Trolling Motor - Overheating ?

[Bass_junky]

I went out last night to a pond/lake that only allowed 10hp motor.  I took my boat but due to regulations, my motor is too large to operate.  I used my trolling motor to manuver around the lake.

This is a motorguide 740 touring addition, 1-5 speeds @ 45# thrust.  When I kicked the trolling motor on auto @ 5 speed after 5-10 min's the trolling motor died.  I felt the wiring leading from the foot pedal to the plug-in and it was very hot.  I let the trolling motor cool and turned down the speed to 4 and didn't have any further issues.

MY QUESTION:  shouldn't the fuse have kicked out?

I understand amperage is causing the overheating, but unsure of a correction.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[kirk]

Remove your prop and check there is not  bunch of mono on the shaft.   That happened to me as well.

[fishinfool]

Same thing happened to me, twice. It was line in tangled in the prop both times.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

ditto but also check for possible wire wear at the plug.  Happened to a guy I fish with.  

[Oilpig]

You could also try putting in a lower rated fuse as a safety precaution.  It might save you from burning up your TM until you get the issue solved.

[Bass_junky]

Good point OP, I was very concerned with this issue because the fuse should have blown first.

I did remove the prop but only found some dried out Hydrilla on the shaft.  

Thanks for the responses ;D

I will investigate further.

[Travlin_Man]

Check all of your connections. Even the smallest bit of corrosion can make a difference with a high amp. draw.Also you could have some broken wire strands near any of the connections. This could allow adeq uate current at lower speeds but comes up short when max. amps are needed.

[Safe-light-till-3]

You were working the hell out of the thing. 45lb thrust on 5 speed.!!!!!!! One thing will help; make sure you use the largest size wire you can. Usually size 6 is put in boats but I rewired mine with #4. NOOOOOOO PROBLEMMMM

[papadew]

If your tm plug has crimp connectors, go to a soldered connection.  You lose amps with crimp-on connectors.  I nearly replaced my tm when it started running really sluggishly.  Ran better than when it was new when I soldered the plug in wires and eliminated scorching heat at crimp connections as well.  Make dang sure your wire size for the pig-tail connector is not too small also because it will also overheat like hell.  Papa

[Ben]

The overheating of the wire is probably a dirty plug/rectical or loose connections on either.   If the boat is several years old, it may even be too small to handle the amp load of the TM.  

Check the batteries and see if they have the small circuit breakers.  The will be connected to the battery and the TM cables connected to them.  The motor cutting off was probably the circuit breaker is too small for the amp draw for the TM to run long periods on high.  If they are there, they are probably 25 or 30 amp.  You need to change them out for 40 - 45 amp.  You also need to check the size cable going from the battery to the TM connector.  Anything smaller than #6 battery/welding cable (fine stranded wire) is too small.   If it is too small, that will also add to the overheating you get at the connector.

You gotta remember, it's only been in the last several years we had these big TM's and boat builders started setting boats up for them.  We didn't run TM's that had the power they have now the boats were not set up for that much current.  Even with newer boats, you go way over what the boat builder felt is needed, chances are, it's not going to have the connectors, circuit breakers or wiring to handle it.