Minn Kota PowerDrive Problem

[Tom A]

Happy Labor Day to all. I have been following this forum for the past year since I bought my used 2010 Alumacraft 165 CS Classic powered by a Yamaha 20HP motor. Members of this forum have made my transition into the bass fishing world much more comfortable and I thank you all.

 

My issue began this past Thursday while coming into the dock at the end of the day using the 8 year old Minn Kota PowerDrive V2 12 volt 55 lb trolling motor. Cross Creek Lake is a 9.9 HP only lake, so the trolling motor had seen heavy use for 6 hours. I was coming in on the highest speed when I took my foot off the foot control for a moment. When I tried to power up again there was no response. No prop movement. No direction movement. And the test button didn’t illuminate any of the lights. Obviously, no power to the entire unit. Though I thought I would have seen a drop in power from the one year old Duracell Ultra 12 volt 31 series prior to the battery dying, I assumed I had drained it completely and continued on with the outboard.

 

Upon arriving home I checked the battery and found that it still had sufficient charge to power the trolling motor. I then removed the prop and found a heavy concentration of fishing line tightly wound around the shaft. I removed the line and replaced the the prop. Next, I checked the circuit breaker on the positive cable on the positive terminal of the battery and found it had been tripped. I disconnected wires from both terminals and re-set the circuit breaker. Thinking that all should now be in order and the motor should work, I began to reconnect the wires beginning with the positive. As I went to connect the negative sparks flew. Believing something was drawing power from somewhere I checked the foot control. Nothing was stuck there nor was the “continuous” power switch activated.

 

I then began to look for a possible short in the electrical system. I disconnected the trolling motor from it’s plug in the bow and found that I could connect the battery without sparking indicating to me that the circuit to that point was ok. I then disassembled the base housing and control box to check all connections. All connections were good. No charring or melting of components observed.

 

I disconnected the foot control just in case something was wrong there, but when I tried the battery connection again it sparked.

 

Finally, not being sure if the circuit breaker could be a problem I removed it from the positive cable and tried to re-connect the battery again resulting in sparks.

 

That, forum members, is the extent of my very limited mechanical/electrical knowledge. Obviously I would like to try and avoid a trip to a Minn Kota mechanic. Does anyone have an idea as to how to proceed from here. Thanks for any help.

[slonezp]

The Powerdrive motor draws power 100% of the time. Did you check the plug receptacle for any loose or melted connections? If that's all good, you could have an internal short in the motor. If in fact the motor is bad, do yourself a favor and get a Terrova instead of another PD 

[Tom A]

Thanks for the response slonezp. PowerDrive is shot. Took your advice and looked at the Terrova. As I am in my late 50’s and retired I decided to go with the beefed up version and splurged on an Ulterra

[Further North]

On 9/3/2018 at 8:19 AM, slonezp said:

The Powerdrive motor draws power 100% of the time. Did you check the plug receptacle for any loose or melted connections? If that's all good, you could have an internal short in the motor. If in fact the motor is bad, do yourself a favor and get a Terrova instead of another PD 

...and bump up to 24 volt, 80# thrust while you're at it.  You'll thank yourself the first time you fish...

16 hours ago, Tom A said:

Thanks for the response slonezp. PowerDrive is shot. Took your advice and looked at the Terrova. As I am in my late 50’s and retired I decided to go with the beefed up version and splurged on an Ulterra

Sweet!

 

You won't be disappointed!

[Tom A]

FUrtherNorth....exactly what I did. It’s being installed next week along with a few other minor improvements. Thanks.