You’re in the middle of fishing in your boat, and your Trolling Motor not running at full speed. This indeed is an irritating scenario on the spot, right? Trolling Motors are there to level up your fishing experience. But when it slows down or does not work at all suddenly, it makes you regret for your investment.
Trolling Motors can indeed become slow even though you’ve barely used for a few times. This can happen for several reasons. And sometimes, it just could be the dirt stuck in the Propeller.
Well, to sort out this issue, we have come up with an actionable solution guide. In this article, we introduce you to the definitive guide to solve the Trolling Motor speed issue.
So, without further ado, let’s get started.
Trolling Motor Not Running At Full Speed: But Why?
There’re several reasons your Trolling Motor can lose power. Here we’re discussing some of them.
- Battery Failure
Battery failure could be one of the prime reasons your Trolling Motor loses power. Your battery is maybe running out of enough juice to provide power to your Trolling Motor.
In that case, firstly, check your battery if it’s active or not. You can test that with an electric tester. When you connect the tester with the battery, the tester should light up. If your battery is running out of power, the tester won’t light up.
That’s when you know your battery needs to be replaced. Before that, you can open up the channel of your battery and see the water level. If the water level is down and the lead plates show up, add some water.
Make sure you only put Distilled Water in the battery because your battery needs water free from any minerals. And Distilled Water does the job.
- Loose Wire Connection
When you install a Trolling Motor system, you adjust a lot of wirings and connections.
After installing, if any of those connections loosen up, the Trolling Motor gets less power. Or if any wire inside gets melted, the Trolling Motor can not have any power.
- Bearing and Screw Displacement
Sometimes bearings like shafts and attachment screws get to loosen up or detach. Then, the whole unit gets loosened and can’t function appropriately. So, if your Trolling Motor is showing up issues, give a thorough check on that.
- Propeller Damage
Propeller is a crucial part of the Trolling Motor system. It’s the part that stays in the water and speeds up your movement.
When the Propeller is dirty, corroded, or something gets stuck, the Trolling Motor can not work correctly. Even though you’re running the motor at full speed, the power supply is perfect.
So, check on your Propeller if you do not find any problem with your circuit board.
- Brush or Armature Damage
Brush or Armature damage is one of the causes of Trolling Motor’s inability to run at full speed.
The Armature is a more technical thing that generally people can not fix. You can replace it with a new one if the old one is damaged. You can run a test to check if your Armature is okay or not.
The motor can not run well if the brush inside the engine has any issues. Fixing a brush isn’t too tricky. You can do it if you find any problem there.
How to Test a Trolling Motor?
Testing a Trolling Motor doesn’t remain in one fact. As the Trolling Motor could go wrong for several reasons, you can do the testing differently as well. The very basic and most importantly the first test is the battery and the Circuit Breakers test.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to test a Trolling Motor.
Step 1
Trolling Motors have Circuit Breakers installed over the Batteries. While running in the water catching up with weed or other tangled stuff, you can pop the Breaker. So, firstly look if the breakers are fine over the batteries.
To do this, press the small button located in the Breaker. If the button pops out nicely, it means the breakers are just fine.
Step 2
If you aren’t sure about the results, you can check the breakers with a Multi Meter. To perform the test, you have to connect the positive wire of the Multi Meter to the positive side of the Breaker. The Meter then will give you the reading.
If the Breaker gives a voltage reading of 1 or 2 Voltage, that means it has worn out or damaged. There’s no way you can repair a Circuit Breaker. You have to replace that with a new one.
Step 3
Although you find the Breaker issue, you still need to check the batteries. Because if your batteries are also damaged or have less juice inside, the new Breaker won’t fix the Trolling Motor speed issue.
To check the batteries, use the Multi-Meter again. Connect the positive line of the Meter to the positive side of the battery and the negative cable to the negative side.
See the reading in the Meter. If it shows you the actual battery Voltage, it means the batteries are going great. If it shows 1/1.5 Voltage down, the battery has become weak and needs to be charged.
Step 4
If you find everything great with the Batteries and the Circuit Breaker, you should go one step further. And that is checking the Armature. Usually, if your Armature is damaged, it doesn’t operate at any speed. That means you get no power at all.
Still, Armatures can work with minor problems and give you less power operation. So, you need to run tests on the Armature to see if everything is fine.
Step 5
The most common mistake, more or less, we all do in Trolling Motors. We do the electric checks but forget to check the Propeller.
Sometimes it’s just the Propeller has fusses stuck inside. And that’s the reason you aren’t getting enough speed even with full speed mode.
So, check the Propeller, and if you find any dirt or debris stuck in, clean it nicely.
Do the Trolling Motors Lose Power Over Time?
It is not usually accurate. Trolling Motors are manufactured so that they can run for an extended period. But they can go wrong for other reasons, even in new conditions. It happens if water finds its way to get inside the lower unit or the brusher short.
To get rid of this problem, you should check on the basics of your Trolling Motor. Perform the tests and find the problem as soon as you face an operational issue in your Trolling Motor. Resolve it, and you’re good to go.
How to Speed Up Trolling Motor?
The motor part of the Trolling Motor seems not to work correctly sometimes. It happens when you hit a rock or something solid in the water. Then the below parts get jammed and squeezed up over there. Here you will sense your Trolling Motor not running at full speed. So, you need to ease up the pieces to make them accessible again.
Speeding up your Trolling Motor is relatively easy. Follow the simple procedure below to give a tweak to your Trolling Motor.
- The tools you need to work are sharp-edged materials like a pin, a 9/16 socket, and a 5/16 ratchet.
- First of all, make sure your Trolling Motor is turned off. Take the 9/16 socket and remove your nut and prop. Also, take off the pin, so it doesn’t fly out.
- Mark the cone and fin of the lower unit with the sharp edge. You need to do this if your fix doesn’t work, and you have to put the whole thing altogether as it was previously. So, you can take the unit to the warranty center.
- Take the 5/16 ratchet and loosen up the two screws. Do not take apart the screws wholly.
- Turn on your Trolling Motor and put it to automatic. Turn to 70/80 power. At this point, you would hear the sound of the speed running.
- Go up and down to adjust the fin. You’ll hear the sound getting louder and quieter and faster and slower when you move the spin.
- Find a way somewhere the sound is softer, and the rate is more rapid. Settle down there and turn off the motor now. Then, adjoined the other parts. It’s the reverse process of the removing you did.
FAQs
When you can see a visible problem in the prop, you need to replace it immediately. Your propeller plates can be broken, or the edges can be broken or bent.
First, run the battery test with a Multi Meter and see if there is any juice left inside. If you have a charging option handy, you don’t need to replace it. Charge the battery, and it’ll be fine. But if that’s not the option, you have to replace the batteries immediately.
To know if your deep cycle battery is terrible, you have to test the battery with an ohmmeter. You can also check the water level of the battery. If the lead plates are visible and the water level is below them, you can add Distilled Water to relieve the battery.
2 Trolling Motors can give you a better result in speed and thrust. But not as the dual power it should provide. Again, spending on the same thing twice for a little better performance doesn’t seem wise.
Final Thoughts
We have reached the discussion. Hope that you now know what to do if Trolling Motor not running at full speed. Go through the above procedure well and apply accordingly. Make sure you follow each step with safety measures taken.
If this article helps you, don’t forget to share it with your other angler friends. Happy fishing!
