Grounding the Trolling Motor Skeg to the Battery Test for Sonar Interference!

Quick update on an old problem - I FINALLY got the boat out on the water and as requested by the Minn Kota dealership, I was able to test out grounding the skeg of the Terrova trolling motor to the negative terminal of the battery and the negative contact that powers the Garmin Echomap.
Previous video with details on the initial troubleshooting can be found here: • Minn Kota Terrova 24v ...
So is my Minn Kota Terrova finally interference free? Watch and find out!
By the way, it's important to note that this EXACT setup worked perfectly with my MK Powerdrive. As soon as I switched to the Terrova, disaster. It was also fully tested at a local dealership and confirmed the barrel is pumping out RF noise that affects ANY transducer that is within a foot of the barrel.

[@mikeharrington3225]

So ready for you to get a new troller and give us the good clear news man!! What a freakin' headache :(((( I have a Minn Kota (older.. maybe 2013?) and a new 93sv that has some interference. It's not as severe as yours, but when the trolling motor is going I don't pick up ANY structure with SideVu, so... kinda useless. Anyway, update us once the new motor gets installed and tell us how great the clarity is lol!

[@DanRichardFishing]

Coming VERY soon! I'll be going with a Garmin Force :)

[@mwyatt1974]

Please let us know how the Force works out. I have been fighting this and working through the fixes for about a year. I am over an hour from the water so testing fixes are not quick. My setup is slightly different as I have a bay boat and Riptide So no pre-installed ground in the motor. I have installed one and had made the only small difference so far, I can now run the fish finder at about 55% gain (when the trolling motor is off I am good to about 85-90). I have the Garmin running off a completely separate small battery and the transducer is on the transom. One thing of note, if the Minn Kota is in full speed I get no interference. I have had the boat two years and can’t believe I am considering buying a second trolling motor.

[@ERone43]

Thanks for this info!

[@DanRichardFishing]

You're very welcome!

[@JeffBattleFish]

I’ve had my 2019 Terrova riptide with the GT54 transducer working great for two years. Just last week the dreaded interference started. When I take the transducer off the motor housing interference starts. So something changed inside the Terrova motor.

[@MountainRainRain1luv]

I hate to hear you couldn't fix it..but, I hope you had a good day fishing 🎣.

[@DanRichardFishing]

Thanks! Yeah not sure what's going to happen next with Minn Kota, it takes so long to get answers from them :( The fishing was not great but that'll be another video ;) Thanks so much for watching!

[@randyfuhrman3949]

Dan, Were you able to fix this issue? Having the same problem and checking for updates. Seperate lithium battery running two 106sv . Fiberglass boat. TM Ulterra static every time I engage the prop.

[@geetarman4922]

I have a Terrova and tried all these same things that didn't work. Today I ran a short ground wire from the negative connection(From the battery) on the speed control board to the aluminum frame of the mounting bracket base and so far the interference is gone.

[@DanRichardFishing]

LOL what the heck?! Did you try grounding the skeg and that didn't work but grounding the bracket base did? LOL I'm going to hook up 50 ground wires to mine and try that lol!

[@Codyl744]

@@DanRichardFishing any updates? I am having the same issue. I only have the issue when the trolling motor is in the water any speed OTHER THAN max speed (10) so it is the speed limiter that is causing the issue. I have 3 different chokes on the transducer cable, a choke on the hot wire inside the head of the trolling motor. The transducer is on a separate pole mount 3 feet away from trolling motor. Trolling motor even causes interference to to Bow mounted graph. Garmin 73sv and 93sv Minn Kota Terrova.

[@craigcanterbury264]

Ok I have 93 & 94 sc uhd. And a terrova 24 volt. My transducers are on the back of my boat. And when under the outboards power they work great. But when I turn the trolling motor on major interference. Thought it was just me. My transducers are over 18 feet away from trolling motor and it’s effecting it

[@DanRichardFishing]

Are your Echomaps connected to the same batteries as your trolling motor by any chance?

[@gghhhgghhh3037]

Does the interference have anything to do with a transducer being mounted to a transducer... thus pinging off of each other...

[@DanRichardFishing]

That's a great question and it could potentially if both are plugged in to your unit at the same time however if the built-in puck transducer is not connected to a sonar unit, it's not active. So in my case, it's not plugged in.

[@orviskid]

I moved my trolling motor 15” away on the transom still had interference

[@themackguyverchannel7713]

talked to mechanic at tracker boats. he said run a ground jumper from trollling battery to starting battery negatives.

[@DanRichardFishing]

Tried that as well, no change. Although I'll be fixing the issue soon.. by installing a new trolling motor 😂

[@bertmoore817]

Mine does the same looking at a new Garmin Force brushless.

