Minn kota trubble

[Djay604]

Hi there, really hoping someone can help me, I just bought my first boat and motor, I got a 30 pound thrust Minn kota and a interstate deep cycle marine battery, when running the motor out of water my voltage drops to about 11.8 but under load it drops down to 6.3 volts can someone point me in the right direction before I buy a.new motor or something? This is my first boat and motor ever so I honestly have no idea what to do plz help thanks.

[Tim Kelly]

Have you tried using it when fishing? If it runs out of puff pretty quickly, you probably need a new battery, assuming the connections are all sound. I expect voltage will drop when you run the motor, especially at full power, doubt it should drop that much though. Probably not ideal running the motor out of the water either, it may overheat.

[Djay604]

It's a bran new battery but maybe a defect one, I only run it for like 10 seconds out of water just to test it. But can't even get 20 mins of fishing before its done l, just didn't think it would drain that quickly but must be a defective battery maybe, just not sure, like I said this is my first boat ever so this is all new to me.

[Tim Kelly]

You do charge it properly?

[MickD]

How does the prop feel when rotated by hand, turns freely and with basically no feeling of drag?  It should turn freely.

 

Describe your charger and charging technique.  In particular, how many amps does it provide?

 

If it's a new battery, did you buy it locally?  Piece of cake for the battery store to check its condition.

[slonezp]

Right now it sounds like a battery or charging issue. 

[Slade House]

 

delted post

1.  could be one of your cells is empty and you need to add distilled or bottled water , try that , charge it up.  

 

also most trolling motors have a 40-50 amp breaker before the battery on the postive cable. if you or someone else removed that cable etc, what will happen is when you're out on the water , the trolling motor just turns off stops working (blows a fuse

 

2.  could be crappy battery terminasl

 

 

my prognosis, go to walmart, buy the battery that fits your compartment with alost of amp hours NEVER BATTERIES PLUS, DONT EVER BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM, 

[MickD]

Of course it sounds like a battery or charging issue, but what specifically is going on to cause a battery or charging issue?  Could be a number of things, which is why he asked.  And, sometimes things are not as they seem.  So to figure it out, look at all aspects of the issue.  Bad battery?  It's new, probably OK, but have it checked to find out.  Insufficient time on a charger?  Insufficient amperage on the charger?  If using a trickle charger, could take forever.  Connections all clean and tight?  Is the motor OK?  If the shaft turns freely, that's a good sign.  If it doesn't, it could be using lots of power more than if it were OK.