When I turn on my brand new Ulterra, both the green and red LEDs are on steady, and the other buttons are useless. I’ve tried both the fixes (hold button for 10 seconds, etc) and no joy.
It’s Sat and the MK customer service is closed…
Any suggestions???
Are you able to operate it from the remote? Are you letting the unit acquire a GPS signal?
This is the place to ask. Welcome to IDO. 
does the the foot pedal work and if it does try re learning the remote to the trolling motor.
Nothing works. The remote and the foot pedal will come on (yellow light on foot pedal comes on) start screen on the remote. The on/off button will turn on and turn off again but when it is on both the red and green lights are on constantly.
The rest of the story is that the first time I tried to deploy the brand new motor it went about 1/2 way then stopped. I did the reset by holding the on button down for 10 – 12 seconds and it seated itself but now won’t do anything. The constantly on red and green lights should be telling us something.
Both lights will be on. Can you deploy it?
“Nothing works.”
If you have the i pilot make sure you hit the deploy button twice quickly.
Contacted M.K. customer service… They said the weak red light and strong green light is an indication the batteries are weak or bad. I load tested both with a Auto Meter load tester with a tungsten ribbon. Both batteries passed a 350 amp load test and still had 12.4 volts each.
I called back and they told me I would need to remove the motor and take it to the closest service center. I do not want to remove and remount the motor. I am 72 years old and it weighs 70 pounds and was a beach to mount the first time. I’ll tow the boat the 75 miles (one-way) if they will work on it while on the boat.
Well it turns out the repair center doesn’t work on Monday.
Stay tuned.
Check your mounting plate. There is a black pin you can pull out to slide it off the mount. Go find a neighbor kid to grab the motor while you pull the pin. Load it in the truck and take it in.
Thanks guys, I know you are trying to help but… there is no such magic pin on a Ulterra. They make an optional quick release mount (MKA-21) but it is a $83 option and not on this model. Trust me if there was an easy way to remove and replace the motor, I would use it.
I have seen this a time or two. And it has always been a smashed and cut wire under the mounting bolts. If you take the side covers off you will see a couple small wires that run through there and if one of those wires is broke the front sensor won’t work so it will not deploy. If they are broke just use a butt connector and re connect it and you’ll be good to go.
Thanks Bryan. I never even had the side covers on and I just checked the wires. Visually at least those wires look good but I will double check.
The closest two service centers are a joke. The first one at Thompson MO, told me they had never seen a Ulterra, had no clue what the problem could be, and just didn’t want to work on it. The other one at Camdenton MO, insisted it has to be a problem with the batteries or the their connections and that if I would remove the motor from the boat and bring it to them. They would be glad to look at it in a week or two. Of course any parts would take another week or two to get them shipped.
Got it!!! Everyone kept telling me it would be a voltage problem. Batteries bad, bad connection, etc. Then quite by accident I happened to notice a pinched place on the motors power cable. Turns out that somehow during packing, shipping, unpacking, installing, something sharp and heavy had been on the power cord and most of the strands in the negative wire were broken. The pinch was visible only on one side and you just about had to be looking directly at that side and that exact place to notice it.
I cut the wire and reattached the plug and the red LED was much brighter than before. The foot pedal works just as advertised and Minn Kota is sending me a new cable.
Thanks guys for the help.
Glad to hear you got it working!!
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