[@DanRichardFishing]

I'm doing the exact same thing...

[@chadayers9925]

I put a ground wire on my ultrex and it stopped all my interference.

[@MattsVarietyChannel]

Having interference with brand new Motorguide Tour and Garmin 93UHD. Ive tried everything.

[@jakepromes6437]

Sounds like you have the same issue I have. I'm running a power drive. Did you ever figure out a fix?

[@DanRichardFishing]

Hi Jake, sorry to hear you're having similar issues, the irony is that my Power Drive I had before this motor never had this issue lol! Unfortunately it looks like there is no fix, the motor pumps off the interference even in the controlled workshop at the Minn Kota dealer, it has nothing to do with how it's wired, the boat or the fish finder equipment. The motor was dissected and nothing was found amiss so it's just the motor itself and how it's designed. The only fix is to change the motor, which I hope to do once all this virus madness is over and we can all get back to work. For your issue, did you try everything I mentioned in my other troubleshooting video?

[@rolandpace3147]

I have a motor guide trolling motor. Same issue

[@tomleith3546]

I cut a old rubber boot and made 3 layers the same size as the transducer and placed them between trolling motor and the transducer and I have no interference at all.

[@DanRichardFishing]

I really like this idea, nice one! It wouldn't work in my case because the interference was measured to be affecting anything within a FOOT of the motor but this is a good idea for anyone getting the interference from the vibration of the motor housing, well done!

[@MediocreDualSportRider]

Does your particular MinnKota have the “digital maximizer”? I’m starting to think that’s the issue with mine. I’m going to just relocate the transducer all together. Sick of this shit!

[@DanRichardFishing]

Yes it does, but it's not the issue to be honest... I'll be changing out everything in the spring with all new motor and electronics on the bow :)

[@tnbackroads]

I’m not sure if you fixed this but it looks like there are plenty of other people with Ultrex and Ulterra motors that are having the same issue. So I don’t think that is a foolproof plan to just change to one of those. The only one I know that people aren’t having trouble with is the Garmin.

[@DanRichardFishing]

Nope, never did get this fixed although I don't know anyone that hasn't been able to solve it on an Ultrex. The Garmin force definitely won't have it, it's brushless.

[@DCmite1]

going through the same issue with an ultrex....i was so excited to get a new ultrex and this happened. front graph is pretty much useless 😣

[@DanRichardFishing]

Oh no, I am surprised to hear you're having this issue with a new Ultrex! So it's doing this brand new out of the box? What trouble-shooting have you done so far?

[@DCmite1]

@@DanRichardFishing so far i did all the grounding check points that people recommend, the ferrites, rf chokes and even tried emi sleeving on entire transducer cable.

[@DanRichardFishing]

@@DCmite1 OK so you've been going crazy with all the different online solutions, sounds like you're doing what I did. If I may give you some feedback from my lessons learned, here's some suggestions for troubleshooting. My main issue was that I had already epoxied the transducer cable to the shaft so my troubleshooting was a bit limited. Here are my suggestions, some are super obvious so pardon if this is kind of "well duh". 1. I am assuming you are not powering the chartplotter from the same battery as the trolling motor 2. I am assuming you checked the small grounding fuse in the head of the trolling motor and verified it's good with a continuity tester (not just visually) 3. I am assuming you are testing with no other transducers active on the boat. All of these could lead to interference and should be checked off before doing anything else. Next up, you need to narrow down is the issue the wiring or is it the motor housing itself pumping out the RF noise: 4. Does the interference only kick up when you engage the motor or is it on all the time? Is it worse in deep water vs shallow or dirty water vs clean? 5. Mount the transducer on a pole and take your boat out on the water. Turn your trolling motor on and set it to constant and carefully move the transducer closer to the barrel of the motor (be careful you don't hit the prop!). Does the interference get worse as you touch it to the barrel vs 6 inches? If the transducer is moved completely away (1 foot or more) does the interference vanish? 6. Run a separate power cable from a 12v battery loose on your deck and run the cable directly to the unit and remove the transducer wire from any routing you've done. Still get the interference? Let me know if you have any feedback on that! Personally if you just bought this and have it under warranty, I'd get in touch with MK and get it tested at a service center.

[@DCmite1]

@@DanRichardFishing i dont have a lake close but i did dunk the motor in a trash can full of water...interference only kicks in when the motor turns. i removed the ducer from the motor and dunked it in a seperate tub of water and all interference was gone.

[@DCmite1]

i just tried the ducer on the body of the motor but on s standalone battery and all the noise is gone

[@TheAbit38]

Have you tried a Helix 7 G3

[@DanRichardFishing]

No but I will be upgrading to a 12" Solix on the bow soon!

