Need a little trolling motor wiring help.

My fishing buddy is having a little trouble with his newer Minn-kota Ulterra. I believe we have narrowed the issue to the Connection from the male plug on the trolling motor to the female plugin on the boat. We have since adjusted the prongs on the Male in out just a little to get a little better connection between the two. So far that has seemed to resolve the issue. Just in case the issue returns while on our canadian trip next week I want to be prepared to be able to direct connect the trolling motor wiring direct to the wiring leading to the batteries ( Bypassing the plug in all together ) I’m looking for a little info. on how to best do that. I was thinking just using standard butt connectors would work and then shrink wrap or simply tape with electrical wire would work fine. Does anyone know what gage wire minn-kota uses on their trolling motors. Going to see if I can locate the correct butt connectors to have on hand. I know this would not probably be the best way to fix the issue, but with a short time prior to the trip and the fact that my buddy has a new boat that may be here by the time we return ( The current trolling motor is being Moved over to the new boat ) I’m just looking for a way to make sure a issue doesn’t effect our upcoming trip.

Most Minn-Kota TM’s I see have #10 wire as the lead to the plug.
HRG
Maybe grab a pair of these to take along? https://www.farmandfleet.com/products/254766-gardner-bender-14-8-awg-butt-splice-kit.html

With the investment involve in a Ulterra purchase, and trip to Canada. Think I would invest in a new plug if you have the Atwood $15 plug like mine. I just helped my brother set up his boat with a new Terrova. He bought the higher end plug. Don’t remember if it was Minn-kota or aftermarket. But way heavier duty. And looks like it will handle the heat better. I will be changing mine out before next year. Some have a right angle plug. So the weight of the wire isn’t torqueing the connection. Better to avoid the problem, than spend half a fishing day hoping you can fix it. Also poor electrical supply to a motor isn’t good for it. Good luck!!!

I had an issue with my Ulterra. Was acting intermittent and got stuck half way up during a stowing movement. Took it in and had it checked out. Tested just fine. I found I needed to replace my plugs. I found a small arc point on the male plug. There was high resistance developing in the plugs. Got new ones and haven’t had an issue since.

stevenoak wrote:

With the investment involve in a Ulterra purchase, and trip to Canada. Think I would invest in a new plug if you have the Atwood $15 plug like mine. I just helped my brother set up his boat with a new Terrova. He bought the higher end plug. Don’t remember if it was Minn-kota or aftermarket. But way heavier duty. And looks like it will handle the heat better. I will be changing mine out before next year. Some have a right angle plug. So the weight of the wire isn’t torqueing the connection. Better to avoid the problem, than spend half a fishing day hoping you can fix it. Also poor electrical supply to a motor isn’t good for it. Good luck!!!

If it was the male side plug that was a issue ( this was just replaced when we mounted the trolling motor early this summer ) I’d replace it, but its the female side and its not the simple atwood style on the boat. Its a combo that includes a trim switch and probably not easy to find and get delivered real quick. This trip will probably be the last fishing outing with this boat.

Bypassing the plug in should not cause any damage to the trolling motor. There are still inline fuse’s between the trolling motor and the batteries. It would be as simple as removing the wires from the male plug and the ones from the female plug and just connecting the wires with some type of connector. If anything it should make it a far better connection than having to flow through 2 plug-in connections

gizmoguy wrote:

I had an issue with my Ulterra. Was acting intermittent and got stuck half way up during a stowing movement. Took it in and had it checked out. Tested just fine. I found I needed to replace my plugs. I found a small arc point on the male plug. There was high resistance developing in the plugs. Got new ones and haven’t had an issue since.

I think this is the same issue. We needed to keep unplugging it and plugging it back in. If we would wiggle or push on the male plug in it would go back to working but then lose power again a short time later. Buddy did not have any issues the last time he was out on Tuesday ( After we adjusted the prongs outward a little ) That may have fixed the issue. I just want to be prepared if the problem returns and a slight adjustment does not resolve the issue. I think the time it would take to simply connect the wires on both sides with some type of a connector would be real quick and easy if necessary

Not sure if it would be an issue but I always unplug my trolling motor before charging the batteries. Someone that knows more than I do can say if it would bother but I always do it as a safeguard. Just a thought.

Have you tried taking the female side apart and making sure everything is still tight?

Red Eye wrote:

Have you tried taking the female side apart and making sure everything is still tight?

Are you fishing for jokes?

blank wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Red Eye wrote:</div>
Have you tried taking the female side apart and making sure everything is still tight?

