minn kota motor problems

[Ken Lyons]

As a general rule check the easiest things to fix first. Always. That said I would bet a buck you have a loose connection. If the batteries are deep cycle do NOT use a load tester. They are for cranking batteries not deep cycles and could harm them. To check a deep cycle get a digital voltmeter and check the voltage. There should be instructions that come with it to tell you how to do it. Fully charged deep cycles are going to read at least 12.8 volts. The should hold this level for weeks or longer. A bad one will drop at least .3 volts overnight.
Before you do anything else run it as you usually would. Then feel all the connections but carefully. A bad connection will be warm if not hot.
I’ve been playing with these things for many years. Over 90% of my problems were bad connections.
Good luck.

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by Ken Lyons

As a general rule check the easiest things to fix first. Always. That said I would bet a buck you have a loose connection. If the batteries are deep cycle do NOT use a load tester. They are for cranking batteries not deep cycles and could harm them. To check a deep cycle get a digital voltmeter and check the voltage. There should be instructions that come with it to tell you how to do it. Fully charged deep cycles are going to read at least 12.8 volts. The should hold this level for weeks or longer. A bad one will drop at least .3 volts overnight.
Before you do anything else run it as you usually would. Then feel all the connections but carefully. A bad connection will be warm if not hot.
I’ve been playing with these things for many years. Over 90% of my problems were bad connections.
Good luck.

I def have one bad battery, but the other one is good. you're saying the wire connection to the battery terminal should not be warm at all after running for a bit?

[Ken Lyons]

Warm is fine. A loose battery connection can melt the post. Loose connections will be hot. The way you describe the intermittent on and off suggests a loose connection somewhere. Is this a 24 volt setup?
I don’t want to be a pia about this but anyone who is dependent on batteries really has to check voltages. The last time you charged that bad battery the voltage was above 12.8 for sealed lead acid and 12.6 for a wet cell. After a few days it would have dropped 3 or 4 tenths while the good battery would not have changed much at all. I’m not sure if the bad battery is the problem but it has to be replaced so you will find out.
As long as am lecturing let me say a good word about sealed lead acid if that’s not what you have. They can easily withstand discharge levels that will greatly shorten the life of a wet cell. They don’t emit fumes that will put holes in your clothes. They will hold a full or close to it charge over the Winter with out being topped off. That’s not all but enough for now.
Please let us know. We need your reports.

[phil]

which minn kota motor model is it

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by Ken Lyons

Warm is fine. A loose battery connection can melt the post. Loose connections will be hot. The way you describe the intermittent on and off suggests a loose connection somewhere. Is this a 24 volt setup?
I don’t want to be a pia about this but anyone who is dependent on batteries really has to check voltages. The last time you charged that bad battery the voltage was above 12.8 for sealed lead acid and 12.6 for a wet cell. After a few days it would have dropped 3 or 4 tenths while the good battery would not have changed much at all. I’m not sure if the bad battery is the problem but it has to be replaced so you will find out.
As long as am lecturing let me say a good word about sealed lead acid if that’s not what you have. They can easily withstand discharge levels that will greatly shorten the life of a wet cell. They don’t emit fumes that will put holes in your clothes. They will hold a full or close to it charge over the Winter with out being topped off. That’s not all but enough for now.
Please let us know. We need your reports.

It's a 12v, i've had multiple batteries running it over the last 2 years and the problem has always happened over all 3 of them so i'd think it's pretty unlikely i've had 3 bad batteries and rather it's more likely a problem in the motor. That being said, though, one of the batteries definitely doesn't hold a charge as well as it should. So i'm going to refund that battery for a new one and run more tests i guess

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by phil

which minn kota motor model is it

endura max 50 transom 12v

[acabtp]

you can get the battery load tested for free at any of the chain auto repair places. if they test out good under load it's not the batteries.

warm connections (not hot) are not unsafe, but are a waste and indicate you are getting voltage drop. if your connections or cable are getting noticeably warm, that takes quite a bit of power... power that otherwise would be delivered to the motor giving you more top speed and runtime. heating the conductors it just gets thrown away.

the manual for that minn kota specifies a 50 amp max draw and no more than 5% voltage drop is allowable at full power. with the TM in the water and set to full blast, the voltage at the motor (take off the top cap) needs to be at least 95% of what you measure at the battery. if it's any less it's the connections are a problem.

if it's not the batteries and it's not the connections, then i'd look at that control board in the TM

[Ken Lyons]

If you’re using deep cycle batteries a load tester could damage them. Load testers are for starting batteries that are designed to give short bursts of high current that you need to start an engine. Deep cycles are designed to supply much lower amperages for extended periods of time.
I would also respectfully disagree on that test. In actual use there is no way that motor draws 50 amps and I don’t care what MK says. Too the voltage drop across the terminals will vary substantially depending on the battery’s level of charge. At lower levels of charge you could see as low as 8 volts.
I also know what the documentation says about the voltage necessary to run a fish finder. Years back when I ran the motor and the FF off the same battery I knew when the FF shut down it was time to go home. That is because the motor drew enough to cause a battery voltage to drop below 8.
Please buy an AGM replacement and I’m sure you’ll have less trouble.

[Ken Lyons]

If you’re using deep cycle batteries a load tester could damage them. Load testers are for starting batteries that are designed to give short bursts of high current that you need to start an engine. Deep cycles are designed to supply much lower amperages for extended periods of time.
I would also respectfully disagree on that test. In actual use there is no way that motor draws 50 amps and I don’t care what MK says. Too the voltage drop across the terminals will vary substantially depending on the battery’s level of charge. At lower levels of charge you could see as low as 8 volts.
I also know what the documentation says about the voltage necessary to run a fish finder. Years back when I ran the motor and the FF off the same battery I knew when the FF shut down it was time to go home. That is because the motor drew enough to cause a battery voltage to drop below 8.
Please buy an AGM replacement and I’m sure you’ll have less trouble.

[acabtp]

redacted for professional courtesy