[@Bridgeman-bg4jl]

I completely cured my interference by replacing my two bank charger with two single chargers. There was some common connection between the trolling motor battery and the Garmin battery. This is not this particular problem but may be someone’s problem.

[@DanRichardFishing]

Thanks for this tip! Like you said, it wasn't the issue in my particular case but it is pretty spectacular how many things can cause interference. Thank goodness for the new brushless versions.

[@Inform47368]

Hey Dan look up youtube tips & tricks by Doug V. you need a Feritte ring on you transducer cable.

[@DanRichardFishing]

Already tried the recommended ferrite rings as well as these super huge versions that cost about $120 each and it does nothing. The interference is not being caused via the cable to the unit it's directly being picked up by the transducer puck and being interpreted as noise so no ferrite ring will filter it out unfortunately. If you check out one of my earlier videos on the complete troubleshooting I did you'll see the ring in the video. thanks for trying to help I really appreciate it, unfortunately I've really tried absolutely everything you can possibly imagine ever mention on the Internet lol! The last thing to do is to just change the motor, which I will be doing likely this spring.

[@9ballrunout]

The wire you have attached to the skeg....instead of connecting to to the negative on your battery try connecting it to the negative on your trolling motor plug

[@DanRichardFishing]

I actually try that it one of my earlier rounds of testing before I brought it to the Minn Kota repair center and unfortunately it didn't do anything. To give further bad news today is really the first day I use it since getting it back from the repair shop and the motor is making a horrible grinding metallic sound any time it runs so it looks like it's going back to the shop. This thing is killing me LOL

[@garysample1980]

There wouldn't happen to have a fuse in the top do you. Just seen a video where the ultrex has a fuse under the top

[@DanRichardFishing]

Hi Gary, there is indeed a fuse in the head of the trolling motor unit, it was the first thing I checked and it was good :)

[@garysample1980]

Sometimes a fuse can look good and still be bad. Off no good then I would try a different mount that will get the transducer off of the motor. Put in same spot just let hang a little bit lower rather than right on the motor. Lol, I have OCD and it's drives me nuts. Don't mean to beat a dead horse but anyway. I would try a different mount

[@DanRichardFishing]

@@garysample1980 I always check fuses with a continuity tester, it was good. It was also swapped out at the Minn Kota authorized service center and that didn't fix it either. The RF noise that is being generated from the motor is anywhere within a foot of the motor. So even if I put a spacer of some kind in between the mount it won't make a difference. This is really a design issue with this particular motor. I'm looking to upgrade soon so hopefully this will be a non issue soon! So frustrating lol!

[@dtdionne]

Dan Richard Fishing wow, did they verify that this happens with all terovas? The Garmin troller is EPIC...i think it’s by far the best one available, wish i could afford one.

[@stevoky]

The interference is coming through the battery charger. If it's multiple banks

[@DanRichardFishing]

Not on mine, it did it even with totally separate batteries sitting on the ground directly wired to the trolling motor.

[@themackguyverchannel7713]

Ferrite beads?

[@DanRichardFishing]

I actually tried industrial ferrite rings with the cord wrapped a bunch of times through it, didn't help.

[@OhMySack]

Hey, where are you at with this, now? I'm curious as my 2 week old Ultrex just started kicking out a load of interference yesterday for some odd reason. I'm chasing grounding issues while on the trailer with no immediate or obvious change as of yet and just stumbled on your vids. If I take the transducer off the trolling motor, it stops so I'm messing with isolating it but no success yet. You mention that you're possibly looking for them to upgrade you to Ultrex....well....that "might" not be the fix afterall. I'm hoping mine corrects but I find it so unusual that I had NO issue for maybe the first 5 or 6 outings and then all of a sudden...here I am!

[@DanRichardFishing]

Wow that IS strange, mine has been doing it since day 1 and they have YET to fix it. They never could find out what was causing the interference and no one from Minn Kota corporate is getting back to me or the dealer with anything remotely helpful. This has been VERY frustrating. At this point I am probably going to upgrade to a Garmin Force, which was officially announced today at iCast. Did you check the little fuse in the head of the motor?

[@OhMySack]

@@DanRichardFishing Fuse check was the first thing I did. I'm doing some grounding changes and putting it on the water to test. I saw the Garmin Force today, as well. Garmin's good but I still worry about the newest production. Definitely don't trust Lowrance for firsts!

[@DanRichardFishing]

@@OhMySack I was thinking the exact same thing in terms of purchasing the very first round... I'll hold off and see how the initial reaction is and go from there probably in the fall. Looks like you're definitely going to have to bring in your unit to a repair center. Does your ultrex have the built in US2 puck?

