Trolling motor issue

I just bought a boat with an older Minnkota 48lb thrust that is wired in a 24 volt circuit. The batteries were shot so I replaced them today. However, when I tried the trolling motor out, it would only turn on when I went to at least power 6 (1-10 power). Is this possibly just a faulty trolling motor or do you think there could be an issue with wiring? I want to say all the wires got back on where they are supposed to go but I do not claim to be an electrician by any means.

check voltage where you are plugging it in with a multi-tester…
new batteries you are looking at a reading north of 26 volts.

Rheostat is bad or there is water in the motor and all rusted up and needs more voltage to make the motor spin. This was a problem on my neighbors motor.

I’m assuming it’s a foot pedal controller? With a sliding switch that goes from 1-10? Those older Minnkota controllers are notoriously problematic.
Check for power and ground at the motor on the slower inoperative speeds. If you have both and it’s not running you have motor problems.
If you don’t have power, it’s likely the controller.

There was definitely water in it because I got a few drops to the face when I turned it on. I’ll check with a multi-tester just to make sure but there is no power at all at lower levels as you mentioned grubson

as grubson said : foot pedal controller
you can take them apart and clean contacts…

water when turned on, could just be in the prop area.
I get drops on my windshield all the time

Take the prop off and look around in there. Have an exacto knife handy for the miles of fishing line you might find spooled up in there.

A 48lb thrust motor show only be a 12 volt motor. Try running it on just 12v and see what happens.

blank wrote:

A 48lb thrust motor show only be a 12 volt motor. Try running it on just 12v and see what happens.

This. 2 batteries should have been wired for extra 12v capacity not 24v.

blank wrote:

A 48lb thrust motor show only be a 12 volt motor. Try running it on just 12v and see what happens.

I was also curious about the configuration. I’ll see what happens running one

I am fairly certain that I had a 1999 minnkota power drive that was a 48lbs thrust that was a 24 volt. That was a long time ago though.

You can have 2 batteries hooked up and still be 12 volts.

Dustin
If that was for me, yes I am aware of that. Mine had one jumper between the two for 24volt. It may have been a 52lbs thrust, but I thought 48 thrust and 52″ shaft, but I sold that boat in 05, so my memory could be failing me.

Dusty Gesinger wrote:

You can have 2 batteries hooked up and still be 12 volts.