Minn Kota Autopilot

[Griggs]

I have a Minn Kota Autopilot, its 48lbs thrust, and I'm not sure how long the shaft is. I'm not sure from where to where I need to measure it either. Anyways its on my new Polar Kraft and I was just curious if I could find the specs on it somewhere.

I bought it used from my friend last summer, its a only a few years old, but theres been some questions. The guy I got it from said he ran it on a 24v system, had it hooked up to 2 batteries. I ran it last year in my old little boat one 1 battery and it worked fine for the little boat. Now I'm that I have a bigger boat if I should run it off 2. I hooked it up today, and it seemed to run ok off 1, although i think I'll get more power out of two.

The place where I bought the boat from said thats if its 48 lbs Minn Kota its not a 24v motor, its 12v. So I don't know what to think, it can only run 12? So how did he run 24v?

I have a plug at the front of my boat, the wires run to the back of the boat where the trolling motor battery is.

Can I run 2? Will it work better? Its my 48 lbs a 24v motor? From where to where do I measure the shaft?

[Paul Waldowski]

Griggs,

I believe shaft lenght is measured from the head to the middle of the prop. I could be wrong on this, but I think that is how it's done.

As far as your motor goes...it is a 12 volt system. Minnkota has never made a motor with 48 lbs of thrust in a 24 volt version. Off hand I would say that your buddy was running the motor off of 2 batteries hooked together in parallel to extend the battery life and mistakeingly thought that it was a 24 volt system.

[Fisher Dave]

Paul has it correct.. its a 12V motor.. batteries may be hooked in parallel but not in series.. 24V will cook it.

+/+

} to motor is good .. 12V system

-/-

[kevfish]

got to disagree with paul and fisher dave. I have a minn kota 24 volt auto pilot that is 48 lbs thrust. You may still have the 12 volt version because i do not think the 24 volt would work on just one battery- never tried it though

[Giant_Jackpot]

I would agree with the guys who say it is 12 volts. You can still run two batteries, but they must be connected like fisherdave mentioned, plus to plus and minus to minus. To find out for sure, contact MinnKota. Do a Google search on their name and I’m sure you will find a phone number to call. Having the serial number handy would help.

[JohnMickish]

I own a Minnkota model 824 Auto Pilot 24 Volt 48" shaft so there is such a thing. If you have any doubts of what you have email Minnkota and they will tell you. When I bought my boat with this trolling motor that's what I did. They even told me what the max amp draw was so I could install the correct size wire for it.

It will run on 12 volts as all DC motors will run on lower voltage, it just builds heat. Heat is bad.

[Paul Waldowski]

Wow!! I stand corrected. I searched all over Minnkota's HSOforum and couldn't find any info on a 24 volt 48 lb thrust motor. Is this motor an older model? or are they fairly new?

[JohnMickish]

Mine is an older model. I can't say as to how old but I'd guess at least 10 years old. Minnkota was very helpful with me trying to figure out exactly what I had.

[Griggs]

It would appear that mine is also an Autopilot 824.

Its a little bit older, its got the white top, instead of black.

[kevfish]

I bought mine in 1997.

[Griggs]

Ok, sounds like we have the same motor. When I get another battery, how am I suppose to connect them then? And will my wiring and plug have any problems with 24v? (I plug the trolling motor into a plug in the front of the boat, and wires run to the back where the battery is.)

[Giant_Jackpot]

If it is 24 volt, then you connect the positive of one battery to the negative on the other. Then you just connect the trolling motor to the other two terminals. Connect the black wire from the motor to the neg., and the red one to the pos. Piece of cake.