Terrova running hot

[pineluretom]

Took my new Terrova w/i-pilot out for a test run yesterday. I started to smell something like plastic or circuit board getting hot. Checked around and found that the top of the unit by the GPS antenna was very hot. Is this normal or will I burn something up if I keep running it?

 

[Star]

Re: Terrova running hot

How hard were you running it and how long? I think enough of Minn Kota Quality Control that You must look at your power feed to the motor. The lower the voltage the higher the current. An AP55 will draw 40amps with 12.5V at the power wires. Is it a 12V/24V unit? If you have too small a conductor on a long run from the battery you can cook everything.. High curent across high resistence =HEAT.
Under load read the voltage at the motor wire connection with a good DC meter. Walmart has a nice one for $19 !!!

 

[pineluretom]

Re: Terrova running hot

I was only putting around looking for crappies at about 1/2 to 3/4 mph with autopilot on. There is only about 4 ft. of wire from the batteries to the plug. I have run a Minn Kota Powerdrive 70/ap/us off this plug for years. Called Minn Kota Tech Support. What a waste of time, all the person said was to take it to a service center. You would think they could at least give some trouble shooting hints, but no. So I had to unbolt it from the boat and took it to the service center, 30 mile round trip.. Let's hope I get it back in time for the fishing opener here in MN. May 12.

 

[Star]

Re: Terrova running hot

Hey Tom,
I know that is a pain to take it to a dealer. Mine was 70 miles each way. If you hooked directly to the motor leads and had a fully charged battery then something was terribly wrong with that motor. There techs have been very good to me. Burnning cb smell is not good. If you opened it and found what you think is the problem is you may miss something. You may google heat problems on terinova's
you may have a known issue. They are a very good company my motor is 6 years old and they have helped me resolve any problems, even the self inflicted ones. V2 AP 55 with copilot it is great I run in upstate N.Y. with it

 

[Jlawsen]

Re: Terrova running hot

Took my new Terrova w/i-pilot out for a test run yesterday. I started to smell something like plastic or circuit board getting hot. Checked around and found that the top of the unit by the GPS antenna was very hot. Is this normal or will I burn something up if I keep running it?

Not normal. Call Minn-Kota. I don't know if you have a 12, 24 or 36v unit but it could be that you don't either. The box might have been miss-labled. Minn-Kota can tell by the serial number.

 

[pineluretom]

Re: Terrova running hot

Jlawsen, I did call Minn Kota tech. What a waste of time they were no help. All they said was take it to the service center. Well I did and picked it up yesterday. They said they couldn't find the cause of the problem and said to just run it until something burns out. I hope that doesn't happen on an expensive trip somewhere. Every time Johnson Motors buys a company the service goes to hell. Motor Glide will sure get more attention on my next purchase.

 

[Jlawsen]

Re: Terrova running hot

Jlawsen, I did call Minn Kota tech. What a waste of time they were no help. All they said was take it to the service center. Well I did and picked it up yesterday. They said they couldn't find the cause of the problem and said to just run it until something burns out. I hope that doesn't happen on an expensive trip somewhere. Every time Johnson Motors buys a company the service goes to hell. Motor Glide will sure get more attention on my next purchase.

That's a rare case I beleive. I just called them yesterday regarding RF shielding on a standard Auto Pilot Terrova and they provided a lot of help. I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience with them. Telling someone to run it until it burns up is not something I would expect from the service center either. Maybe you should just tell them it's broken with a vague explanation and send it back, it is under warranty isn't it? You may even be able to return it for a restocking fee and then go buy your Motor Guide.

 

[Don S]

Re: Terrova running hot

You weren't running a 12 volt motor on 24 volts were you? That would sure cause an overheat. Maybe you were trying to use two trolling batteries hooked in parallel and by mistake got them in series ??? It's happened before.