Trolling motors cutting out ?

[msp]

When I’m on anything over 80 for a prolonged periods of time on my maxxum trolling motor it suddenly cuts out. Eventually it will turn back on after some time to cool down. Any ideas as to what is happening and recommendations to mitigate the problem  ? Possibly overheating ? 

[smitty55]

I would absolutely agree it's an overheating issue, likely a thermistor cutting out and resetting itself after cooling down. Or possibly a cold solder joint reacting to heat. Hard to troubleshoot though without access to the circuitry, you could try to induce a failure with a heat gun or use freeze spray to relieve the issue and isolate the component.

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by smitty55

[AKRISONER]

So a quick story about personal experience, this happened to me, what was happening was that my wires were fraying at the plug in connection due to vibration creating a big resistance which actually was lighting my power cable on fire. Yes…i had a small fire in my boat even with the cable fused.
 

if I were you I’d be immediately checking every connection, or even possibly totally redoing them to ensure you have a nice clean connection to each terminal point.

by the way if you are using a minkotta receptacle and plug, they are literally totally garbage.an electrician friend recommended installing a commercial high voltage plug, I did and never looked back. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by AKRISONER

[LostAnotherOne]

2 minutes ago, AKRISONER said:

So a quick story about personal experience, this happened to me, what was happening was that my wires were fraying at the plug in connection due to vibration creating a big resistance which actually was lighting my power cable on fire. Yes…o had a small fire in my boat even with the cable fused.
 

if I were you I’d be immediately checking every connection, or even possibly totally redoing them to ensure you have a nice clean connection to each terminal point.

by the way if you are using a minkotta receptacle and plug, they are literally totally garbage.an electrician friend recommended installing a commercial high voltage plug, I did and never looked back. 

Had the same thing happen to me out on Pigeon a few years ago.  Nothing sends you into panic mode faster then seeing smoke coming from your boat. With something like this I honestly wouldn’t take the chance and do it myself, but bring it in to technician and have them look it over.

[AKRISONER]

1 minute ago, LostAnotherOne said:

Had the same thing happen to me out on Pigeon a few years ago.  Nothing sends you into panic mode faster then seeing smoke coming from your boat. With something like this I honestly wouldn’t take the chance and do it myself, but bring it in to technician and have them look it over.

Funny, I actually trust myself with wiring more than I do a technician, simply due to the fact that DC wiring is a bit of an “art form” when you really take your time and spend the money to ensure everything is marine grade, crimped, soldered, shrink wrapped, loomed, and waterproofed it’s a heck of a lot of detail, detail that I wouldn’t trust a hired gun with simply due to time constraints. I spent all winter last year doing a lot of wiring in my skeeter, and to do it perfectly is time consuming as all hell.

[Sinker]

what size wire and how far to the batteries?

[msp]

2 hours ago, Sinker said:

what size wire and how far to the batteries?

Batteries are fairly close. Under the front deck. Assuming a 9 gauge wire. It’s actually hardwired as I removed the plug years ago. Based on the responses here it’s most likely the connections. Will go over it and possibly re do the connections and clean all the terminals. Thanks for all the replies everyone !

[msp]

[AKRISONER]

1 hour ago, msp said:

Batteries are fairly close. Under the front deck. Assuming a 9 gauge wire. It’s actually hardwired as I removed the plug years ago. Based on the responses here it’s most likely the connections. Will go over it and possibly re do the connections and clean all the terminals. Thanks for all the replies everyone !

You might be a little light on your wire guage there. Especially if you are running an 80lb thrust motor. You want to run 6 guage tinned copper at minimum

[msp]

41 minutes ago, AKRISONER said:

You might be a little light on your wire guage there. Especially if you are running an 80lb thrust motor. You want to run 6 guage tinned copper at minimum

It’s whatever gauge comes attached to the pedal. I’m assuming it’s 6 maybe 

[AKRISONER]

28 minutes ago, msp said:

It’s whatever gauge comes attached to the pedal. I’m assuming it’s 6 maybe 

Ya that’s 8, maybe even 10…too thin. Are you running a 24 volt system? I’m assuming you are getting too much resistance building up somewhere due to corrosion or just a bad terminal connection. I’d personally rewire, it’s a cheap effective solution if your run is short as described.

