Trolling motor fuse?

cib11b · Post by **cib11b** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 8:43 am

I have a minn Kota 55lb PD55 on my boat.. I am running a 30 AMP fuse on it. .I feel like the fuse is not allowing it all the power it needs.. Should I be even running a fuse on it?

Oldschool · Post by **Oldschool** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:04 am

You should be using a 40 to 50 amp circuit breaker on each battery.
Tom

GregD · Post by **GregD** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:06 am

Is the circuit breaker tripping out when you try to run on high? If not, then it's not limiting the current and therefore not limiting the power output.

gsc686s · Post by **gsc686s** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:28 am

Greg D is correct. The fuse will not limit the current unless it blows (or trips if you have a breaker) Putting a larger fuse will not give you more power or make the moter run faster / stronger

Greg_Cornish · Post by **Greg_Cornish** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:49 am

cib11b wrote:I have a minn Kota 55lb PD55 on my boat.. I am running a 30 AMP fuse on it. .I feel like the fuse is not allowing it all the power it needs.. Should I be even running a fuse on it?

Does the motor seem like its lost power over time? I have a 55 and It seems like its lost a lot of power over 5 years. I disassembled it and looked at the brushes and armature and it looks like the day I bought it. I'm wondering if they can lose power over time or if things I've added to my boat could make that much difference.

minnkotaman · Post by **minnkotaman** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:47 am

the first thing you have to remember is that the motor is only
as good as the power supply.
but in your case with a 20 year old boat i would check
the wiring, i'll bet your boat is wired with 10 or 12 gage
wire. move up to 6 gage and the motor will be getting
all the power it needs.
plus the 55 draws about 45 to 50 amps under full load.
change the fuse to at least a 50 amp.

gsc686s · Post by **gsc686s** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 1:08 pm

Do not change the fuse to 50 amp untill you change the wiring. Makes no sence to put a 50 amp fuse on wire that is not rated for 50 amps.

cib11b · Post by **cib11b** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 9:22 am

I know for a fact I am losing power, I hard wired the trolling motor to just the battary and I got about 30% more power. I will look at the wiring again I think it was around 12 gauge.. It was pretty week stuff. I mite have to change it.. The motor that came on the boat was only a 28lb. Thanks for the help!

Greg_Cornish · Post by **Greg_Cornish** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:10 am

I run 4 gauge from my batteries to the perko switch in the boat. Since the motor only has 8 guage coming out I went 8 guage from the perko switch 8 feet away to the motor. I wanted to use 6 gauge. I still seem to have lost power over a 5 year period but everything checks out ok. I'm going 80lb thrust 24 volt this fall.