If you didn’t use a fuse would running a 24V trolling motor on 12V cause the cables to melt, damage the motor or just cut the run time in half? I know as you lower voltage, amperage has to go up to get the same work. If you ran a 70lb motor on 12V how much thrust would you get out of it?
If it will run at all, it has to be real hard on the motor to run low voltage.Why no fuse-breaker? 24v on 12v motor it would spin 2X as fast and go up in smoke real fast!12v on 24v not going to run most likely to much resistance in the windings.Also the controlls are ment to run on 24v so they will not work or get hurt on low voltage.
Stan 
A 24 volt motor will run on 12 volts but at half the speed and more than likely burn up the motor
I don’t think the motor cares what voltage is applied as there are a lot of variable voltage input DC motors out there. However,I bet the controls probably have a minimum voltage cut off and won’t function at 12 Volts and if it did, power will be reduced by roughly 50%.
Why would it burn up the motor?
I = V/R, cut the voltage in half and you cut your current in half.
The biggest problem is the circuit electronics may not run on 12V and, yes your performance will be crap.
The fuse does nothing to drop volts only limits amps so that thought is not relevant.
24v hooked to 12v will spin for a while on a full battery but there will be no torque. You could stop it with your hand.
It is like running your motor with half the spark plugs missing.
I wouldn’t do it. There is a reason they sell 12v and 24v motors. If things worked that well then they wouldn’t… Either go 12 volt or add another battery and run the rated 24 volt.
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I wouldn’t do it. There is a reason they sell 12v and 24v motors. If things worked that well then they wouldn’t… Either go 12 volt or add another battery and run the rated 24 volt.
x2
It wont hurt your motor. Most newer ones will not even turn over because the circuit board senses less than 22 volts (dead 24v system). Old ones will turn over but you will have half power.
Remember the old Evinrude trolling motors they had a switch to run 12 or 24 volt off of a 24 volt system. In fact I still have one up in the granary.. Not sure how that was set up.
I just ran into a problem with my 24v minnkota. originally performance was lack luster, then the motor quit. I just bought boat used and had different batteries installed by dealer who had some question with the wiring at the batteries. well, after several hours all the motor indicator light would do is momentarily blink when bow plug was jiggled. I took apart the plug and noticed signs of overheating. I replaced the plug and socket and now the motor works fantastic. Bottom line is make sure all components are suited for each other and wired properly with proper gauge wire and recommended fuses. I,m so glad minkota builds safeguards into their units to help prevent major damage meaning extensive time down and costly repairs.
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It wont hurt your motor. Most newer ones will not even turn over because the circuit board senses less than 22 volts (dead 24v system). Old ones will turn over but you will have half power.
I agree the old one’s would but with such poor results not worth doing.
Castle rock clown… The only issue I’ve ever had with any trolling motor over the years has been the plugs… been stranded many times over 20 years… I replaced all my plugs with minn kota ones and had no problem… FYI keep spare plugs in the boat or handy… next stop for me would be no plug at all… which has occured on the water in tourneys… the wad of electrical tape on the front of the boat was awesome… I also went through the TM wiring on my tuffy and simplified it greatly…
I’ve had this 12/24 volt trolling motor question for awhile… and still not a clear answer here… yes or no…
we know thrust would be less… but would it damage switches and stuff in motor??
I think we should submit it to Myth Busters and let them experiment. If Red Green was still filming it would have made a good segment or episode.
On my 2003 Tuffy 1760 I have the Marinco plug and socket. It seems a person in the bow seat could very easily kick the plug putting stress or damage. I plan on putting a guard over the plug to avoid this. I also wonder if leaving it plugged in and while in the stowed position does it draw even milliamps of current? If it does not draw any then to save wear and tear, I will not unplug it every time. As far as a diffinative answer to the 12v / 24v question I would call Minkota if deviating at all from original design intentions.
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On my 2003 Tuffy 1760 I have the Marinco plug and socket. It seems a person in the bow seat could very easily kick the plug putting stress or damage. I plan on putting a guard over the plug to avoid this. I also wonder if leaving it plugged in and while in the stowed position does it draw even milliamps of current? If it does not draw any then to save wear and tear, I will not unplug it every time. As far as a diffinative answer to the 12v / 24v question I would call Minkota if deviating at all from original design intentions.
The new terrova I know has a switch to kill the power when stowed. However, I also know the powerdrive series I have has no cut off and continues to draw milliamps when stowed and if you bump the momentary switch or the continuos switch accidentally turned on you draw enough power to eventually drain the battery. I always unplug the plug from the socket when done for the day.
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I think we should submit it to Myth Busters and let them experiment. If Red Green was still filming it would have made a good segment or episode.
It happens to me all the time, I have a 12/24 V switch on my boat that accidentally gets set to 12V, I either get no performance or super poor performance with my Minkota Maxxum.
If you ever see those 5 speed trolling motors they basically have a 5 position transformer that changes the voltage from max voltage to something smaller.
The other motors with variable speed have PWM control where they send the motor the full voltage at variable pulse widths to simulate a lower voltage.
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