[Garnet]

To run 80% constant you will need the best connections possible.

I would take top off the head 4 screws from underneath.

The first thing is your nose take a good sniff. If it smells burnt it likely is.

You will also see a connection if that looks burnt it is.

Really you should never run a trolling motor on 80 ,think it even states in manual only for short periods .

You might need a 36 volt system.

[msp]

Thanks for all the recommendation gentlemen. 
what gauge wire would you recommend ? I’m running a 24 v 65 pound maxuum 

typically not always running it on high speed for long periods. Mostly just to get to another spot quick without starting the main. Must be a crappy connection at my batteries or where I hardwired it in. Maybe I just run all new directly from the pedal to batteries with no connections ?

[AKRISONER]

6 guage anchor marine tinned copper. Some longer lengths require 4 but shouldn’t be necessary with your application. I personally bolt my crimped terminal ends together with stainless bolts and a locking nut to prevent vibration loosening it.  I have then used heat shrink over the connection. I then placed mesh loom over that.

you can decide if you want to still have a plug for your TM. If you are like me, the trolling motor never comes off of my boat. Some people like the convenience of being able to remove their trolling motor for whatever reason, storage, security etc.

 

ill get you a photo of my set up hopefully in a couple of days. I’ll be installing my whole set up on my new boat.

Edited October 16, 2021 by AKRISONER

[msp]

On 10/15/2021 at 8:52 PM, AKRISONER said:

6 guage anchor marine tinned copper. Some longer lengths require 4 but shouldn’t be necessary with your application. I personally bolt my crimped terminal ends together with stainless bolts and a locking nut to prevent vibration loosening it.  I have then used heat shrink over the connection. I then placed mesh loom over that.

you can decide if you want to still have a plug for your TM. If you are like me, the trolling motor never comes off of my boat. Some people like the convenience of being able to remove their trolling motor for whatever reason, storage, security etc.

 

ill get you a photo of my set up hopefully in a couple of days. I’ll be installing my whole set up on my new boat.

Nice. You are speaking Greek to me lol. I have no need for a plug. I find they can be a pain in the ass. Show me your set up when done.  You got the boat ? Heard you had troubles with getting across ? 

[AKRISONER]

4 hours ago, msp said:

Nice. You are speaking Greek to me lol. I have no need for a plug. I find they can be a pain in the ass. Show me your set up when done.  You got the boat ? Heard you had troubles with getting across ? 

Not yet, I’m trying wednesday. Have to get re-tested for covid and spend even more money. If they don’t let me in I’ll have to wait until the 8th and get tested yet again! Hooray for me.

 

ill let you know if I get the boat Wednesday. If I do I’ll be spending Thursday evening installing my trolling motor so I have a boat for the weekend

Edited October 18, 2021 by AKRISONER

[Fish Farmer]

Have you taken the prop off to check if you may have picked up some fishing line.

A buddy had that problem on his 80 Lb.

[Sinker]

I ran 4 ga from my batteries to the motor. I shortened the wires coming off the motor as short as I could, and use one of these connectors. I haven't had an issue. It works slick. 

https://www.grainger.ca/en/product/p/WWG3BY23?gclid=CjwKCAjw_L6LBhBbEiwA4c46up-ttYeNJQdzGu34l0LYzU3iKZsK9wqIbb95UbTfPrDKeFqKeyDR8RoCSLAQAvD_BwE&cm_mmc=PPC:+Google+PLA&ef_id=CjwKCAjw_L6LBhBbEiwA4c46up-ttYeNJQdzGu34l0LYzU3iKZsK9wqIbb95UbTfPrDKeFqKeyDR8RoCSLAQAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!3645!3!483556496832!!!g!545678050530!

