Neptune EX120 trolling motor - Forward & Off but no reverse

[Twhjelmgren28]

I decided to throw a topic out there on this; it kind of got buried in another topic of mine and I was hoping someone may be able to help. I have an old Neptune EX120 - engine mounted trolling motor.

While forward (with variable speed) and off work, when I flip it in reverse, nothing happens. I can hear clicking in the control module but the prop won't spin in reverse. I posted photos below of the control module opened up (I also posted the remote but not the inside of it - I opened the remote up but everything seemed fine, it was pretty basic).

In the photos, you will see two black relays (??); one with a red wire going to it and one with a black wire going to it - in each relay there are three slots to connect the wire terminals. I screwed around with those for a while - in some positions, you could hear the module working but nothing would happen, while in others, forward/off/reverse would all move forward. Also if I put the red wire on the opposite relay, I could get the motor to reverse but then it wouldn't operate in forward...

I know I can get by with forward only but figured I'd give it a shot to try and fix it and/or see if there were any suggestions out there. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[alldodge]

I see the relays but cannot make out the writing on the terminals, what are they?

I'm thinking there are some jumper wires missing from the relay connections. Did the unit ever work?

 

[Twhjelmgren28]

So I can give a better response when I get home tonight (maybe put on a better picture). It says:

Potter & Brumfield

NO: 20A
NC: 10A
240VAC

92-44

The horizontal slot (1 per relay) says com over it.

The vertrical slots (2 per relay) say NO over them.

There are 2 pictures on the relay itself. One is a vertical line going to a box with another vertical line coming out of the box. The other is more of a zig-zag looking thing. You can see these pictures in the upper right corner of the relay on the 3rd picture down.

 

[alldodge]

I'll draw something up but the Red and the Black main wires should be on the COM (common) of each relay. The reason I'm thinking it works at all is because the Red wire is on one of the contacts, and the ground is on the com. Move the main wires to the places I pointed out and try it. If my guess is right it won't work , and this will be a good thing.



Going to need a volt meter. Remove and connect the two wires as shown. Now connect meter Neg probe to main black wire. Press remote for forward drive. Connect Pos probe to the relay with the red wire connected to it to one of the two open NO terminals. Determine which one has 12V on it.

Press remove to reverse and see if the other NO terminal now has 12V on it.

Now with motor still in reverse move Pos probe to the other relay, while keeping the Neg probe on the Black wire, check one of the two terminals on the other relay. There should be a reading, but maybe not full 12V. Then press to forward and see if the other NO terminal has power.

If I'm right your going to need two jumpers to go from one relay to the other. Just need to determine which terminals to use

 

[Twhjelmgren28]

FIXED!!!!!!

Thank you so much!!!

I attempted to use my voltmeter and ended up blowing a fuse on the voltmeter itself. So then I just made two jumper wires and started screwing around with the terminals. Initially, I blew a fuse but thought I had broken the trolling motor - this turned out the be a good thing because the new fuse box I put in worked great.

After one more blown fuse I got it straightened out. The positive and negative wires both went to com as you suggested and the two jumper wires went straight across to the adjacent NO terminal of the opposite relay (i.e. the jumper wires didn't criss-cross at all).

Thank you for the help.

 

[alldodge]

Glad it worked out, happy boating