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Trolling Motor Help


Mike_Honcho

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I have a new Pathfinder 2300 HPS and still getting used to the boat. I recently installed a 36v Minn Kota Riptide Ulterra trolling motor. Yesterday I was running the trolling motor and accidentally moved the main battery selector switch the combine batteries position (see picture) while the trolling motor was deployed and running. The trolling motor immediately stopped working and now I cannot get it to turn on at all.

The breaker is not tripped, I've already tried turning the selector switch off/on several times, unplugged and plugged it back in, nothing helps. I did not smell anything burning and the fact that the breaker did not trip has me at a loss of what happened. I'm to the point that I am about to just remove it from the boat and take it in to a repair shop but I am on vacation and was hoping that I could get it working so we could utilize it for the next few days.

Any chance that anyone else has made this mistake before and has an idea of how I can fix it? I would very much appreciate any advice. 

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the first and obvious question is what is the  voltage at the trolling motor  plug.

does your  setup use one of the trolling motor  batteries as a backup for the cranking battery.  if so it must be the battery that has the ground for the trolling motor.  this battery is critical and must be wired properly. done wrong you run the risk of overliading the engine voltage

 

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Not to de-rail but, it seems like we always have electrical questions about our boats and motors. I'm not an electrician, but had to learn the basics so I could work on my own stuff, or pay $100 per hour to some shop.  I bought a mini multi tester about 20 years ago and it's the best tool I ever bought for troubleshooting electrical problems in my boat. It was still working, but somehow I broke the battery compartment and had to by a new meter. The link below is the unit I bought, almost identical to the old one. 

It will test any size or type battery or wiring from a hearing aid battery to big marine batteries. 12 volts, 24 volts, 36 volts doesn't matter.  It will also test any 110 or 220 voltage as well as continuity and resistance. So easy and simple to use with only four selections. I think this is a must have for us guys that don't want to drag our rigs to the shop and pay for what is usually a pretty simple fix. 

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=hp8216n&ref=nb_sb_noss

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Mike, on mine it’s in the console. Typically, if you trip a circuit breaker there’s a fuse preceding the circuit breaker. Check your fuse box before running to the shop.NEVER change your battery switch while running! Your not the first or last to do this

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30 minutes ago, Sunstone said:

There are fuses on each battery 5 total.  I would bet you blew all of them.

I got in the console earlier and traced back all of the DC cables. I couldn’t see where there were any fuses. From batteries the go to the switches and from the switches to the breakers then back to the plug from what I can tell. I’m going to go buy a multimeter tomorrow and see if I’m getting 36v to the plug. I was really hoping it was something as simple as a blown fuse but I couldn’t find any fuses in the circuit...

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