Lowrance Ghost Trolling Issue

[Roadhog56]

About three weeks ago, I was out on the lake and my trolling motor stop functioning. At first the anchor mode stop working, then I lost all power from the foot control to the head unit on the trolling motor. Call Lowrance and they suggested doing a factory reset. I did, and things start working for about 20 minutes and then stopped. Got the boat back home and everything started to work again. Went out the next day, and the issue repeated. Lowrance Tech stated to bring into a service center. It sat at the service center for three weeks and they stated they could not find and issue. So, put it back on the boat the next day and went out on the lake the Trolling motor lost control again to the head unit, no blue arrow, no reaction from the foot pedal, however the foot pedal displayed power. Call Lowrance again and they sent me to a different service center. It's been there for the past two week. I have hard wired the motor, removed the plugin receptacle, load check batteries, change to a 60 amp breaker, still nothing. Lowrance rep suggested that the head unit control board was intermittently losing power. The Ghost is the 2020 model. Has anyone else had this issue?

 

[Andrebass]

So when the trolling motor is on the boat and deployed it doesn't work, but when its in the shop it works.
Is water getting in somewhere? I doubt it.
A faulty switch from deploy and not deployed.
A bad foot pedal?
A bad mother board?

That's all I got.

 

[Roadhog56]

Both times the motor deployed

 

[92 Nitro 190dc Owner]

I had a very similar situation. I had corrosion in the wires. The trolling motor ran for awhile, then stopped working. Then after getting home and doing a reset, it worked. I found out that the corrosion contributed to the trolling motor overheating and shutting down. After it cooled and reset it worked at home, but since I didn't run it for very long (didn't want to run it very long out of the water), it didn't have a chance to overheat. Out on the lake pulling the boat put the motor under a load and it would overheat after awhile.

 

[Roadhog56]

I had a very similar situation. I had corrosion in the wires. The trolling motor ran for awhile, then stopped working. Then after getting home and doing a reset, it worked. I found out that the corrosion contributed to the trolling motor overheating and shutting down. After it cooled and reset it worked at home, but since I didn't run it for very long (didn't want to run it very long out of the water), it didn't have a chance to overheat. Out on the lake pulling the boat put the motor under a load and it would overheat after awhile.

Thanks for the info. My motor still at the service center, waiting to hear what they can find

 

[LB-Nitro]

I had a very similar situation. I had corrosion in the wires. The trolling motor ran for awhile, then stopped working. Then after getting home and doing a reset, it worked. I found out that the corrosion contributed to the trolling motor overheating and shutting down. After it cooled and reset it worked at home, but since I didn't run it for very long (didn't want to run it very long out of the water), it didn't have a chance to overheat. Out on the lake pulling the boat put the motor under a load and it would overheat after awhile.

Where was the corrosion and what was it from? That’s super important

 

[92 Nitro 190dc Owner]

It was from water getting into the plug. I switched to a different plug that seems to have a much better sealing configuration.

This is the one that corroded:

This is the one that replaced it:

 

[LB-Nitro]

Yeah that plug will have more surface area on each male piece giving you a better connection. I don’t have a ghost yet but my current motorguide 70 has that same plug you are saying became corroded. When I upgrade to ghost I’m going to change the plug as well!

 

[92 Nitro 190dc Owner]

I really like the way the replacement is constructed. The replacement has internal rubber seals as well as a nice seal around the cable and when it's plugged in, there is a O-ring around the plug to keep water out between the plug and receptacle.

 

[Joe Winkler]

I have melted two of your new style plugs and went with your old style, but I used dielectric electrical grease on the plug ends to stop the corrosion. And after connection problems with the watertight connections on the bildge pump, and live well pumps that's at the bottom of the hull, I have added some dielectric grease to them also.

 

[Joe Winkler]

I have melted two of your new style plugs and went with your old style, but I used dielectric electrical grease on the plug ends to stop the corrosion. And after connection problems with the watertight connections on the bildge pump, and live well pumps that's at the bottom of the hull, I have added some dielectric grease to them also.

And always thought I would go with a watertight 120volt 50 amp plug if I ever had troubles again.

 

[92 Nitro 190dc Owner]

Interesting. The old style plug melted on me (due to the corrosion). Did you have any corrosion on the new style plugs when they melted?

 

[Joe Winkler]

Nope they were clean, they just can't handle the amps. And melts the plastic around the probes.

 

[92 Nitro 190dc Owner]

Yikes. I have a 36v Ulterra. Hope that doesn't happen to me.

 

[Joe Winkler]

Just another word of real-life advice, I drilled 2 holes in the bottom corners of my foot pedal deck recess, as I've gotten into two tirent rains that filled up about an inch of the pedel recsess and fried two boards on my old minn Kota 80 max. Now with the new Force trolling motor the pedal gets pulled out and used on the top of the deck so it don't get flooded. Hard lesson learned.

 

[92 Nitro 190dc Owner]

Thanks! Appreciate the tip!