Minkota trouble shooting
I have an ancient by today's standards (8+ years old) #55 transom mount five speed Riptide. It cost me $140-160 new so that will tell you something. It died on me yesterday. I was pushed up onto a sand bar and the prop was stopped. I've done that or something similar about 3722 or so times, nothing new there. It was immediately apparent that there was a problem as there is no longer any movement of the prop regardless of switch position. Luckily I did not have to poll the boat far till I could use the main motor. I'm planning on upgrading to a #55 Ipilot within the year, but I have other financial obligations for now. The problem is that at $60/hr this motor is old enough that the repair bill is going to cost more than the motor is worth (plus I'd rather put the money toward the new one). So I'll work on it myself. I've opened up the head for a cursory check for corrosion, loose connection, obvious signs of overheating etc. No joy. Is there a way to temporarily hard wire the lower unit to test it? If the lower unit checks out it has to be the main switch or electronics in the lower unit (are there any?). It is actually a pretty simple motor because it does not have all of the electronic bells and whistles so it should not be too tough to figure out the problem and determine if it is worth fixing. Anyone ever do this or are there any techs willing to help trouble shoot? While I'm not an electronics wizard I do know how to use a multi-meter etc. Thanks
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http://www.northlandmarine.com/images/EXTREMETransom/55%20Extreme%20%26%2070%20Extreme-97.pdf
http://www.northlandmarine.com/MinnkotaTransomMount.html
Snookafinity, Thanks very helpful. My version is old enough that it does not have any kind of motherboard (or proto-motherboard) like the Extreme does. But that web page does have a 5 speed solid state switch like the one I have. At $20 I'll be very happy if that is all it takes.
I did not have a chance to get out and mess with it yesterday, power went out right at dark. I should get a chance to look at it today.