Need to slow down old MotorGuide trolling motor

I have an old, foot controlled, MotorGuide trolling motor. It has 3 speed settings on the foot control. It is mounted to my 14' Lowe boat.

It's slowest trolling speed is 1.1 - 1.3 per the GPS. I need to get it down to .6 - .8 for these cold water trolling trips.

Friend says there may be a reostat or something I can easily replace to lower the speed. Any ideas?

If you have ideas, I need ELEMENTARY EDUCATION and INSTRUCTION as I know nothing about motors and wiring.

Barring that, looks like I will be dragging a 5 gallon bucket or 2 to try to slow it down.

Thanks in advance,

Joel

I had an old Maximizer and I cut off the dial and wired to the three contacts on reostat on the foot control. It now works as a variable speed from 0 to max. That's how I slowed my motorguide down on 14 foot pond boat. If you can find an old max.....I can provide instructions

Contact Jones trolling motor repair. 870.773.3474 John is in your neck of the woods and a great guy to do business with.

I think 870 area code is for Arkansas. I'm in Atlanta, GA during the week and either Lake Sinclair (Eatonton, GA) or the farm (Vidalia, GA) on the weekends.

soemone was talking about a "pro troller" or something similar a few weeks ago, do a search in the electronics forum. If I remember right, this will accomplish what you're trying to do. Another suggestion is a "drift sock" from cabelas or BPS, will help slow you down and may be a bit easier to deal with than a 5 gal bucket, but lots of people do use the buckets.

I use a Minn-Kota Maximixer. They haven't been made in over 20 years but still pop up on E-Bay all the time. Just put inbetween battery and any trolling motor. I can write something on a clear blade and dial it so slow that you can walk up and read it. They were 100 bucks years ago and the new in the box ones go for about 150 bucks on E-Bay. I've seen used ones go for 30 to 50 bucks.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...aximizer-1.jpg

I had a similar question on the long lining thread. I can only get down to 1 MPH. I bought a "Troll Perfect"recently and it works great, but all it does is provide a friction adjustment so the shaft does not move if you take your foot off the pedal. Here is the link for it. Troll Perfect -Installed
It only helps with steering not speed. I considered buying an extra prop and cutting it down so it is a smaller diameter and thus would not have as much thrust. Need to be sure and keep it balanced so it doesn't vibrate, but I think this would work. I have a drift sock but I can see me getting it tangled in my lines if I use it.
Lightwire hooker gave me an idea though. We have an authorized service center here for MK and MG trolling motors, so I may see if they have a maximizer laying around that I could rig up.
SeaRay

From all I have read, I think a "simple" PWM Controller should do the trick. Anyone have any idea where I might find one in NE Atlanta???

I bought a used 4 blade prop from an online auction and just took some tin cutters and cut about 2 inches off of 2 blades and that made it just perfect. The prop still has plenty of speed on high for me. This is what it looks like after 12 years of hard use. I still have the larger 2 blade that came on it. I actually took the part that I first cut off and scribed a line to make both sides equal and have had no balance problems.



.Attachment 81654

Here is a link Barnacle Bill put on. I want to add this controller to mine. I have talked to a couple electronics men and they say it will work. DC 12V-36V 25-100 AMP, High Current DC Motor Speed Controller (PWM)

That may be the best option. I think I called 10+ places in Atl this morning and most had not a clue , even the electric motor people. Seems the only ones who might have something are the scooter people and couldn't reach any of them.

Would this one off eBay work? Do I understand we need a controller that is 12 volts and can handle 50 amps of current? 12-40V 100A 1200W DC Motor Speed Control PWM Controller | eBay

What about this controller?? ROUTER SPEED CONTROLLER, VARIABLE AC/DC MOTOR RHEOSTAT (8-7020800123-5) | eBay This one is for a Router --- someone told me it might work, even though we seek a DC application. What about the amps?? If this is a rheostat controller, someone said it could burn up the motor????

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Originally Posted by reeljustice

Would this one off eBay work? Do I understand we need a controller that is 12 volts and can handle 50 amps of current? 12-40V 100A 1200W DC Motor Speed Control PWM Controller | eBay

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There are a lot of people on here that know more than I do about electronics so just for the sake of discussion. I have 2 Motorguide trolling motors and both of these use 3 windings inside the motor a low , med & high. If I wanted to use this, I would need to break the low speed winding and series with that, or if I wanted to use it on all three different speeds, series it with the main power wire to the trolling motor.. If you hook it up series-ed with main power to the trolling motor, when you on high speed it will create a lot of heat that you will need to dissipate to save the electronics on this board. If it is series-ed with only the low speed winding, top amps would only be from 10 to 15 amps max. In theory Pulse Width Modulation is a great way to go to do what you want, at 50% you should use only about half the amps at half the speed and create very little heat.

Speed coils hooked in series with the motor only drop the voltage to the motor which allows slower trolling speeds. Current is constant in a series circuit. Ohms law. Speeed coil motors use the same amount of current whether going fast or slow.