boombap Posted April 20, 2019 Author Report Posted April 20, 2019 (edited) 56 minutes ago, AKRISONER said: I’m so tired of my MK receptacle letting the power cables bloody fall out. One time they even fell out started shorting off of each other and blew my fuse. Really safe stuff. I wonder what kinda law suit I could have started had my boat lit on fire. Happened to me multiple times. I dealt with it all of last year.. no more. My MK plug is now only covering up a hole. Edited April 20, 2019 by boombap
Steve.p Posted April 25, 2019 Report Posted April 25, 2019 I purchased one of these over the winter - will be putting it on next week when my Key West FS219 comes out of storage... https://minnkotamotors.johnsonoutdoors.com/accessories/trolling-motor/plug-receptacle-saltwater-mkr-24 I had to buy it through Amazon and have it shipped from the US but it appears to be well worth the $150 I had to pay for it. Minn Kota are now looking for a new manufacturer of the plug based on feedback from Johnson.
AKRISONER Posted May 13, 2019 Report Posted May 13, 2019 (edited) digging up an old thread here, but I thought I would share my experience with you all as the design style of the marinco plug design nearly cost me my boat, and perhaps more this past weekend. But here is my story... I have had issues with the provided marinco receptacle since I first installed it on my boat. I have found it extremely difficult to keep the power and ground wires held into the receptacle with the crappy short screws included with it. As you all know, the style is to push the wires in from the back and screw down on the wire. The first time I had a problem, I was in a tournament and the power and ground wire literally fell out of the plug, shorted on each other and blew my fuse. leaving me rewiring the TM and changing my fuses in the middle of a tournament. I thought that was pretty crap until saturday afternoon. I was fishing a small bay while running autochart live. I frequent the area and figured, why not finish charting the small bay that i was in so that I would have a map of the drop off that leads out of it. I sped the motor up and began driving back and forth from inside the bay out into the channel and back mapping. Sure enough on my final pass on the eastern edge of the bay I am driving along right against the rocks mapping the edge when my trolling motor quits. I think, Its probably just a loose plug, so i push it in and the power turns on again and i hit drive and it shuts off immediately again. With the wind blessfully taking a second off i scramble to the driver seat fire up the big motor (that two stroke took painfully too long to turn over, what was probably 2 seconds felt like hours) i missed the rocks by about 6 inches and drove out into the channel. Lifted the TM and went home to figure out what the heck was wrong. When i took my access panel off, this is what I found. My ground line had started fraying in behind the plug, as more and more wire frayed it began to lower the guage of the wire until a point where the resistance grew so big that the wire literally lit on fire all while not blowing my fuse because it was the ground wire. I called up a family friend and life long electrician and he recommended to simply go with a contractor grade commercial receptacle and plug. Thats the game plan now! Scary stuff Edited May 13, 2019 by AKRISONER
Sinker Posted May 13, 2019 Report Posted May 13, 2019 Just get rid of the plug all together. There is no need for it at all. Hardwire it together, solder, shrink wrap and never worry about it again. That plug is such a hassle. I took mine out about 10 years ago, or more, and never had an issue since. S.
AKRISONER Posted May 13, 2019 Report Posted May 13, 2019 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Sinker said: Just get rid of the plug all together. There is no need for it at all. Hardwire it together, solder, shrink wrap and never worry about it again. That plug is such a hassle. I took mine out about 10 years ago, or more, and never had an issue since. S. I see your point but then you dont have the ability to take the trolling motor off of the boat when need be. If i had a heated shop to park my boat in then that would be an option but i dont, so its nice to be able to take the motor off if need be. I.e. I recent installed a new down image transducer on the TM and it was nice to be able to bring it inside from the rain and cold and wire it. Edited May 13, 2019 by AKRISONER
G.mech Posted May 13, 2019 Report Posted May 13, 2019 I don't know what that wire is (or was) but it certainly doesn't look like marine grade wire nor does it look of adequate size but it's kind of hard to tell. There are lots of options for plugs if you want the ability to remove the motor but starting with the right materials in the first place can't be a bad thing....
Sinker Posted May 13, 2019 Report Posted May 13, 2019 42 minutes ago, AKRISONER said: I see your point but then you dont have the ability to take the trolling motor off of the boat when need be. If i had a heated shop to park my boat in then that would be an option but i dont, so its nice to be able to take the motor off if need be. I.e. I recent installed a new down image transducer on the TM and it was nice to be able to bring it inside from the rain and cold and wire it. I'd rather dress warm than have my boat catch on fire! Just sayin lol These work good as well. http://www.quickcable.com/products.php?pageId=148
G.mech Posted May 13, 2019 Report Posted May 13, 2019 On 4/15/2019 at 11:10 AM, Sinker said: Been that way for about 10 years now. I don't disconnect anything. Never had an issue. I don't even run a fuse, it was also a pain in the butt, so its straight 6 Ga wire from motor to battery. (might even be 4 ga, I forget now) If you're worried about your boat catching on fire, you maybe should re-think the 'no fuse/no breaker' idea....I get the argument about the plug but this is really stretching the safety thing.
boombap Posted May 13, 2019 Author Report Posted May 13, 2019 You definitely want to use a fuse.. anderson plugs are working great.
gaspumper Posted May 13, 2019 Report Posted May 13, 2019 1 hour ago, Sinker said: I'd rather dress warm than have my boat catch on fire! Just sayin lol These work good as well. http://www.quickcable.com/products.php?pageId=148 I picked mine up at NAPA
AKRISONER Posted May 13, 2019 Report Posted May 13, 2019 Fuse your stuff people, mice and vermin are jerks and would love to try and short your wires and light your boat on fire at the first chance they get!
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