later, I took a knife and cut a sliver off another box and lit it with a cigarette lighter it and it burned like crazy. Some state laws mandate their use which is, IMHO, crazy.