[@OhMySack]

@@DanRichardFishing It has the US2 and I'll have an adapter for my Garmin unit today so I can see how that works with traditional 2D sonar. I'll be on the water in an hour to see the true results of my changes. Fingers crossed that I see a positive change because I really don't want to have to go through the mess of warranty since I have no local repair facility.

[@DanRichardFishing]

@@OhMySack okay cool, at least testing the built-in sonar will help nail down the issue a little bit. Are you using Garmin units? if so get ready they'll give you a hard time and try to blame it on that... if I had to go through it all over again I would say I'm using hummingbird lol

[@mikelucchesi1719]

You need to ground the wire to the negative buss terminal you’re using for the *sonar*, not the trolling motor. That works every time, regardless of sonar brand or trolling motor brand. If you’ve tried that and it hasn’t worked, make certain you’re making good contact on your ground. The paint on the skeg will prevent good ground, so make sure you are terminal to metal at the TM skeg.

[@DanRichardFishing]

Hi Mike, that was actually tried as well in the very first steps of trouble shooting and still didn't work. The motor itself is just pumping out the RF noise, there's nothing grounding will fix unfortunately. Its really just the design of this motor, I'll be changing it this winter if all goes well :)

[@blaircox1589]

Troubleshooting my simple Minnesota and Lowrance set up for the canoe and found your vid. I'm hoping these Minn Kota motors don't have an RF shielding problem making it near impossible to use with sonar. Mine works fine at 100% throttle, but anything else the Lowrance seems to simply filter out the signal so I get only a rough idea of the bottom. Trying the ferrite rings and clamp-ons, but vid is making me think it's an inherent design issue.

[@larsvegas1505]

@@blaircox1589 same issue here on a minn kota maxxum with a garmin 92sv.. when i put motor off i can set gain of the sonar to about 90% with no filtering added.. super clear screen all the way down to about 100 foot... but once i put on the motor the whole screen just goes red.. (i got the blue scheme on).. now i have to set gain to 35 and put on filtering.. can barely even see the bottom anymore.. I also have a old motorguide laying around, will be trying that aswell.. Also i had to return the minn kota 3 times before.. firs one was faulty assembly (wire between lid).. second one ran like a limp motor.. third one i had for 3 trips and one of the mounting screws got twisted threads.. so now im going to have to return it AGAIN.. I really hope they just give me back my money this time.. or i will be returning that motor 50 times in exchange for a new one before my 2 year warranty runs out!

[@yvanmtl2]

i see the problem.... the mounted probe attached to (la sonde qui est attaché au moteur) cacth interferences generated the brush magnetic motor. the probe needs to have good distance from the motor. credit : bass geek / kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZTYZnyViKaBpdU suggestion : 1- find a way to make distance / taller adapter

[@DanRichardFishing]

Up until recently, all trolling motors are brush motors and these transducers are designed to be barrel mounted. The motor is designed for this exact purpose and the motor I had before didn't have this issue. You're right though, the issue is the RF noise pumping off the barrel, but that's a defect in the motor. There are tens of thousands of Ultrex motors out there with transducers attached to the barrel housing with no issues.

[@JoeyThePeasant]

Not sure if others have told you this, but you need to scrape some of the paint away where the bolt is going through or that ground is useless. As an electrician, we even sand oxidation from a bare copper pipe to ensure proper bonding.

[@DanRichardFishing]

For the purpose of the test, you don't. By drilling and screwing right through the metal, you are making metal on metal contact. If it was permanent, then yes I would agree that you should remove the paint on the both sides around the hole and use a bolt with washers to maximize your contact to the metal. But for the record, it is not normal for anyone to have to drilling and wire in to the skeg of your trolling motor and I wouldn't recommend to use this as a permanent solution for a grounding problem.

[@JoeyThePeasant]

@@DanRichardFishing Oh gotcha! I didn’t realize you used the screw to tap the metal. I thought you drilled through first then used a nut and bolt.

[@garmd4953]

Your not suppose to ground at the skeg! But close to the rotating mass of the motor itself by compressing the wire with a metal clamp around the motor housing itself. NO SCREW

[@DanRichardFishing]

I agree but other people suggested trying to ground the skeg which I also tried, believe me nothing will fix it it's totally 100% a design issue with the motor and there's absolutely nothing you can do to change it. The Minn Kota dealership itself took out a brand new one off the shelf exact same model and it did the exact same thing on their workbench.

[@Judge_Judy]

i ran mine off a second battery ...problem solved

[@DanRichardFishing]

I tried that as well.. totally separate batteries not even in the boat, sitting on my driveway with all separate wiring. Same issue.