There are a lot of reasons why minn kota trolling motor won’t turn on.
When this happens, it can be a very disappointing situation.
But as your minn kota trolling motor ages, it will develop some issues.
These issues can be a minor one that can be fixed at a small cost.
Other times, it can be a major damage that will be costly to fix.
Some of these will make the trolling motor not to turn on when you want to use it.
A faulty control board or bad battery is one of the reasons why minn kota will not turn on.
When you discover what the reason is with a proper troubleshooting, you have to make sure that you correct the defective part.
This will help put your minn kota trolling motor to a functional state again.
What To Do When Minn Kota Trolling Motor Does Not Start
1) Troubleshoot
There is a common mistake a lot of people make when dealing with a faulty device.
This is always when they start assuming a lot of things without troubleshooting.
This will lead to a waste of time in a lot of the cases.
But when you perform a troubleshooting on the faulty device, it will be easy to recognize the part that is faulty.
This is the first thing you have to do when you discover that your minn kota trolling motor won’t start when turned on.
In performing the troubleshooting, you have to make sure that you inspect the vital components that help in making the trolling motor to start.
This includes the battery voltage as well as the control board in the minn kota trolling motor.
When you discover that any of them is faulty, then you can go ahead and make a replacement.
But in doing the troubleshooting, make sure that it is done by a well experienced and licensed technician.
This will reduce the possibility of more damage in the trolling motor due to inexperience.
Once the faulty part is discovered, you have to make sure that you replace it.
In doing this, make sure that you buy the replacement part from a dealer that is licensed.
This will help you buy an original part and not a fake part that will easily develop issues again.
Why Minn Kota Trolling Motor Won’t Turn On
1) Low Battery
When you discover that your minn kota trolling motor is having an issue with starting, one of the reasons is usually a low battery voltage level.
With the use of a minn kota trolling motor, there is usually a voltage that the battery has to be at before it can power the trolling motor.
If the battery is below this voltage, then the electric trolling motor will not start.
For the minn kota trolling motor, the battery voltage needed is 12 volts.
So it you discover that your trolling motor is not starting, you have to make sure that you check the output voltage of the battery.
If it is less than 12 volts, then it will have a hard time powering the minn kota trolling motor when you want to start the motor.
2) Bad Control Board
For the minn kota to function well, it’s functionality has to be controlled by a control board.
This is what helps the various functions to be active when they are initiated.
This includes the function to start the minn kota trolling motor too.
But if this part of the trolling motor is faulty, then there will be a lot of problems with the trolling motor when it is to be put to use.
One of the problems that will be encountered is that the trolling motor will not turn on.
This is one of the reasons why minn kota trolling motor won’t turn on.
3) Parasitic Battery Drain
With the use of your battery to power an electric trolling motor, you have to make sure that you recharge it after use.
This can be done with an onboard or off board boat battery charger.
This will help keep the voltage of the battery at an optimum and functional voltage good enough to power the electric trolling motor anytime.
But in some times you can charge the battery to its full capacity and wake up the next day to have issues with a low battery.
This is usually due to parasitic battery drain in the boat or kayak.
If this occurs for a lot of times even when the battery is good, what you have to do is to disconnect the trolling motor from the battery and observe.
If you come back the next day to find the battery voltage at an optimum level then you should know that you have a parasitic connection that is causing a battery drain.
This will really affect your electric trolling motor usage as it will be draining the battery when it is not in use.
This is one of the things that causes the minn kota trolling motor not to start.
4) Bad Battery Connector
For the minn kota trolling motor to start effortlessly, the connection between the trolling motor and the battery has to be firm.
To achieve this, you have to make sure that you are using a good wire.
Also you have to make sure that the wire is firmly connected to the battery.
If there is a loose contact between the wire and the battery head, then you may have some issues when you want to start your trolling motor.
5) Faulty Battery Charger
When your minn kota trolling motor is working, it will take energy from the battery it is connected to.
This will lead to the reduction in the voltage of the battery.
