Terrova - Flashing F code

[drivenmarine.net]

If you have the Marinco style plug wired to the trolling motor, it could be the "jumper" connection inside that plug. This takes the two 12V power sources and hooks them in series to create the 24V. It is basically just a thin strip of metal inside that plug. Removing the black plastic housing will expose the connections. I have seen them burn nearly completely through. May be causing a lot of resistance, leading to your issue.

 

[Pheasant 54]

As my son said , a lot cheaper than a new one

 

[guywhofishes]

Marinco plugs blow.

Get the forklift battery style you solder easily onto trimmed ends
(MinnKota sells them)

 

[REY_off]

If you have the Marinco style plug wired to the trolling motor, it could be the "jumper" connection inside that plug. This takes the two 12V power sources and hooks them in series to create the 24V. It is basically just a thin strip of metal inside that plug. Removing the black plastic housing will expose the connections. I have seen them burn nearly completely through. May be causing a lot of resistance, leading to your issue.

People still wire shit for 12/24? I thought that fad died years ago. I and most of my fishing buddies have A Marinco plug wired for 24V only. Never had an issue.

 

[drivenmarine.net]

People still wire shit for 12/24? I thought that fad died years ago. I and most of my fishing buddies have A Marinco plug wired for 24V only. Never had an issue.

You get the 24V in the plug. If you look behind the panel, each battery has a set of wires (12V +/-) going to the female side of the connection. The plug takes two 12V sources and runs them in series creating your 24V. That's why when you look at the inside of the plug, you can connect your trolling motor to either the 12V terminal or 24V terminal, depending on the model you have. If connected to the 24V terminal, there is a thin metal strip that creates a "series jumper" for lack of a better term. If you have your system wired 24V at the batteries, you would simply connect the motor to the 12V terminal on the plug, because the batteries are wired in series at the source. Many OEMs use this style connector still.

 

[Up Y'oars]

You get the 24V in the plug. If you look behind the panel, each battery has a set of wires (12V +/-) going to the female side of the connection. The plug takes two 12V sources and runs them in series creating your 24V. That's why when you look at the inside of the plug, you can connect your trolling motor to either the 12V terminal or 24V terminal, depending on the model you have. If connected to the 24V terminal, there is a thin metal strip that creates a "series jumper" for lack of a better term. If you have your system wired 24V at the batteries, you would simply connect the motor to the 12V terminal on the plug, because the batteries are wired in series at the source. Many OEMs use this style connector still.

Thank you. This was my final location to check before I haul it into the repair shop. I've been through everything else. Battery load test was excellent, batteries take a charge and hold that charge, charger is actually charging, etc. The only thing left is a bad connection that is holding back enough flow that causes the remote to go into fault mode.

 

[drivenmarine.net]

Also check the circuit breakers and make sure they aren't getting hot or have a bunch of resistance. Generally when they get old, they just get weak and pop under little load, but worth a look as well. Sounds like you haven't had mush luck with batteries since we camped next to you early this summer. We looked at the 12V inverter on the loaner camper you were using. Nice new camper BTW, I have stayed at the camp ground a few times this summer, but didn't see you around.

 

[Up Y'oars]

Yeah, my sis/bro-law are over at Dak Waters so I do some evening meals there. She cooks better than me & cereal! lol

I did check all fuses, whether in-line or on the charger and they were all fine. That was the first thing I checked. Then we did the voltmeter to ensure both batteries were pushing out at the same time and not one good / one bad. The plug-in will be good to check.

Stop in for a cold one. I'll be up there for a few long weekend starting next week through September as the temps cool off.

 

[Tymurrey]

I had issues with a cheap auto reset circuit breaker that I was using with my terrova. The thing would work fine until you turned it up high and then would work for a short amount of time like a minute or so then just die, would turn it back on after a short rest and would work fine again until it pulled too much current and would kick off. I thought it was a wiring issue or an overheating issue until I figured out the circuit breaker. Replaced the circuit breaker and the thing worked great. Also got mad at the marineco plug because I could never seem to get the heavy gauge wire to stay securely in the back of the plug since I stored life jackets and stuff where my receptacle was located. Went to the forklift style plug in with solder and it makes things so much easier and no problems at all with it.

 

[Up Y'oars]

I do have the Marinco Three-Prong plug (not four as shown above). I dismantled it and checked wiring; all tight. I then ran a volt meter on the back side and front side of the socket. Both side show 26V so the power is all the way to the plug.

Where is this circuit breaker you're mentioning located at??

