Texas Fishing Forum

trolling motor wires

Posted By: 83falcon

trolling motor wires - 07/22/14 05:22 AM

I have a 24 volt 80 lb thrust terrova. My motor would cut off flipped breaker but the cables were super hot going to battery. Is this normal? Why is it randomly kicking off? Doesn't always have to have fuse reset
Posted By: Wayne P.

Re: trolling motor wires - 07/22/14 12:27 PM

Your wires are too small for the load. Heat is power your motor is not getting.
Posted By: Bob Landry

Re: trolling motor wires - 07/22/14 11:50 PM

Rewire it using #6 wire. Be sure that you use AWG and not SAE wire. SAE is 12-18% smaller depending on gauge and does not handle as much load as AWG.
Posted By: Lou r Pitcher

Re: trolling motor wires - 07/23/14 09:27 PM

Your present wire size may/may not be fine. Was trolling motor working fine previously?

You could have a nearby loose connection to the warm wire or a bad trolling motor drawing excessive amps. You could simply have cut fishing line under your Trolling motor prop.

A volt meter will indicate which is heating the wires and tripping the breaker.

(To know the wire gauge needed for your model trolling motor, would also need to know the total length of its' run to the battery for your specific boat.
Posted By: 83falcon

Re: trolling motor wires - 07/25/14 10:33 PM

20 foot so roughly 22' ish. 80 lb 24 volt terrova
Posted By: Lou r Pitcher

Re: trolling motor wires - 07/26/14 03:02 PM

I believe your that your motor's manual specifies a 60amp breaker for your 80lb 24V Terrova and specs use of 6 Gauge wire on typical setups.

A 6 Gauge wire size falls appropriately between the 3% and 10% voltage loss 'ABYC tables' for a 40foot total length run/ @24 volts. (4 Gauge (@3%) and 8 Gauge (@10%).

What amperage is your present breaker that is tripping?
Posted By: 83falcon

Re: trolling motor wires - 07/27/14 02:20 AM

Originally Posted By: Lou r Pitcher
I believe your that your motor's manual specifies a 60amp breaker for your 80lb 24V Terrova and specs use of 6 Gauge wire on typical setups.

A 6 Gauge wire size falls appropriately between the 3% and 10% voltage loss 'ABYC tables' for a 40foot total length run/ @24 volts. (4 Gauge (@3%) and 8 Gauge (@10%).

What amperage is your present breaker that is tripping?


I need to go check but the wire was hot as hell so I am having that checked first due to the temperature of that thing. Will let you guys know what happens
Posted By: forkduc

Re: trolling motor wires - 07/28/14 06:18 PM

You may also have a dirty or loose connection. Check the connection and the wire size.
Posted By: 83falcon

Re: trolling motor wires - 07/31/14 04:49 PM

at the battery or where I plug in the motor?
Posted By: forkduc

Re: trolling motor wires - 07/31/14 06:18 PM

Both
Make sure they are clean and tight.
Posted By: 83falcon

Re: trolling motor wires - 08/07/14 05:10 AM

well I found what may be the problem. When they wired the butt connecter where the battery cable attaches to the cable from the trolling motor, they didnt individually wrap both the positive and negative cable and as I undid the tape today, I saw that I believe the two wires were rubbing frown just going to hardwire and bypass the plug and hopefully get better overall performance out of the trolling motor. We will see! also replacing the breaker as its a cheapo 50 volt rusted piece of [censored].
Posted By: Lou r Pitcher

Re: trolling motor wires - 08/08/14 07:44 PM

50volt rusted?

Perhaps 50 amp. Double check with MK as that may be 10 amps low for your 24 volt TM but you can't increase it unless you know your existing wiring can support 60 amps.
Posted By: 83falcon

Re: trolling motor wires - 08/11/14 02:26 AM

yes haha meant amp. Well I rewired and did the hardwire to the trolling motor and upped the amp to a 60 amp minn kota and it ran fine today.
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