Home › Forums › Bass Cat Boats › GARMIN TROLLING MOTOR KICKING BREAKER
catdude28.
Hi I have a new Cougar with a garmin trolling motor and it is set on 24 volts. When I run it at high speed for a length of time 2 minutes or so it kicks the breaker. Of course the wires are hot and takes a few seconds to cool and reset the breaker. Wondering if the wire size is to small for the voltage. Any thoughts.. Thanks in advance.
Every Cat I have had has come with a 50 amp breaker for the troller from the factory. The Force requires a 60 amp, so, if you run at high speed for any length of time with an undersize breaker, you will trip it.
Im pretty sure the 6 gauge BCB uses is more then adequate. My first checks would be all connections including crimps and such. Ironically this yr i was checking water in my trolling batteries and one of the crimps just fell out. Your issue sounds like a bad connection or a weak breaker even.
Check the connections between the batteries, they are soldered on and I’ve seen them work loose. Also look at the connection plug for the motor, not sure which variant you have.
Oh and there is a service document from Garmin about the power connection lugs possibly being loose. If you tilt the trolling motor partially deployed and look under the mount at the power box, theres two rubber booties over the connections to it. Ill try and find the document for you. Its just a good check. Mine also needs a revised bracket to help it from deploying during a wave hit… which has actually happened.. ekkkk. ..
Before going any further, pull your propeller and make sure it is clean and that there is no string around the shaft. I know it sounds strange but I have seen this trip a breaker before.
It could be that with these brushless motors we all have more to learn. We have not run one on 24 volts and we find information short on their amperage drains. There’s a good chance we have to regroup on some things ourselves. Since your trying to save weight and charging, there may be other methods no one has considered as this is a different hard platform.
For now it’s on our hit list and we will work with the engineering team at Garmin/Lowrance/Power Pole to learn more together. Brushless motors are in the Power Pole Monster pumps and they may be our best source as they have a huge engineering team.
BCB
I’m running my 2016 Caracal with the Force trolling motor as well. I too have been popping my breaker at high trolling speed and can’t seem to sort it out. I will look at my breaker size when I get home as I think it’s indeed 50AMP, thus this would be my issue. While I love the power my Force gives me I’m growing tired of the issues. The bad foot pedal and the spot lock wander from time to time is irritating. Thank you all for the help with my breaker issue, I’ll add more later.
So far mine has not tripped the breaker on my Cougar. I run mine with 3 batteries, although I will admit I am a little bit anal regarding batteries. Mine killed 2 group 27 wet cells last year and I replaced the 3rd one this year. These were all the original trolling motor batteries that the boat had in it since day one. I do believe that this trolling motor pushed them over the edge with it’s demands versus the motor guide x-5 I had. I have had to replace my foot pedal, warranty, Garmin was very helpful with that. I am also still trying to figure out how to stop this thing from backing up once I hit the spot lock as well. I do believe it has something to do with the gps information that the motor has stored in it. Garmin also advised me to make sure that it was updated as well. Technology is wonderful, when it works right.
All through the throttle level and up to and including 100%, the Garmin draws less amps at 36 volts than it does at at 24 volts. Ultrex 36 volt also draws less current at 100% than the 24 volt. So running either one at 36 volts you might be able to get away with the 50 amp breaker depending on how you use it.
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