# 12 volt dimmer switch for a trooling motor?



## Sleprock (Dec 16, 2005)

I fish outta a canoe, with a trolling motor, transome mount. anyway with everything it the back, (me, 47 trust trolling motor) my canoe can start to fill with water, so i wanna redistribute weight(move myself towards middle or front)so i was thinking about how i could turn motor on / off without being on top of it, so i was thinking put motor on full speed at handcontrol then wireing in a dimmerswitch closer to battery, ? is are there any reasons not to do this,(battery explode, drain faster, melt plastic boat) thanks


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## stevenj (Sep 16, 2007)

I don't believe a dimmer switch would handle the current draw of the motor.probably overheat the switch.and cause it to melt down.


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

extend the battery wires to put the battery up front. i did it for a marsh boat . i used the wires from a cheap set of jumper cables. . or remove the control head and extend the wires to be long enough to use it anywhere in the canoe. i might do it with my marsh boat and add a rudder for steering.


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## Sleprock (Dec 16, 2005)

already got the battery in the middle of boat does not offset my weight (230 ish) plus motor (25 pound maybe) all in the back of canoe. looks like / going down river.


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## oarfish (May 12, 2004)

freyedknot said:


> extend the battery wires to put the battery up front. i did it for a marsh boat . i used the wires from a cheap set of jumper cables. . or remove the control head and extend the wires to be long enough to use it anywhere in the canoe. i might do it with my marsh boat and add a rudder for steering.


That is the best way.


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

I'd make another motor mount and move the troller up to the middle with you. I thought about trying that myself. Either making a clamp on style mount or clamping a mount to the support bar.
If by dimmer switch, you mean a 110v one, it wouldn't work for me. It didn't even turn the prop. There is nothing wrong with the switch, as I ended up using it for the kitchen chandelier, and it works fine. Just wouldn't work with 12v for some reason.


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## oarfish (May 12, 2004)

Remove the control head and attache it near the middle where you are sitting. So you can comfortably adjust the speed with you left or right hand.
Use the paddle for rudder.


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## wave warrior (Oct 2, 2005)

why not just get an ext. handle? cabelas has them, thats what i plan to do on the canoe we have...should be able to sit in middle seat and run it weather its mounted front or rear

just looked at cabelas...Helmsmate ext handle...$15 for 18" $39 for 36" $59 for adj lenth with U joint...made for small outboard but sure it would work for a troller


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## oarfish (May 12, 2004)

wave warrior said:


> why not just get an ext. handle? cabelas has them, thats what i plan to do on the canoe we have...should be able to sit in middle seat and run it weather its mounted front or rear


The extension handle may get tangled with the brush in tight surroundings + it has to be so long to be impractical. Give it a try if you want.


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## Snobal (Jul 26, 2005)

Sleprock said:


> already got the battery in the middle of boat does not offset my weight (230 ish) plus motor (25 pound maybe) all in the back of canoe. looks like / going down river.


You might be surprised at what moving the battery to the front will do for you. In the middle, you are on the pivot point so to speak. You need to get in front to really see what difference it can make.

As for extension handles.... Remember that the longer the handle the less your turn radius will be. To turn the motor 45 degrees, depending on handle length, you could be stretching 3 feet over the side of the canoe!


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## Sleprock (Dec 16, 2005)

well i got a big plastic canoe, I wore out the seats had to take them out!!

PUT in some park bench 2X4 type seats heavy. gonna rerig my canoe this weekend or next. any way I would like to sit up and almost kind of rigme up a kinda side console deal, want to control speed of trooling motor without crawling over stuff. ext hand i would want atleats 60 ". was gonna rig a rope system for steering. 

Its the big green plastic canoe at dicks got it like 4 years ago. 14 ft, 89 pounds of plastic, I got 2 different trolling motors a small and a big 47 pounds trust.

wanna be able to cruse on a lake all day , fish, and not get a back ache from holding motor all day.
also gotta old fishing buddie portable ff i broke apart and rigged in the built in cooler where the battery now sits.

IT is a sight to see for sure, even got a fiberglass patch on one end.

Also its a double ender so the boat 14 foot but theres 260 pounds figure in the very back of boat, plus from time to time i going to fast and start to swamp and i Wanna go faster.

I was trying to figure the amp draw that the trolling motor will pull to find an adequit controll. also wondering if i would loose alot of energy outta my battery as just waste.

read about dc fan contorl switches anyone know anything about them?

tought about the head thing there oarfish I am trying to keep my options somewhat open to being removed from time to time to keep motors somewhat interchageable, kinda like a lake set up and a river set up


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## oarfish (May 12, 2004)

Sleprock,
That motor will draw 30-40 Amps.
You are not going to find a cheap potentiometer (dimmer switch) that can handle that. 
The cheapest way is to take the head off like Frayedknot said and run 2 cables in a plastic conduit back to the motor.

If you want to go the long handle way: You will have to swing that 60" extension handle way out to make turns, like Snobal said. Not possible and it looks silly.


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

I've thought about a rope steering too. Running it inside a plastic pipe and rigging it sort of like the stick steering in a boat.


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## wave warrior (Oct 2, 2005)

in all honesty it sounds like if ya sold the canoe and got a cheap 14' john or v bottom to redo you would be better off...sounds like you are way overloading a canoe and trying to get too much out of what ya have...heck most of us have been there!! i know i have a few times!! just a thought...


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## Sleprock (Dec 16, 2005)

love the canoe gonna find a way to do it. riggin this weekend


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## James F (Jul 2, 2005)

I fish out of my canoe a lot,battery up front with extended cables to the back and if the battery isn't enough weight some large rocks up front do the trick for me. Trolling motor is mounted on a cross brace in the stern.


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