Breaker keeps tripping

[Ferrisswheel]

Hello, I am new to this site and hope someone can help. I have a '84 Procraft 1750v with '89 Merc XR4 150hp. I bought this boat 3 yrs ago and it was taken very good care of by original owner. In excellent shape. Original seats and carpet. No holes or tears.
Anyway, this boat came with 12/24 volt system. It has a Mariner R28 Stalker trolling motor. Lately if I run for a while in 24 volt. I keep tripping one of the breakers. Anyone else ever have this problem? Could this be a bad breaker, wires or in the trolling motor? I had a wire, in the trolling motor, come off couple years ago and caused some smoke in the motor but not the wires in the boat. Motor still works. When breaker trips it is very hot. I am going to go pick up a new trolling motor cause the old one just doesn't have enough umph for this boat anyway.
Thanks for any input.

 

[Bushrider]

Re: Breaker keeps tripping

I don't actually have any tips to offer that will help you, but if your read through the forum on electrical, electronics, and trolling motors there are lots of discussions on this topic. You might find something there to help you out.
Good luck,
David

 

[ac0j]

Re: Breaker keeps tripping

Make sure your batteries are fully charged. When battery voltage dropps below the +/- 12 mark, the motor will pull more amperage to compensate for the low voltage. This will cause things to heat up. If it does it right away on fresh battery charge, you might have a problem in the breaker, wires, or motor.

 

[Ferrisswheel]

Re: Breaker keeps tripping

Thanks for the help. When I replaced the old Mariner trolling motor I pulled out the ole 10ga wire and put in 8ga wire with new 50 amp breakers instead of the old 40 amp. I did find that when the wires reached the front of the boat they went to a 4 prong connector. The insulation was melted off of one of the ground wires. Also, when power got to the run/off/charge switch it appeared that there must have been and arc between two wires. Made sure everything was insulated and no more problems since.
Again thanks for all the info.