New Phoenix owner, trolling motor wiring question / no power

[10ga]

I bought a 2016 920 Pro XP from the original owner last week and today I took it out for the first time and the Ghost trolling motor has no power. I called him and he said it worked perfect when he parked it in November after getting his 2024 Pro XP. There's no power going to the TM and I've I checked everything at the back of the boat. I took the cover off the TM breaker box and made sure it was working and there's 12.5v going in and when I turn the breaker on, there's 12.5v going out. From the breaker one hot wire runs to the jump box and one goes up the port side of the boat to the front. I'm wondering if the wire is broke between the breaker at the rear to the bow. I can feel the wires running at the top of the port side rod locker, everything seems to be right. I took the cover off the at the bow where the wires all run to and stuck my voltage meter prongs in the wires before the splice and it's dead, zero power. I'm hoping I'm missing a fuse or breaker that's hard to find, any ideas? Boat runs great and everything else works perfect, still doesn't do me much good if I can't fish. The previous owner told me to take it anywhere I wanted to have it fixed and he'll pay for it but I'd really like to figure it out. Anywhere I take it to this time of year is going to be several weeks out. Thanks for any help!

[chad202]

12.5V will not run a Ghost. Need 24V or 36V. Bad battery?

[10ga]

Chad, Wouldn't there still be 12.5 showing at the front of the boat, in the wires going to the TM?
'
Thank you sir

[chad202]

You should only have a black and a red wire going to the motor. Under the bow panel you should have a 2-wire terminal strip. If you put your meter across those black and red wires, you should have either 24 or 36 volts depending on your system.

[ifishinxs]

As stated above. You have a positive and a negative 6 gauge wire from your TM batteries to your TM. That’s it. If you have 3 TM batteries you should have 36 volts going to the TM. In the battery compartment you should have a switch and or breaker connected to the positive cable going to the TM. Make sure the switch/breaker is ON. Make sure all of the connections at the batteries are good. If still no luck pull the bow shroud off and find the TM power cables and look for the heavy gauge wires. Trace them to the connection to the TM cables. Pretty simple stuff. Almost forgot. Make sure the batteries are charged!

The 12V’s you are testing at the bow are for your electronics.

[10ga]

I think the PO didn't use the wire terminal and just used some larger butt connectors. I have 12.5v coming in and out of the TM breaker, I must have 1 or 2 bad batteries and that's probably the whole issue. Thoughts?

[ifishinxs]

I think the PO didn't use the wire terminal and just used some larger butt connectors. I have 12.5v coming in and out of the TM breaker, I must have 1 or 2 bad batteries and that's probably the whole issue. Thoughts?

Thats a possibility for sure.

[10ga]

I just ordered a new 36v lithium battery for the trolling motor and the cranking batter also has some age on it so I'm going to replace all the batteries.

Any suggestion on a cranking battery? I have 4 units, active target. and a turret for my live running on that battery so I want to make sure I have the right battery. I had a Deka on my old Triton and that was the best battery I ever owned, just wondering if they're still as good as they were.

I really appreciate your all's help

[BassDaggett]

My thoughts on cranking battery as follows:

1. Minimum 120 Lithium cranking for all those units, active target and turret but that might be a little light on a 8+ hour day. IMHO 130+ would be better.

2. 31 Series AGM or 100AH Lithium cranking combined with a ‘House battery’ that is 100 AH minimum.

I would NOT recommend just a 31 series AGM as I ran (2) 10” Garmins, LiveScope and a 12” HBird with a X2 AGM and had low voltage warnings (ultimately shutting off units) when running all 3 with livewells after only 6 hours on a few occasions where I was fishing the same stretch without running big motor.

[ifishinxs]

Starting battery would the tried and true 12v 125Ah Ionic.

[BKF]

I believe the breaker box you are referring to is for your electronics, not your trolling motor. There should be a switchable breaker in the bilge near the trolling motor batteries. Make sure it is turned on

[Wackyjig]

Like has been said check your tm breaker. Should be on the tm battery side of the compartment tucked up at the top. If it is for sure in the on position, check your tm battery voltage. Place the negative probe on the negative terminal of the first battery. The black wire should be coming off and running to the front of the boat. Place the positive probe on the last battery positive. The red wire should come from there and go to the breaker.
If you have 36v your problem is elsewhere. If you have anything less than 36v check each individual battery for a potential dead battery.
You also said you have a jump box or jump switch as well. Make sure your jump switch is in the "run" position and not in a "jump" position. Depending on how it's wired up it could be isolating a tm battery from the rest of the series causing low voltage at the tm.

[10ga]

Thanks everyone for the help, I got it taken care of. I had 2 bad batteries and the charger said they were full but as soon as I unplugged the charger, the voltage would drop. There was also a lose wire coming out of the TM breaker, so it was a combination of things. Just waiting on the new lithium battery and charger to get here. Also buying a new AGM cranking battery, should be good to go soon.

[chad202]

Glad you got it figured out.

[BASS2277]