Are you fishing for jokes?

Now that’s Funny !!!

Red Eye wrote:

Have you tried taking the female side apart and making sure everything is still tight?

We did check that. The screws that lock the wire into the female end were tight. We did not loosen them and pull the wire out and check if corroded or not. Was a little fearful we could make the issue worse trying to get them back in well. i have had issues with getting the wires back in well on both the male and female side of these phug-ins

HRG – I like the look of those butt connectors. Looks easy and watertight when done. I may need to find some of those to bring along.

fishthumper wrote:

HRG – I like the look of those butt connectors. Looks easy and watertight when done. I may need to find some of those to bring along.

They’ve got them at the Menards in St Cloud, if that’s a option.

HRG

Had same issue with my Ulterra dropping connectivity and it was the plug. I was running the MarinCo plug. I thought it was just THAT plug so I replaced with a duplicate model but brand new and had the same issue. I then replaced the Marinco with a cheezy rig-rite model and only have a problem if somebody kicks the plug while fishing. The Ulterra is very sensitive to voltage I guess.

Hardwiring is fine I suppose if you never plan to remove the motor.

fishthumper wrote:

HRG – I like the look of those butt connectors. Looks easy and watertight when done. I may need to find some of those to bring along.

Gotta be a joke in there somewhere.

JasonP wrote:

Had same issue with my Ulterra dropping connectivity and it was the plug. I was running the MarinCo plug. I thought it was just THAT plug so I replaced with a duplicate model but brand new and had the same issue. I then replaced the Marinco with a cheezy rig-rite model and only have a problem if somebody kicks the plug while fishing. The Ulterra is very sensitive to voltage I guess.

I’m curious which Marinco plug you were using, the “small” 2 & 3-wire set is only rated to 40 amps, below what any Ulterra will pull.

HRG

Attachments:

1. Marinco-ConnectPro-2-and-3-wire.pdf

I have a heavy duty Marinco on my Ulterra. 3 prong about 1/4” diameter pins. All new 8 ga wire from batteries to plug. No issues.

Hot Runr Guy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JasonP wrote:</div>
Had same issue with my Ulterra dropping connectivity and it was the plug. I was running the MarinCo plug. I thought it was just THAT plug so I replaced with a duplicate model but brand new and had the same issue. I then replaced the Marinco with a cheezy rig-rite model and only have a problem if somebody kicks the plug while fishing. The Ulterra is very sensitive to voltage I guess.

I’m curious which Marinco plug you were using, the “small” 2 & 3-wire set is only rated to 40 amps, below what any Ulterra will pull.

HRG

Guilty. I was using the 3-prong you listed.

I upgraded the trolling motor on a boat I had in the past from 12 volt to 24 trolling motor. I ran new wire from the batteries to the bow, I used 6 or 8 guage welding wire which is heavily insulated, has very low resistance and installed the appropriate inline circuit breaker. I used the same plugs that were previously installed on the boat and the old trolling motor. These plugs were rated for use with 12 volt or the old 12/24 volt motors. I started having issues and found that although the circuit breaker never tripped, and it was correct for the new trolling motor, that the plug would not handle it. You could see that the plastic had melted a bit. I upgraded the plugs both on the TM and on the bow of the boat to the larger Marinco plugs. No problems after that. I had that boat and used the TM a lot, bass fishing, and on electric only lakes, as well as fishing current on the Mississippi for at least 3 years after that until I upgraded boats. Hope this helps. To wire directly, especially temporarily, I would go to Menards or similar and purchase some outdoor wire nuts and simply direct attach the wires. I would wrap in electrical tape also, maybe even some liquid tape or whatever that stuff that comes in the little can with the brush applicator to seal the end of the wire nuts. It dries pretty quickly, then wrap in 3M Super 88 electrical tape. It is the best. Good luck.

fishthumper wrote:

We did not loosen them and pull the wire out and check if corroded or not. Was a little fearful we could make the issue worse trying to get them back in well. i have had issues with getting the wires back in well on both the male and female side of these phug-ins

So lets see. You didn’t pull it out because you didn’t think you could get it back in the male or female. OK, got it.

Netguy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
We did not loosen them and pull the wire out and check if corroded or not. Was a little fearful we could make the issue worse trying to get them back in well. i have had issues with getting the wires back in well on both the male and female side of these phug-ins

So lets see. You didn’t pull it out because you didn’t think you could get it back in the male or female. OK, got it.

To be fair, he is trying to come up with a backup plan in case an accident were to happen. That’s better than many men would do.