 

[Tymurrey]

I have a circuit breaker installed off of one of the batteries. I can’t remember if Minnkota recommended it or if I just read i should do it. I think Lund had a factory one installed in the rear trolling motor wiring. I put a big 60 amp I think minnkota one in there now the other one was just a small rectangular one. My Polaris ranger had the same style circuit breaker for the electric fan, that one went bad too so I got mad and replaced the ranger one with a fuse and just carry spared.
The one that didn’t work for me looked like this.

 

[Up Y'oars]

I know Minnkota makes a circuit breaker but according to the owners manual it's not necessary for 24v system. I spoke with A&G Repair again, yesterday, and he said I need to put the charger back on and test the batteries WITH the charger going. He said if the voltage isn't 14-17v on each battery while being charged it's likely a charger bank (if only one of two batteries appears as such) or the battery has a bad cell. My Optima 31's are five years old.... I don't like the sound of that.

 

[Tymurrey]

I don’t think I seen anywhere where you mentioned what gauge the supply wires for the trolling motor are either. It sounds like you have the problem narrowed down some but just tossing some other things out there. I know Lund had my rear trolling plug wired in with 10 gauge, which I think is on the low end for the length of run. I didn’t need to but I wired my bow one with 6 gauge and redid all the wiring last year when I installed a 3 bank charger instead of the 2 bank I had. I then soldered and shrink wrapped all connections. Is there a chance if it isn’t the batteries and trolling motor that you are undersized with the wire and it’s having issues with current supply.

hope you get it figured out, sucks when stuff just doesn’t work when you need it to.

 

[Up Y'oars]

I believe the wires installed are 8gauge. I've had these larger batteries for four full seasons, so cannot understand why now. My hunch is that two of the three banks (to the trolling motor are void. I had 13.1v on each battery yesterday and plugged the charger in. This morning I went out and check voltage again, while the charger is still charging. Both batteries are still at 13.1v and no improvements in 14hrs of trickle charging. Hmmmmm.

 

[espringers]

well assuming it shuts off when they get to full charge, is there a reason you would expect them to get above 13.1 v?

 

[Up Y'oars]

The guy at A&G repair said once the charger connects the voltage should increase between 14v-17v, and if not then there's likely a bad cell in the battery. The remote on the iPilot goes into 'fault' code once the batteries get down to 11v each and the foot pad continues for a bit longer (has less resistance). I tested the starter battery and it also read 13.1v, but once I placed the analog charger on the battery went up to 14.2v immediately. So, the starter batter is taking that charge and the two trolling motor batteries are not.

Put a voltmeter to your batteries before & after.

 

[MuskyManiac]

Float charge should still be around 13.5V.

 

[Up Y'oars]

Float charge should still be around 13.5V.

Yeah, the batteries are at 13.1v on the float charge, so I know they are accepting a charge. Took the boat down to Interstate Battery and had them bring out another battery hooked up to the Minnkota charger and watched the power transfer via voltmeter. We needed to know that the charger was actually pumping out juice on either of the two banks. They also placed the two batteries at the end of a daisy chain hooked up to a charger and, again, we watched the numbers rise on the voltmeter. It just proved that the batteries are okay and the charger is okay. So why do I continue to have connection problems with the remote control?

We concluded that the circuit breakers must be the culprit (shown above by TyMurrey). When I got home I removed both of the circuit breakers (thermo controlled, I believe) and hooked everything back up. Deployed the Terrova and attempted to operate via remote... "f" cold once again. I'm friggin' baffled. Just going to take the damn thing down to Scheels and see what the repair will cost. Control Panel goes for $220 online, so I assume the bill will be near $400. May be time to consider just getting a new Terrova or Ulterra?

 

[Tymurrey]

Any chance you could hook up any friends trolling motor to your boat to see if it’s for sure the control board. I am in Washburn but my plug is different and soldered in otherwise I would let you hook mine up. I’m sure a guy could rig something up if you wanted though. Quick google search showed that if it the control board it’s an easy do it yourself fix so atleast that might save you some money.

 

[Up Y'oars]

Took the trolling motor into Scheels on Wednesday since A&G Repair guy says it is NOT a trolling motor problem and only a battery or battery charger problem. Guy at Scheels says he'll get it looked at first thing Thursday and call me. Yup, he calls and says it is a control panel in the base unit that went faulty. The charger, batteries, and circuit breakers were just fine.

TWO WEEKS I've been pulling and installing electrical contacts to check and validate voltage and connectivity. They all end up fine only to find out that one repair shop took 2hrs to fix what another repair shop refused to change diagnosis.

Many hundreds of dollars later... I hope to fish with a trolling motor on Saturday morning (tomorrow). Uggh.