Minn Kota Terrova Diagnostic

onthewater102 · Jun 2, 2017

Trying to figure out what's up with my Terrova, as out of the blue it won't steer left or right. I tried cleaning the pedal controls, which does not have contacts, so it isn't a buildup of corrosion. I'm going to test the current draw of the steering motor to see if it's within spec (with the trolling motor shaft removed it should be <2 amps when turning in both directions per Minn Kota tech support). If it is greater than that draw then it likely is malfunctioning to the point it would have damaged the main control board. I'm good up until that point - but if the issue isn't revealed yet I don't know how to determine if it's the main control board or the control board in the foot pedal.

I do not know anyone with one of these trolling motors in Western CT, otherwise I would make arrangements to meet up and test their pedal on my unit, or visa versa, to either confirm or eliminate the pedal as the problem. Does anyone know of a way to test the pedal with a multimeter? It is a digital circuit, with four wires controlling a half dozen different functions, so I don't know how to do a test on my own.

Nearest "authorized service center" is over 2hrs away, so that's not an option.

jethro · Jun 7, 2017

I just had to replace the control board in my 2004 Powerdrive. How did I find out? I replaced the darn pedal first!! Expensive mistake.

RiverBottomOutdoors · Jun 7, 2017

Does it turn with the i-pilot remote?

onthewater102 · Jun 7, 2017

No I-Pilot, mad that I was standing next to Rich Zaleski for an hour and a half as vendors at a club swap meet and he was trying to sell his for $50 and I never realized it. Would have jumped on that like a fat kid on a cupcake... going off on a tangent his blog is an excellent resource www.richz.com/fishing/blog.

Back to my issue:

Reading around I found a few positive references to https://northlandmarine.com/ so I gave them a call. They walked me through the same test of the electric steering motor that Minn Kota's tech support directed me to do - basically support the motor in the deployed position so its weight isn't bearing on the steering & apply power directly from a battery to steering motor leads and measure the amperage drawn. Should be around .5 amps or less - if it's over 2 amps its taken out the main control board.

They told me because both the rocker pedal steering controls and the push button left and right controls on the pedal were non responsive in both directions it was highly unlikely that the pedal was the issue as each directional control is independent and for all of them to fail at once would be very unlikely.

Furthermore, he recommended replacing the entire motor assembly instead of just the electric motor, as it was likely wear in the bearings that caused the original motor to fail in the first place and I'd be risking my brand new control board being taken out by a premature failure in the new motor for the same reasons. Minn Kota only mentioned that it's usually the motor which takes out the control board and that both likely need to be replaced.

Ordered the parts from Northlandmarine and I'm just waiting for the parts to come in.