Infinitely Controlled $100 Trolling Motor! - Maximize Your Minn Kota with a Pulse Width Modulator!

John "Toast" Oast and Lila "Susky Shark" Oast from Fishyaker.com fish the Susquehanna River near Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. For more fishing and kayaking videos visit Fishyaker.com or the Fishyaker KZbin channel.
Subscribe to Fishyaker on KZbin:
/ fishyaker
Follow John Oast on Twitter (@johnoast):
/ johnoast
Follow John Oast on Instagram (johnoast):
/ johnoast
Fishyaker.com on the web:
fishyaker.com/
Check out GoFish Cam products:
www.gofishcam.com/johnoast
Infinitely Controlled $100 Trolling Motor! - Maximize Your Minn Kota with a Pulse Width Modulator!

[@TheAthleticCoach]

*This makes my old motor look like a toy **enjoyable.fishing** recommend it's well built. I haven't had it on the water yet, but I'm very sure it will perform just fine.*

[@andthesunsets]

I don't believe F1 draws the same amps as F5. But I do believe there is inefficiency in using a resistor to get the voltage down so it would spin slower. Ultimately whatever the resistor eats up becomes heat. PWM resolves that inefficiency.

[@m1ndphaser]

wow this was awesome. this could be applied to use on a regular boat too. keep the head, gut the contents, and install those items. you'd have the control head with the handle to steer it, and make a brushed aluminum custom bezel to cover the factory face. etch 'forward' and 'reverse', and have a speed scale or maybe '1 to 10' around the potentiometer.

[@TiggsTailsFishing]

guys make sure in the description on amazon that it says pwm. there are some that look exactly alike the pwm but are not

[@fishyaker]

Great call! Thanks!

[@jeremymcpherson9405]

I feel like that box is huge. I do quite a bit of rc and I don't see why this cant be much smaller. I mean a 50 amp speed controller for an airplane is like 1 inch by 3 inches by maybe 1/4 inch thick. They have PWM type controllers to test servos. Maybe something like that would be cleaner.

[@jonesingfortheque3530]

Brilliant my friend. Just down up the river from you here in Williamsport!

[@fishyaker]

Thanks! Holler anytime if you ever want to fish. 👍

[@jonesingfortheque3530]

@@fishyaker Absolutely man! Just getting back into fishing after being away from Pennsylvania for the last 6 years.

[@fishyaker]

Cool! PM me on Facebook if you want to catch up.

[@rodrigoelgu]

I've always wonder if you could explain what percentage of battery you save if you running the trolling motor at 50% power, what are the amps drawn with and without a pwm Both running at 50%? i know at 100% power they both draw the same amount of power but the pwm its supposed to save battery so at 50% power how much power or amps are you saving, hopefully you understand what im trying to say .

[@poolgnome]

What pwm did you use. Amazon link ?? Thanks

[@jakebeaton1927]

You should have a fuse or reset switch before the pwm, if it's a 50amp pwm, get a 40 Amp fusebox

[@fishyaker]

Thanks Jake! I have one on the battery end now,

[@garywhite93]

Would this work for a motor guide bow mount trolling motor. has the foot pedal. My motor also doesn't have reverse on the motor. I have to push the pedal down and turn the head around to go in reverse.

[@fishyaker]

It should. The inner mechanisms are pretty much the same in all trolling motors. Take the cover off the head to make sure though.

[@jbehzad]

Nice set up ! May I ask what wire AWG did you used from PWM battery ? Thanks

[@fishyaker]

I mainly just used the existing wire from the original motor controller and matched a shirt additional stretch to that. 👍

[@ljc_outdoors9511]

Great video man! What gauge wire did you use?

[@fishyaker]

Thanks! I can’t remember off the top of my head. It may have been 8 gauge.

[@johnalex3023]

Was there a white and yellow wire also? If so what did u do with them?

[@fishyaker]

Yep. I just capped it off. 👍

[@marcovalerionati5645]

@@fishyaker and what if I want to keep also the head of the motor on with the actual throttle?

[@Levers103]

How many Ohm potentiometer are you using?

[@jameshenry920]

Will the PWM work with tiller style trolling motors only? Or can they be used with foot controlled or wireless motors?

