Minn Kota Running Backwards ...

[dj_is]

All,

I have a Minn Kota Vector 55, and recently took the motor assembly apart for cleaning (the hydrilla is really bad where I fish!). When everything was put back together, my 5 speeds of forward are now reverse, and reverse is now forward. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks for your help!

[FishingRod]

Did you check if the wires connecting to the battery are reversed?

[captaingeorge]

Right. ANY reversed wires will do it.

[dj_is]

The wires to the battery are correct, and I did not disconnect any wires inside the motor housing.

[Uturn]

Guess you got a choice, Go backwards or seriously, call Tom Foster @ 757-377-8642 == He is a warranty person for MinnKota. Knows his stuff and always willing to help. Tell him MIKE BAILEY told you to call.

[captaingeorge]

dj_is originally wrote:
The wires to the battery are correct, and I did not disconnect any wires inside the motor housing.
How about in the control head or the switch?

[dj_is]

I have not openned the top part of the motor ...


... and thanks for the reply UTurn. If I can't figure this out myself I will definitely give him a call.

[hedjug]

did you put your prop on the right way?

[dj_is]

Yeah, the prop is built so that it only fit one way.

[3bees]

you must of put something on backwards. You had to have reversed the polarity somewhere

[Steve Franklin]

My motor did the same thing and I tried lots of different things. I finally found out that one of my batteries was dead and it was running of of 12 volts instead of 24. This may not be your problem, but it won't cost you anything to check.
Steve

[jerseydevil]

It's definately a voltage/polarity problem. If it's running backwards and you haven't touched the head or motor/stator windings then it's 1 of the 2! Good luck!

[mikie]

I'm not an electrical genius - so why would the voltage make a difference on the rotation? I can see it running slower, or not at all, but not backward. Now reversing the polarity, I can see. Any help out there?

[jerseydevil]

Mikie, I'm not an EE but here goes. If you have a 24vdc system and the batt's are low and only putting out 12vdc the magnetic field on the armature of the motor starts to collapse and picks up on the negative field instead of 12v positive and starts to turn the opposite direction. Untill the voltage increases and restores the proper magnetic field around the armature it'll go towards the negative and there ya have it going backwards. Like I said, i"m no Elect. Engineer but that's it in my plain and no theory technician terms. Hope it helps?

[hedjug]

I r an EE and it can only be polarity.

[captaingeorge]

I'm no EE either, not even an electrician, but I seem to remember from my submarine days a battery phenomenon known as "cell reversal". When voltage gets low enough, current flow through a battery can reverse, giving symptoms of a polarity problem. A battery actually becomes a "load" instead of a "source". If you're operating with 2 batteries, try it with just one.

[dj_is]

Thanks for all the info guys. Turns out I had the part with the magnet in it put on upside-down. Didn't think this would matter, but ya learn something new every day!

[dj_is]

double ...

[captaingeorge]

Ah, yes. The old "right-hand rule for motors".[smile]