Apologies for breaking protocol with my question from another thread.
I have a 14' Valco aluminum boat with an outboard and a transom mounted trolling motor.
I have a battery mounted near the bow (for weight distribution) and have run 6 gauge wiring to that back of the boat where it is connected to the trolling motor wiring. The battery is in a Minn Kota Power Center battery box that has a 60 amp breaker built into it. I took the trolling motor off of the transom to get it out of the way while I was working on the outboard.
I went to put the trolling motor back onto the transom to go boating and tried to turn it on and it didn't work. I noticed that the handle was about halfway between OFF and 1 (forward). Probably got nudged there when I set onto the floor of the boat.
I opened up the trolling motor to look around and it wasn't pretty. Two of the wires from the controller heading down into the mast had obviously got hot and melted insulation. I removed the prop and got into the lower unit and the armature was black, the brushes were stuck in their mount, and several wires had the insulation burnt completely off of them. There was a black gooey tar like substance present and the small was definitely of something that was burnt.
SO, while the 60 amp circuit breaker absolutely protected the 6 gauge wiring from the battery back to the trolling motor, and the wiring going into the trolling motor (maybe 10 gauge?), it did nothing to protect the wiring in the trolling motor itself (which is smaller that the wiring from the battery and the trolling motor external wiring).
I was able to find an almost exact replacement trolling motor on craigslist for $30. Going forward, I am wondering if I could install an additional fuse to protect the trolling motor wiring somewhere in or near the trolling motor to protect it should I find another way to put it in jeopardy?
What size (30 lb thrust motor that draws 30 amps) fuse?
And where should it be located?
I have a 14' Valco aluminum boat with an outboard and a transom mounted trolling motor.
I have a battery mounted near the bow (for weight distribution) and have run 6 gauge wiring to that back of the boat where it is connected to the trolling motor wiring. The battery is in a Minn Kota Power Center battery box that has a 60 amp breaker built into it. I took the trolling motor off of the transom to get it out of the way while I was working on the outboard.
I went to put the trolling motor back onto the transom to go boating and tried to turn it on and it didn't work. I noticed that the handle was about halfway between OFF and 1 (forward). Probably got nudged there when I set onto the floor of the boat.
I opened up the trolling motor to look around and it wasn't pretty. Two of the wires from the controller heading down into the mast had obviously got hot and melted insulation. I removed the prop and got into the lower unit and the armature was black, the brushes were stuck in their mount, and several wires had the insulation burnt completely off of them. There was a black gooey tar like substance present and the small was definitely of something that was burnt.
SO, while the 60 amp circuit breaker absolutely protected the 6 gauge wiring from the battery back to the trolling motor, and the wiring going into the trolling motor (maybe 10 gauge?), it did nothing to protect the wiring in the trolling motor itself (which is smaller that the wiring from the battery and the trolling motor external wiring).
I was able to find an almost exact replacement trolling motor on craigslist for $30. Going forward, I am wondering if I could install an additional fuse to protect the trolling motor wiring somewhere in or near the trolling motor to protect it should I find another way to put it in jeopardy?
What size (30 lb thrust motor that draws 30 amps) fuse?
And where should it be located?