Did I wreck my trolling motor?

[CB72]

Hi all. New to boating and the forum. I am about at the point where I am going to bail on boat ownership after one season. Hit a rock day 2, $800. Tried to launch without undoing the back straps, $100. Someone hit my trailer in in the parking lot at the launch and ripped off the taillight and damaged the frame. Haven't even paid for that yet. Yesterday, I took the boat out again, and I think I have now toasted my trolling motor. It is a Terrova 80, 2015. Bought as a demo, less than 30 hours on the main motor, not sure how much use the trolling motor saw. I have had issues with the plug falling out, and I noticed that there was an arrow on the plug indicating that if I twisted it, it would lock. It still fell out, so I twisted harder (OK, really hard). After that I lost all power. When I got home, I discovered that the wires inside the plug had twisted around and shorted, melting part of the plug and receptacle, in addition to tripping the circuit breaker. I cut back the wires and reassembled the plug and receptacle, reset the breaker, and managed to restore power to the outlet. Despite this, there is still no response from the motor. My circuit tester indicates that there is power at the plug when it is in the receptacle. I have opened the base and inspected the control board with no sign of any damage. No signs of trouble in the control box at the top either. Does anyone have an idea of anything else to check, or am I on the hook for another $1500 on top of everything else?
Thanks.

 

[gm280]

Okay, ummmm...maybe you do need to take a year off... Not really, things happen to all of us. That is just part of living and boating. It looks like that trolling motor is a steer by wire model and therefore the power goes straight to the head unit itself and not the foot control section. Have you verified proper voltage at the head unit? That would be the first thin you need to do. And if you don't have voltage at the head unit where the battery power comes in, then you have a broken wire in the power cord that plugs into the receptacle that you twisted and shorted out. But the fact that the short was pre trolling motor, I don't see how you could have damaged the TM. So do that test and report back. And;

:welcome: aboard to iboats... .

 

[CB72]

Thanks for the advice. I have verified that the power cord is in continuity, as is the cord going to the control head and the wires heading to the motor itself. The power is not getting from the input cord into the other areas, which makes me think I fried the control board. I will try to get a new one and see if that fixes it.

 

[gm280]

Thanks for the advice. I have verified that the power cord is in continuity, as is the cord going to the control head and the wires heading to the motor itself. The power is not getting from the input cord into the other areas, which makes me think I fried the control board. I will try to get a new one and see if that fixes it.

So I am assuming that power is getting from the plug through the cord to the head unit, but not to the motor. If you can, can you take a picture of the controller board and post it. I'd like to see how it is built. Have you priced out a new controller board?

 

[gm280]

So I take it that you have power from the plug through the cord to the head unit, but not to the motor itself then. Could you take a picture or three of the actual controller board and post them. I'd like to see what they used on that board. Also have you priced our a new controller board?

 

[fishrdan]

My circuit tester

Is that a test light or a volt meter (digital volt meter - DMV)? If just a test light, you need a DMV to test this properly, see how many volts are at the battery, plug and circuit board, they should all be the same, 12.6V or so.

If the board cooked, which could have happened by shorting out the main harness, you could swap it for around $200. Check fish307 dot com for parts, they are reasonable and have a good selection of parts on hand.

 

[hemi rt]

Have you tried unplugging the wires from the motor and applying power to the motor wires by-passing the control board, this would at least eliminate the motor itself if it ran with the control board by-passed.