Minn Kota armature issue?

[PlayD0h]

So I was fishing, and used my Power Drive V2 70 pound to travel about 100 yards in some rough water. My motor is 2008 but only used for the past 6 years really.

Anyways, I went to pull anchor and like a lazy idiot I went to motor up to the anchor so it wasn’t back Breaking to pull in.




After a min or so I noticed I wasn’t moving and looked to see the anchor line wrapped around the motor and possibly against the prop. Ideal situation to over-current an electric motor, yet that’s what the breaker is for. Or so I thought.




I pulled the motor out and tested the armature bars. 5 are at 1 ohm, yet 1 is at 4.5 ohms. I guess it doesn’t get better in terms of diagnosing the problem, but I’ve never tested a DC armature before and I’m wondering if that might be within acceptances, and I’m about to waste $150-$200 on an armature I don’t need. Brushes look fine, and the entire motor is clean.




I’ve hotwired the motor with 12-24v and nada. The relays click when the pedal is pressed, so I can’t see it being the foot pedal or the control board, yet I’ve read a few posts from people who’s “trolling motor just clicks” and it was the foot pedal or control board. Yet none of them have seen to done much diagnosis on them.




Any electrical experts, or anyone who knows these motors well, able to give me some reassurance?




TIA

 

[alldodge]

I’ve hotwired the motor with 12-24v and nada.

So you connected the battery leads direct to the black and red motor leads?

If so, how do the brushes look?

 

[PlayD0h]

I for some reason didn’t take the brush holder out yet, but I’m still camping in my defense. Anyways I pulled it out and noticed the brushes wouldn’t slide. One was quite hard to move, the other took a small hammer and wood dowel to get it out. I filed the slots just enough so they’ll slide and I’m wondering if that was all it was.
The slots looked like the edges had melted a little bit and when cooled seized the brushes.
Worth noting Minn Kota’s New replacement armature and brush holder, has a redesigned and larger brushes to better dissipate heat.
Thank you very much for the help. Fingers crossed. Now I need to learn the technique to hold back the brushes when reinserting the motor.

 

[PlayD0h]

It works! The trick to get the armature commutator between the brushes is to instal the armature alone first, then the stator after, being careful not to let it slam down. I found I had to hold down the prop shaft because while slowly letting the stator down, it was pulling up on the armature enough to jump out of the brushes.
Thanks again

 

[alldodge]

Good write up, hope she works

 

[fishrdan]

The trick to get the armature commutator between the brushes is...

Kind of late for my reply, but. MinnKota has a little cardboard tube (circle) that fits snuggly inside the brush holder, to hold the brushes open. When the armature is inserted, the bearing pushes the cardboard tube out, then the brushes slide onto the commutator. The card board tube sits harmlessly inside the trolling motor when assembled.

Did you replace all the seals and o-rings? If not, the motor could leak and ruin it. fish307.com has the parts needed, pretty cheap, quick shipping

 

[PlayD0h]

I did read about the cardboard tube, but I watched a video and buddy just inserted the armature first without the stator / housing. I just used a screwdriver to push back the brushes, one at a time to get the armature in all the way.
Im still camping and haven’t ordered parts like seals yet. The seals all look in perfect condition so I’m not sure new ones are needed. Being in Canada shipping is the obstacle. Northland marine was great in responding to my request for USPS shipping for the armature I thought I was going to need. $55 vs $70 with FedEx overnight. I’ll try fish307 to see if they offer reasonable shipping for seals. Using the northland website it wanted to charge me $70 shipping on $25 brushes. Not uncommon with some US companies sadly. Even iboats canadian shipping is prohibitive. Thankfully a few US companies offer reasonable shipping here.