trim motor breaker tripping...

[94OMC]

Hi,

Any ideas why the 10 amp breaker located on my trim motor would be tripping?

I have an OMC Cobra SX drive unit - 1994 vintage.

Thanks in advance

 

[jtexas]

Re: trim motor breaker tripping...

the motor is drawing more than 10 amps because it is dragging - something's wrong inside the motor, or something's wrong with the mechanism, making it harder to operate. could be low on hydraulic fluid.

each time a breaker trips, it gets a little easier to trip.

 

[94OMC]

Re: trim motor breaker tripping...

I'll check the fluid level - thanks for the suggestion.

Could it also be a faulty trim switch shorting out? The neutral safety switch on my throttle/shift control recently stopped working (that was a fun one to track down), so I wouldn't be too surprised if the trim switch is acting up now. The trim switch is located on the throttle control.

 

[jtexas]

Re: trim motor breaker tripping...

In my experience a shorted switch just makes the motor run continuously, other words, the drive won't stay down. if that happened and the motor didn't shut off when the drive reached the limit of its travel, it'd probably trip the breaker.

for a switch to trip a breaker, it'd have to connect the 12V feed to ground, which I guess it could do if you have a DPDT switch operating the trim motor directly, but the motor is more likely driven by relays. I could be wrong about that, though.

 

[94OMC]

Re: trim motor breaker tripping...

Update:
I took the throttle control lever apart and found that I had a pinched wire with about a 3/8" section of bare copper wire exposed. It certain situations it was shorting out against the control body and tripping the breaker.