[@fishyaker]

It should work with all of them, since you are bypassing the head of the unit and only connecting to the power input to the lower unit.

[@HOLYCOWNIPPLESS]

hi. without handle, how do you control or change the direction? Please advise. thanks

[@fishyaker]

There are a number of options. I’m using the NuCanoe steering system. You could also run rudder cables and steer from foot pegs. 👍

[@andrewsmith941]

I thought you had to have fans to keep the PWM cool but I might be thinking of something else.Subscribed

[@fishyaker]

I thought that it might burn out too, but so far so good. ;-)

[@F-N-C]

what wires do i connect out of the trolling motor? Mine has multiple wires in the head.

[@ramcharger9146]

Now with the Box are you getting more speed out of the motor or is it still going the original maximum speed I want to put one of these on my trolling motor for my jon boat but only if I'm going to get an extra 5 to 10mph out of it

[@fishyaker]

Honestly, I didn’t play around with it much beforehand. 😉😊

[@thomaskitlica5572]

Same speed only better control but I don't know of any trolling motor your going to get 10 mph out of

[@Mrpike69]

I think I might have found the route I needed

[@jerryag19451]

any thoughts on steering by remote

[@ChrisSlowens]

Just made a really similar build myself... didn't realize they had such cheap PWMs on Amazon though. I had mine custom made but it wasn't too bad. Can keep up with my torqeedo friends now at a fraction of the price lol

[@fishyaker]

Cool! Yours' very well may hold up better than the cheap PWMs though. ;-)

[@ChrisSlowens]

@@fishyaker funny you say that... the one I bought didn’t work... so I’m using the one off Amazon. Works great 😂

[@bleezham]

So with this mod you see gains? did you have a 30LB thrust?

[@Skap91]

@@ChrisSlowens which pwm did u get ?

[@OceaReef]

How hot can the PWM be if we keep the motor running for 15 mins ?

[@fishyaker]

The outside of the box feels warm after cranking it for a while, but I haven’t blown it out yet.

[@jeremytruitt6702]

What is the pulse module that you bought?

[@fishyaker]

Off Amazon... PWM DC motor governor High power 40A reversible DC motor governor 12V-50V motor governor Positive reverse speed governor www.amazon.com/dp/B07GGQ5JB5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_RStGFbAV96CJC

[@rodmitchell8991]

witch wires are do you hook up to

[@papabones6307]

What battery are you thinking of using?

[@fishyaker]

A 60ah Amped. I love it. :-)

[@bleezham]

could you run 2 trolling motors with this one controller?

[@fishyaker]

I would bet it would overheat the board .

[@pangasinanangler5374]

Awsome master i just order im waiting for the item

[@fishyaker]

Thanks!

[@ssk3204]

Have any one successfully use a pwm after a voltage regulator? For example I have a 48v lipo ebike battery pack (it's super cheap and light) I would use a 48v lipo connect to 12v or 24v buck converter then add the pwm to control the speed. I'm able to run my trolling motor on the buck converter but hesitant on adding a pwm down stream of the buck converter to infinitely control the speed. I'm just trying to maximize the setup.

[@fishyaker]

I haven’t tried... 👍

[@larsvegas1505]

making this vid and not checking amp draw before/after changing makes this pointless.. like how much power are u really saving for the 50 bucks extra investment... also there are 2 sides to changing over.. the set speeds make it ez to choose 1 speed, also u always know like im on 4 now so im trolling.. or im on 1 so im vertical fishing.. with no set speeds it makes it harder to replicate the same speed every time..

[@thomaskitlica5572]

If you would have checked the maps first with a decent meter you would have found out what you said was very untrue about the stock setup it actually does increase power draw just in increments instead of infinite control please research before making a statement

[@patrickmier1141]

I don't know where that rumor started- but there are a number of people thinking it. I run my M-K troller from a ReBel LiFe battery that has bluetooth connection that allows you to monitor charge/discharge data... according to the app it draws about 40watts on spd1 and about 380watts on spd5. Applying common sense and the law of conservation of energy... if it always used the same power then some part of that trolling motor would have to get REALLY hot when you're going slow.