# Trolling motor fire



## LmitingOut (Mar 11, 2011)

My minn kota caught fire where the plug is wired to the motor any thoughts why this would do it. I'm not happy it burnt the floor and carpet on the gunnel.
I tried to load pic but its not working. The dealer installed it. And why would the fuse not pop if it got that hot to start on fire.
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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

don,t take things apart, check see if there is a fuse? sounds like the wires inside the plug touched? dealer problem??? talk to your insurance mah.


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## LmitingOut (Mar 11, 2011)

Thsts what was thinking the wires touching. I pulled the plug and swung the wires into the water.I have a fuse on it.

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## CES (Nov 24, 2006)

A loose or corroded connection is the reason for a hot wire. If wires are touching should blow the fuse.

Chuck


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## leeabu (Apr 10, 2004)

If the wires touched, the fuse would have blown! You had a bad connection! Either on of the wires where it connets to the plug or the plug itself was loose in the socket. Im an industrial electrician and I have seen many burned wires and terminals as a result of loose connections.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

Would be interesting to know what type plug it was. Could it be one of those supplied to fit the Starcrafts, the kind that can be rigged for 12 or 24 volt. Believe they are a Marinco plug. I had to have two replaced as they "burned out" internally. You could hardly touch them when they failed. My dealer fixed the problem by eliminating or by-passing (?) an internal jumper strip and rewiring the battery to motor connection.


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## moke11 (Apr 15, 2004)

Something similar happened to me. minnekota Trolling motor and lund boat both about 1 year old when it happened. Trolling motor was installed by dealership. luckily I was standing over trolling motor when I smelled rubber burning. I immediately turned off motor. Started it up again and smelled it again. On closer inspection of the wiring in the foot peddle, insulation on power lead melted across ground. 

I stopped using trolling motor for the day then rewired foot peddle when I got home. I changed the wiring so power lead was not running directly across ground wire.

Wonder how many more have experienced this?


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## oarfish (May 12, 2004)

LmitingOut said:


> My minn kota caught fire where the plug is wired to the motor any thoughts why this would do it. I'm not happy it burnt the floor and carpet on the gunnel.
> I tried to load pic but its not working. The dealer installed it. And why would the fuse not pop if it got that hot to start on fire.
> posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Downsize the fuse or circuit breaker to 40Amp. The 60 or 80 amp fuse or breaker (used by most) will cook the wiring before melting or tripping.


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## LmitingOut (Mar 11, 2011)

looks like they just used some old fashioned connectors and didnt put much tape on the wire. I was searching online and seen minnkota sells a connector. i may run up to the hardware store and see if I can find something similar. boat is only 2 years old.


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## oarfish (May 12, 2004)

LmitingOut said:


> looks like they just used some old fashioned connectors and didnt put much tape on the wire. I was searching online and seen minnkota sells a connector. i may run up to the hardware store and see if I can find something similar. boat is only 2 years old.


Some of those connectors are pretty flimsy. It is a good Idea to spray it with quality contact spray and use contact lubricant every month in season. 
The best thing would be to connect the motor directly to the batteries with an inline fuse/breaker and discard the plug.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

LmitingOut said:


> looks like they just used some old fashioned connectors and didnt put much tape on the wire. I was searching online and seen minnkota sells a connector. i may run up to the hardware store and see if I can find something similar. boat is only 2 years old.


Do yourself a favor and get one of these:
http://batterytender.com/battery-connector-black.html

Rated up to 100 amp. I couldn't be happier! I still unplug my motor when not in use.


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## LmitingOut (Mar 11, 2011)

this is what caught fire. where the bare wires are.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

LmitingOut said:


> this is what caught fire. where the bare wires are.


I'm guessing it was a crappy splice by whoever installed it.


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## leeabu (Apr 10, 2004)

Probably a crimp on butt splice that corroded. If you use the cheap crimpers that have the wire cutters and bolt cutters included, you are likely to not get a good crimp. I coat the wires in a conductive grease then slide heat shrink tubing onto the wire, crimp with a good set of Klein crimpers the slide the heat shrink over all and heat to shrink up and seal. Another option is butt splice connectors that already have the heat shrink plus low temp solder in the connector, You simply strip the wires and slide tham on and heat them to melt the solder and shrink the tubing. However the cheapest and probably the best way is to slide a piece of heat shrink tubing on and then directly solder the two wires then slide the tubing over the connection and shrink. Proper soldering technique is not a skill all people possess however.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

leeabu said:


> Probably a crimp on butt splice that corroded. If you use the cheap crimpers that have the wire cutters and bolt cutters included, you are likely to not get a good crimp. I coat the wires in a conductive grease then slide heat shrink tubing onto the wire, crimp with a good set of Klein crimpers the slide the heat shrink over all and heat to shrink up and seal. Another option is butt splice connectors that already have the heat shrink plus low temp solder in the connector, You simply strip the wires and slide tham on and heat them to melt the solder and shrink the tubing. However the cheapest and probably the best way is to slide a piece of heat shrink tubing on and then directly solder the two wires then slide the tubing over the connection and shrink. Proper soldering technique is not a skill all people possess however.


This ^ ! I solder then heatshrink. Clean up enough wire to twist over itself a few times.







Be sure to heat the junction hot enough to melt the solder and not just drop a glob of solder on cold wires.


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## leeabu (Apr 10, 2004)

MassillonBuckeye said:


> This ^ ! I solder then heatshrink. Clean up enough wire to twist over itself a few times.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Flux the wires with rosin solder flux. Use Rosin core solder not acid core solder. Clean and tin the solder tip before you start. It should be bright and shiney with fresh solder before you start. Heat the wires till hot then apply the solder to the hot wires not the solder tip.
The splice you show is known as the Western Union splice. Origionally use to splice telegraph wires. It is the best for this application but hard to do with heavy gage wires.


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## LmitingOut (Mar 11, 2011)

thanks guys redid everything and seems to be working. I did notice after plugging it in that the fuse breaker did trip originally. My only test was out of water so hopefully its fine when I drop it in the lake this afternoon.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

MassillonBuckeye said:


> Do yourself a favor and get one of these:
> http://batterytender.com/battery-connector-black.html
> 
> Rated up to 100 amp. I couldn't be happier! I still unplug my motor when not in use.


I did not like my plug on my boat and after reading this thread and seeing this post I ordered a Battery Tender plug last week. I want to avoid issues before they happen instead of fix problems, I don't want a fire

I received the plug yesterday and it is by far, many, many, times better than any plug I have ever seen.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

Lundy said:


> I did not like my plug on my boat and after reading this thread and seeing this post I ordered a Battery Tender plug last week. I want to avoid issues before they happen instead of fix problems, I don't want a fire
> 
> I received the plug yesterday and it is by far, many, many, times better than any plug I have ever seen.


Glad to hear. I was really surprised while researching mine how few options there are and how bad/cheaply made they are! Hope it works out for ya. I still unplug mine in the garage. Just in case, I dunno. Part of my fears are the battery charger doing something bad to the motor which are probably unfounded but hey, it only takes a second with this guy. And then you got that nice little rubber flap to cover it back up. :thumbsup:


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