HELP!!! Burned up trolling motor wires

[wgstelz]

Thank you all in advance for reading/helping this post!

This weekend I noticed that my trolling motor appeared to only be running at about 1/2 power (i have an older motorguide 55# thurst motor). Bad enough that I would not be able to run the motor in anything but mild wind.

When I got home I took apart the Marinco 3 wire trolling motor connectors (see links to pics) and noticed that the ground wire on the male plug was VERY badly burned and one of the other hot wires was a little loose. The wire was so burned that it melted the plastic on the connector and melted the male ground prong in the female connector.

I also noticed this season that my onboard charger is reading one of the trolling motor batteries as being fully charged after fishing all day. I am pretty sure that in the past when I plugged in the charger that all three batteries had red lights. I am not sure if this is related but it does not hurt to add.

I am going to pick up the same replacement plugs tomorrow but am concerned that I am not addressing the real problem.

I am hoping that it could have just been a bad connector but am looking for some help. I have a tournament comming up this weekend and hope to have the problem fixed in a day or two.

Here are the pictures I mentioned. (Sorry they are a bit blurry but I think you will get the idea)







Thanks again in advance for the help!!!!

[PSM207]

I suspect that there was a loose connection at the Marinco connector. The TM draws a considerable amount of current (amps). High amperage across the loose connection will generate high temps. I've seen this before and recommend that they be routinely inspected. Be sure to inspect the connector in the front panel and the terminal connections at the batteries. Poor connections will also reduce TM battery run time.

[Olddawg]

Having a loose wire is bad news.....it can lead to just what your talking about....make sure everything it as tight as possible....

[21XDC]

6 gauge wiring and propper fusing is very important. The lil' jumper blade in the plug is the culprit many times from just being loose.... Some of the older boats have 8-10 gauge wiring and guys put bigger trollers on w/o upgrading the wiring too... Trouble is near.

[ZeroHour]

Just fixed the same thing on my javelin. Then I didnt realize it and they sent me a 12 volter...Hooked her up not thinking mind you....Kawhoosh toasted in 2 seconds

Just get a new plug strip back and clean the wires and check it every 3-4 trips or after particularly rough trips or long vibrating trailer rides.

Good luck its not catastrophic.

[wgstelz]

Thanks everybody for the great advise. I have a new plug I am going to install and test today. I was also given guidance to put a special type of grease on the connections to stop corroding. I am looking forward to testing everything on the water tomorrow!!!!

Thanks again!

Walt

[PSM207]

I too use the electrical grease!

[21XDC]

I use sparkplug boot grease from an auto store.

[ChrisH]

remember to unplug it every trip. voltage will still travel up to the pedal if you keep it pugged in all the time

[allskeeter]

The wire appears to have come loose at some point and the high amps at that point would in fact create enough heat to cause that problem. A little NOLOX on all the connections would definetly help. It is also a good idea to check it periodically for tightness too. The wires loosen from the way we use the motor. They heat up then then expand and then cool and shrink as we turn the motor on and off. Thus causing the wire to be loose. As far as the charger lights go it would appear that the you have 12/24 volt system. It also appears that the wire is burned completely in half. This would only allow it to run on 12 volts only or 24 volts only. So one of the batteries should remain charged and have a green light. However the chargers I have dealt with have several stages and pass through them quickly depending on the amount of charging needed. If its a dual pro they will be more than happy to help as they have great customer service.

Hope this helps

[wgstelz]

Cool, thanks for all the great feedback.

The charger ended up being a bad inline bus fuse. I replaced the fuse and it started charing it. That was king of weird, I figured I would not have gotten a green light if there was a bad fuse.

Thanks,

-Walt