trolling motor power problem

[DEISWERTH]

I have a minn kota powerdrive 50# 12v variable speed TM and it just seems like it does not have the power that a 50# thrust motor should have. I've checked the connections and my battery is fully charged. I've always thought this about my trollong motor, but kinda just lived with it, but now other people in the boat have made some comments that it should move my boat better (16' alum., not over loaded or a bunch of stuff in it). Anybody have any ideas? Thuoght I'd ask here first before I take it to the boat place for them to check out. Thanks

Doug

[Guest avid]

You probably have the weedless wedge or ww2 prop.  These are excellent for cutting through weeds and here in Fla are an absolute must, but if you fish areas that have mostly open water than get a power prop.  You will defintly notice an increase in power.

[Alpster]

Pull the prop and make sure there is no old fishing line or weeds wrapped around the shaft.

I was about to throw a TM away when I discovered I had picked up someones discarded mono and it was wrapped neatly around the prop shaft. I ran it that way for a long time, but when I removed the line it ran like new. I hope that's your problem.

Ronnie

[mercury89]

How long are your trolling motor wires, and what diameter are they?

If they were originially powering a small trolling motor they may be too small a diameter for your 50# troller.  Also, as you get farther from the battery the thinner wire suffers from severe voltage drop compared to thicker wires or an installation closer to the battery.

[DEISWERTH]

I'll pull the prop and check it to make sure nothing is there. I'm not sure what kind of prop is on it now, but I'll try to find out. What does a power prop look like? Does BPS sell them? I don't know what size wires they are coming from the battery, but the wires run from the back of the boat to the front, approx. 16-17'. Will have somebody that knows wires at work take a look and tell me the gauge. Thanks for the help, Doug

[Travlin_Man]

Consider a Kipawa prop. I have used one on a MK  44lb. thrust tm for about two years.  The bottom line is more speed, more range, and runs through weeds quite well.

[Guest avid]

Rule #1 - Always assume the cheapest solution will fix the problem

pull the prop and check for obstruction (free)

If none, go to wal-mart and get a replacement prop (non weedless) for your model.

If these cheap fixes don't do the trick, I would recommend bringing it in to an authorized MK service center, or respected local TM repair guy.

[David Frasso]

What is the Wire size between your batteries and your motor plug in... Is the gauge big enough.

Is your batteries full of water.... I normally put a drinking water bottle of water in my 3 batteries about every 2 weeks or so. Good idea to check water level throughout the summer..

Have you check the gravity in each of your battery cells...

A freind I fish some tourny's with had problems one time... only have maybe half of his normal power... We checked his on board charger to find 2 fuses.. A fuse going to 1 of his Deep Cycle batteries was blown.. so his charger didn't charge that battery up.. The electric was only pulling juice from 1 battery... hummm

Hope this helps you..

[DEISWERTH]

Thanks for the help guys, but the "easy fixes" didn't do anything. I think it might be in or it has something to do with the foot control. It is variable speed, but if you put it on 5 it hardly even turns? Turns faster on 1? On 10, it doesn't turn much faster than 1? Called the boat place and they are shut down from Thanksgiving til Dec. 4th, so it's going down next week. We have a big cold front coming in now so  it won't be too bad not having my boat. Hopefully they won't have it to long, because most people around here have already winterized there boats.

Doug

[Alpster]

You can test this pretty easy yourself. If you pull the back cover plate off the foot controller and attach your battery to the wires on the motor side of the controller (bypass the controller) you should be running at 10 or 100% power. Just a thought.

Ronnie

[dizzy5868]

It is definatly your footswitch. I had the same motor and sold it. I went through 3 pedals before I had enough. If you remove the cover you will find that the circuit board is very flimsy and more than likley craked somewhere in the board. The sun dries them out and they become brittle. You can call minn kota and pitch a %^&**, they will more than likley send you a new pedal free, They sent me 2 of them in one summer. It is a design flaw in the power drives, The first pedal that went bad, I lost left and right, the second I lost 4,5 of the power. Check it out, it sounds like the same problem again.

Rob

[HPBB]

Sounds like you foot petal. I went through 3 in 3 years with a 55# PD I have. Call Minkota the petal whole petal is only about $60 or $70. You can order just the board and switch to, but it only saves you about $10