Help!! Trolling motor blowing fuses

[Crappiecrazy fireman]

I was out on the lake today and suddenly my trolling motor kept blowing the 40 amp in line buss fuse. When I would replace the fuse, the trolling motor would run until the head was about a foot under water, then the fuse would blow again. Anybody have any idea what could be causing this? When I got back home to charge my batteries I noticed the wingnut which connects the trolling motor to the battery was very loose and not tight at all. Could this have beencausing the fuses to blow? I cant really tell if that was the problem until I put the boat back in the water. I hate to plan a fishing trip and think the thing is fixed and the first time I put my trolling motor in the water it starts blowing fuses again. Any suggestion?

[wannabe fisherman]

Loose wires could cause that, but you really need to put a 50 amp circuit breaker on it at the battery. JMO

[M R Dux]

Pull the prop on the TM and check for mono line wrapped around the prop shaft. A loose nut on the battery could be the issue but I would check all connections from the battery all the way to the TM PLUS replace the fuse with the higher amp breaker like wannabe mentioned.

[CatFan]

Loose wires could cause that, but you really need to put a 50 amp circuit breaker on it at the battery. JMO

Don't put in a larger fuse or breaker unless you know your wiring can handle it. Over-fusing a wire is a recipe for a fire.

[kingkrappie]

what kind of trollin motor?? holler at osofishy on here he's a wizard with trollin motors especially minn kota's, he's torn mine apart a few times and i'm currently running a maxxum he rebuilt.

[FishlessMike]

Such equipment is fused safely by the manufacturer. Something is going on that is demanding more amps than the system should require. Mrdux had a good idea about checking the prop shaft for wrapped mono. More resistance = more amps to operate, and that might be the cure. If not, something is causing the fuse to blow and could include faulty wiring/connections that could result in an intermittent short. Unfortunately, there could be a problem with the trolling motor drive unit that causes increased resistance under load. Putting in a fuse higher that the recommended is not a wise idea...period.

[Fishtaco]

I was out on the lake today and suddenly my trolling motor kept blowing the 40 amp in line buss fuse. When I would replace the fuse, the trolling motor would run until the head was about a foot under water, then the fuse would blow again. Anybody have any idea what could be causing this? When I got back home to charge my batteries I noticed the wingnut which connects the trolling motor to the battery was very loose and not tight at all. Could this have beencausing the fuses to blow? I cant really tell if that was the problem until I put the boat back in the water. I hate to plan a fishing trip and think the thing is fixed and the first time I put my trolling motor in the water it starts blowing fuses again. Any suggestion?

Yes, it could very well have been your problem. Poor contact = resistance. Resistance = heat and heat = blown fuse.

BTW the fuse is there to protect the wiring. Putting in a bigger fuse is just asking for some melted wiring and perhaps some burnt stuff as well. If its been working all this time with that sized fuse, I'd stick with it and find and correct the problem.