Engine mount 80lb Minn Kota

Pony

Rear Admiral
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Jun 27, 2004
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I have an engine mounted 80lb thrust Minn Kota hooked up to 4 group 27 deep cycles. They are set up in 2 12 volt banks with 2 deep cycles in each bank. Then the banks are wired in series to get 24v.

Today while trolling I lost power. I turned the motor off from the remote at the helm and turned it back on which causes the blade to turn for 10 seconds or so at partial power and the. It will not turn again unless I turn the motor off and then back on. It's acting like it might if the batteries run low. That would have been odd considering I was only trolling for an hour or so.

I used the outboard the rest of the trip, and checked the voltages of the batteries when I got home. They are all reading 12.4 volts and all the connections are tight. I have them charging overnight and will check the motor tomorrow, but I must be missing something. I am hoping this thing isn't toast, but I'm not sure what else to look at which this thing.....
 

Silvertip

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Sep 22, 2003
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Always check battery voltage under load (motor running in the water). One bad or weak battery will make the entire system perform poorly. You also need to break the parallel connections to get accurate individual battery readings.
 
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gm280

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Jun 26, 2011
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Agree with Silvertip and also want to add, do you have a auto circuit breaker? You could be right at the circuit breaker's edge and it could be tripping out. So check that as well... JMHO!
 

lmuss53

Lieutenant Junior Grade
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Good point about the auto breaker.

Is there possibly something wrapped around the shaft binding the motor up and popping the breaker? It would reset then and run for a few seconds until it binds and pops again.
 

Pony

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Good point about the auto breaker.

Is there possibly something wrapped around the shaft binding the motor up and popping the breaker? It would reset then and run for a few seconds until it binds and pops again.


That was going to be my next thought regardless of what happens with the batteries was to check that and see if anything is wrapped up.
 

Pony

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Agree with Silvertip and also want to add, do you have a auto circuit breaker? You could be right at the circuit breaker's edge and it could be tripping out. So check that as well... JMHO!


I have to see if I have a manual for this somewhere as it came with the boat, but I'm guessing there has to be a breaker or fuse or something built into the brain box that has the connections that go to the remote, battery, and motor
 

Pony

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Jun 27, 2004
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Always check battery voltage under load (motor running in the water). One bad or weak battery will make the entire system perform poorly. You also need to break the parallel connections to get accurate individual battery readings.


Thanks Silvertip, I will check that next and get the batteries off of the banks to test them. I had originally suspected that I may have had a cell in one of the batteries go bad....

Is submerging in a garbage can going to be enough of a load to test the TM?
 
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