S. 

[AKRISONER]

Here’s what they looked like as I took them out…As you can see I heat shrunk over the bolts attaching the ring terminals. I then took it apart and re-installing was as simple as putting a ring terminal on the power end of my wires, heat shrinking that, bolting the two terminals together and heat shrinking over that connection.

 

if you need some ring terminals I have a frigging ton of high end ones that a board member provided me last year. I’ve also got some terminal block connectors that I can give you. I can’t remember where you live but let me know if you are interested. I have no problem paying it forward.

[DRIFTER_016]

I used Marinco twist lock TM plug on my boat. Works good and allows me to keep the TM disconnected when not using it so I know there's nothing to drain the batteries. Even when not in use a lot of electronics/electrical things draw a small amount of power.

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Marinco-12VCP6-ConnectPro-Charging-Receptacle/dp/B000NI38KS/ref=asc_df_B000NI38KS/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=335540902013&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7641685943674575004&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001629&hvtargid=pla-572087200955&psc=1

[msp]

Excellent thread and information gentlemen. I’m going to re wire the TM after the fishing season this winter and will definitely be reaching out. Akrisoner- I have never seen those connection before. Very clean slick work buddy. And congrats on the new boat ! 

[Garnet]

It's huge wiring your troller correctly and even more so for electronics.o

[AKRISONER]

1 hour ago, Garnet said:

It's huge wiring your troller correctly and even more so for electronics.o

10000% this ties right back in with what was talked about earlier "hiring a technician" to actually really really do it right, you are better off doing it yourself. The guys that really do this stuff are few and far between because truthfully you almost need to be "into" marine electronics to even understand why and what you need to do.

I was skeptical, but my father and I are running nearly the exact same electronics set up, lets just say he took the easy way out and I took the hard moderately costly way. He still is in denial as to the reason why my livescope and 2d, Down and Side look so much better than his. He thinks its settings related. Its 1000% interference related. You can imagine the more detailed our electronics get, the more sensitive they become. 

This is honestly something I had considered doing as a side hustle for a bit but honestly would be too risky I would think due to the liabilities of someone's boat catching on fire. if you can recall back in the late 90's and early 2000's there were lots of car audio shops. Those guys knew how to wire DC systems. I took it up for a time as a hobby and funny enough many of the same concepts and logic are applied in boat wiring. To me, its "you get what you put into it"

There are also ways to "cheat" and make things far more simple without the need to do a heck of a lot of crimping, soldering and heat shrinking, i.e. look up "seaclear" harnesses...its the real deal but you are paying $260USD per unit to run their wire set up! I personally run 3 plotters and livescope with a networked system, so its oldschool soldering and heat shrinking for me lol.

I dont think MSP is too much of an electronics guy, but we can definitely chat about that when we talk about wiring up your TM.

Edited October 29, 2021 by AKRISONER

[RandyLinden]

Hi, I agree with using the marine wire, 6 AWG would be fine for your application. Similar to AKRISONER I use a Blue sea power post to make the connection to the trolling motor wires. I would also install a good quality circuit breaker or at minimum a fuse (carry a spare) in a location that you can easily access and is close to your batteries. 

In case you are looking for a good place to buy these items I purchase my stuff at marine outfitters in Kingston they have a good website and you can order online and have it shipped.

 

[AKRISONER]

1 hour ago, RandyLinden said:

Hi, I agree with using the marine wire, 6 AWG would be fine for your application. Similar to AKRISONER I use a Blue sea power post to make the connection to the trolling motor wires. I would also install a good quality circuit breaker or at minimum a fuse (carry a spare) in a location that you can easily access and is close to your batteries. 

In case you are looking for a good place to buy these items I purchase my stuff at marine outfitters in Kingston they have a good website and you can order online and have it shipped.

 

thats pretty slick!