Trolling motor issue. HELP!

I Am The Proud New Owner Of A 2002 190 Bay With A Honda 130. Santa Brought Me A Brand New Motorguide Great White 82lb Thrust Trolling Motor. Had It Professionally Installed With Two Big Batteries And A Charger. Great. Here Is The Problem: It Runs Strong For About 3 To 5 Minutes If That And Abruptly Quits. I Was Thinking The Circuit Breaker May Be The Issue. Then One Day I Tried Unplugging It Form The Front, Thinking It May Be Wet. I Dried The Plug And Receptacle, Though It Wasn't Really That Wet, Plugged It Back In, And It Went Back To Working. 3 Minutes Later It Quit Again. Unplugged Again, Worked For A Few Moments, Quits. And On And On. Any Ideas? Help Please.

[NCangler]

Hi David. As a Triumph Owner I hope you will take advantage of our free 1-year Captains Club Member subscription. As a registered Captains Club Member you will have access to all the features of the website.

I have approved your visitor post and hope you get some insight into what is going on with your trolling motor.

[rscott]

I think I would check to see if they installed it with a heavy enough gage of wire from the batteries.

[FishinFool]

David,

You said you unplug it and plug it back in and it works...have you tried just "wiggling" the plug without unplugging it to see if it will start working again? I don't know what kind of plug/receptacle you have, but it takes a pretty heavy duty setup to handle the current draw on a motor with that much thrust. On lower thrust motors, I've had problems with the "molded rubber" plugs/receptacles that you can buy...when you start drawing current thru it, the connection between the plug and the receptacle heats up and the plug terminals expand to the point that they no longer make connection. If this is it, then wiggling the plug will usually help you figure out what is going on.

If this is the case, go back to whoever installed it and have them install a heavier plug/socket.

Hope this helps...good luck

Tony

[cagrove]

I would also look at the connections behind the receptical and make sure they are tight. Just a thought.

[HighTechRedneck]

I had the same problem with a transom mount motor on a row boat. it turned out being a short in the motor. I opened the head of the motor and resodered all the connections I could see and the problem went away. if you go threw the connections threw the boat make sure all are sodered and not just crimped. crimping works but sodering is a much more solid connection.