Power Drive V2/Ipilot not Working

Power Drive V2 With Ipilot.

Trolling motor prop will spin 1/8 turn when turned on then stop.

This has gotten progressively worse over the past several months. Previously i could eventually get it to work. I would spin the prop until it ‘took off. That solution has worked less and less progressively as time went on.

Past few weeks Jackrabbit would not work, and anything over 5 or 6 on the power setting the prop would not spin. I would spot lock, and soon be drifting away as i watch the remote jump up to a speed of 10, but the prop wasn’t spinning at all…Just drifting away.

As of two weeks ago it simply would not spin at any setting. Prop would barely spin 1/8 turn then stop.

I anticipated a bad armature or brushes. I ordered a kit and replaced the armature and brushes with the improved kit last night…Bigger brushes, etc.
Absolutely no changes to trolling motor..
Old armature looked great. Commutator could’ve been cleaned and put back together. Brushes were in great shape also. No water or other issues seen in lower unit motor housing. I replaced with new armature kit, seals, etc anyway.

So, do i have a bad control board? What is my next step for diagnosis? Is the board in the base of the trolling motor, or the head? Any tips or advice much appreciated.

Thanks a bunch.
Andy

-Just haven’t pulled trigger on new Terrova yet, kind of would like this one repaired for resale at some point anyway.

Have you had your battery tested? I had the same issues the capacity of my battery was pretty much done. It would show fully charged but underloads it would die and I couldn’t use two functions at once.

Call Mike at Motor Clinic, 952-881-0898. He is pretty willing to give advise. If nothing else he can fix it for you.

I had similar issues a couple years ago with a V2 powerdrive. If I recall more sporadic I-Pilot issues. It ended up being the control board in the base of the motor. Fish-lectronics took care of me.

IIRC the main control board is located in the base under the battery gauge whereas the control box for the GPS/i-Pilot is in the head unit. I’m sure you’ve already checked but I’ve also had battery issues that caused older Auto-Pilots to malfunction, a load test and voltage checks never hurt.

I’ve used both Motor Clinic in Bloomington and Fish-Lectronics in Fridley and would recommend either place if you need to go that route. Good luck in getting it fixed.

Thanks for the Info and Contacts gents.

I ran a load test on both batteries yesterday prior to fishing. They are in flawless condition @ 6 months old. Didn’t hurt to check though!

After fishing i took the cover off the head. Disconnected the Red/Black leads coming from the control board. Applied 24V directly to the Red/Black going into the lower unit (bypassing the suspect control board) and motor ran at 100%. This confirms a good armature and confirms a bad board.

New board on order.

Wish i had done that testing prior to buying an armature, but i should learn eventually that throwing parts at a problem without diagnosis is never the lowest cost way!