Unplug Trolling Motor When Charging?
 

Do you need to unplug your trolling motor when charging with your bank charger? I have a 101 pound Terrova and was having a discussion with a buddy and he stated you can blow your motherboard if you leave your trolling motor plugged in while charging your batteries. On my last boat I had a 80# terrova that was directly wired in and never had an issue. All of my batteries have a 50 amp breaker if that makes any difference. Any insight?

I leave my trolling motor plugged in while charging. Never had an issue. A trolling motor that isn't designed to tolerate normal battery charging voltages was not designed for the real world, IMHO.

I asked this same question quite a while ago and most everyone leaves it plugged in.
Now I leave mine plugged in tyoo

I used to leave mine pluged in too. I have a 03 1800 pro=v, I was at a state park and pluged my charger in , and found the next dat the main plug had fried , not the foot pad cable, the maie plug with the twist lock. When I got home I rear the owners manul and it said to unplug when charging.

Lake,
Here is the situation.

Your trolling motor runs on a source of DC voltage - i.e. 12, 24, or 36 volts DC.

When you charge your battery, you are pumping pulsating DC into your batteries that is just a bit higher than the normal battery supply voltage. i.e. 14, 28 or 40 volts.

The trolling motor does just fine with this voltage on the feed of the motor.

So, as long as there are no issues with the battery charger, there is really no need to unplug your trolling motor.

But --- There is always a BUT.

But, suppose that you get a transformer short on your battery charger. It happens more often than you might suppose. Furthermore, suppose that the circuit breaker that is supposed to protect the output circuit - welds itself shut - it also happens more often than you might suppose.

Now suddenly, you have 110 volt AC high current flowing into your trolling motor and its control board. This is a wonderful recipe for a big smoking fire and destroyed trolling motor .

How often does such a thing happen. It actually happens very rarely.
But, having said that - is there really any reason to NOT unplug your trolling motor battery when you stow it for the trip back to the dock?

I just do it as a matter of course, when I am packing the boat up on the water in preparation to pull the boat from the water. i.e. stow the trolling motor, stow the foot pedal, unplug the power cord, and stow the power cord.

You can leave your trolling motor plugged in for about 99% of the time and never encounter any issues. But - is it worth it to NOT unplug for the 1% where you might have a battery charger melt down, which causes a trolling motor melt down??

You choose.

REW

I agree with REW............... I park my boat at the Marina Slip and have charger on till I see her next time. What I am worry about is "IF" thunderstorm passes by and hit it close enough, it will smoke my Charger (since its still plugin), Batteries and my TM (since its not unplug and therefore a circult for it to pass through).

I am no electrician and whatever I just said might not make sense to all of you but I will Unplug just in case what I was thinking really Could~Happen.


Cheap 2 cents

I unplug mine, why because I can.

I unplug mine all the time also, mainly becaused its so slick with the Deltran Battery Tender I installed when I put the new Terrova on this spring.

I unplug mine for many of the same reasons that REW stated. I know the stow switch on my Terrova is supposed to turn the unit off when properly stowed but if it does not then you have power to the head and a greater chance of frying it and you are stuck with buying a new charger and trolling motor.

David.

Owners manual says to unplug it unless you have a minkota charger.