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MinnKota Terrova Issue


Seacraft06

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have a 36v Terrova on my Pathfinder. Has been working flawlessly until today. I am looking to see if anyone has had a similar issue. I have seen others but not this specific scenario.

I was out using the trolling motor in mostly “anchor” mode for several hours today. I then picked up and ran to a new location. The ride to the new spot was pretty rough, but I have a stabilizer on the head of the motor.

I got to the new spot and went to setup and put it in anchor mode. Motor turned on fine. I engaged anchor mode and a couple minutes later I realized it wasn’t working. I began messing with it an discovered this.

When I give the motor gas/propulsion the prop starts to spin. But it does not spin up to the speed consistent with the setting (I.e. setting of 10 and prop is barely turning). When I set it to a speed the prop spins (slowly) and after a few seconds it automatically stops spinning. The remote isn’t giving any codes. The motor isn’t making any noise; beeps or flashes. The motor will still turn when I push the buttons on the remote, so it’s getting power. The motor is not shutting off, it just stops spinning the prop which wasn’t spinning to speed correctly to begin with.

Anyone have this issue where it was working fine and then all of a sudden it’s not spinning up to speed and then cuts out (stops spinning) all together? Does this sound like a mother/control board issue? Any way to trouble shoot and see if it’s the board?

I shut it off with the power button on the base. I unplugged it and replugged it in several times. I also turned the trolling motor battery switch on and off several times. All without luck.

 

I hit the test button on the 4 bank charger and it says the trolling motors are half full. Any chance that the motor is that sensitive when the batteries get that low?

 

I hit the test button on the 4 bank charger and it’s showing the trolling batteries at half charge still. Any chance half charge is too low?

Thanks for any insight.

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these motors are very finicky with voltage. the button is not very accurate on the charge.

in theory you are not supposed to  discharge a wet cell more than 50 %.

I would put a meter at the tm plug and see what you have. If you have a bad cell in one battery it will cause all kinds of problems cutting off.

charge all three disconnect them from each other and load test to find the bad battery. 

load tester can be had from  harbor freight cheaply and is a necessary tool when dealing with boats and batteries. 

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A few thoughts:

1) Absolute first thing to check - your connections back to the battery.  Any loose connection, corriosion, etc can cause some strange behavior in these motors.    The bumpy ride could have shaken a connection loose.

2)  I've always been leery of "supporting the head" - when that bow comes down hard, it jars the head of the TM.  Unsupported, the shaft flexes and the head is jarred far less.   Just my opinion, haven't seen any official guidance on this.

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As noted before, check wiring and connections to the battery. I have had two different issues with my Terrova and you've got to get the right customer service rep at MK. Most of them don't seem to know jack ***. Took awhile for me to cycle through to someone who was helpful the last time I had an issue, which ended up being a bad wire on the motherboard. 

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