As you keep using the trolling motor, the more the voltage of the battery will reduce.
To be able to keep using your minn kota trolling motor, you have to make sure that the battery is well recharged after use.
This can be done by an onboard or off board marine battery charger.
This will help bring your battery to an optimum voltage level.
But this can only be done when the battery charger is good.
If the battery charger is faulty, then it will not be able to recharge the battery well.
This will lead to situations in which the minn kota trolling motor refuses to start.
6) Faulty Circuit Breaker
To protect an electronic device, one of the components that is used is the circuit breaker.
This will help protect the device from damage.
But in some of the times, you have to know how to reset the circuit breaker back.
This will help allow the connection of the device to the battery to be effective again.
This is usually one of the reasons why a battery powered device may not work due to a circuit breaker that has tripped.
When this occurs, it will disconnect the contact between the battery and the trolling motor.
This will disallow charge from flowing from the battery to the trolling motor hence making the trolling motor not to start.
How To Fix Minn Kota Trolling Motor That Will Not Power On
1) Replace a Bad Control Board With a Good One
After you might have finished troubleshooting, you will discover the possible reasons why your minn kota trolling motor will not power on.
If you discover that the control board is the reason, you have to make sure that you change it to a good one.
When this is done, it will help your trolling motor to function again.
But in making the change, you have to make sure that you are doing this the right way.
This is by making sure that you use the services of someone that is well experienced.
Also when buying the replacement for the faulty control board, make sure that you buy a good one.
This will help fix the problem .
2) Replace a Dead Battery With a Good One
When your battery begins to lose charge rapidly through self discharge, that is one of the key indications that the battery is becoming useless.
This is going to affect the effectiveness of your minn kota trolling motor.
One of the ways it will affect it is that minn kota trolling motor won’t turn on when you want to power it up.
This is due to the health condition of the battery.
To power your trolling motor, you will first need to recharge the battery.
Even when you have recharged the battery, it will not be able to power the trolling motor for long because it is faulty.
When you discover this, you have to make sure that you change the battery to a new one that is good.
This will help in effectively powering on your minn kota trolling motor when you switch it on.
3) Make Trolling Motor Connection To Battery Tight
Before an electric trolling motor can function, it has to be connected to the battery.
This is usually done with the help of a wire.
But in doing this, you have to make sure that the battery is firmly connected to the trolling motor.
If not, you may run into situations in which your electric trolling motor refuses to power on due to a loose connection.
To correct this, you have to make sure that the connecting cable between the trolling motor and the battery is tightly connected.
This will help the battery to supply energy effectively to the trolling motor especially when you are powering it on.
4) Use a Good Circuit Breaker
Using a circuit breaker is very important when the use of electronic devices come into consideration.
It helps create a disconnect when necessary.
This helps in protecting the battery and the electronic device from damage.
A lot of people use it too when they make use of their minn kota trolling motor.
But it can cause functionality flaws a lot of times.
This occurs when they are faulty or made from low quality standards.
This will lead to issues when you use your trolling motor.
When you discover that the circuit breaker is the reason why minn kota trolling motor will not power up, you have to make sure that you change it.
In changing it, you have to make sure that you change it to a good one.
This will help your minn kota trolling motor to function well when taking energy from the battery.
5) Use a Good Battery Charger
When you are making use of your trolling motor that is electric, the battery level will keep dropping as you keep using the trolling motor.
To have a good use time, you have to create a way of replenishing the used energy.
This is always done by recharging the battery.
There are a lot of ways in which this can be done.
This can be done with the use of an onboard or off board charging system.
But you have to make sure that the battery charger is the right type that can charge the battery effectively overheating the battery or without taking too much time.
You can even use a solar panel with a charge controller to charge the trolling motor battery.
This will replenish the used energy fast.
Apart from that, the solar panel will help provide enough energy that will help you use other energy demanding devices on your boat or kayak without affecting the battery longevity.
This will help reserve enough charge when you are out of the water and prevent a minn kota trolling motor won’t turn on casualty.
Further Readings