# TM Battery Draining Quickly



## Whiskey Angler (Mar 20, 2015)

timogleason said:


> Is giving me fits...I have a very simple 12 v 55lb twist system with a battery, a plug in charger, breaker and a Marinco plug to disconnect TM. When I charge up battery to full (and TM shows full), it recently started draining out really quickly. First thought, bad battery. Had it load tested twice (fine) and even borrowed another battery and same issue so not the battery. Cleaned connection terminals (they weren't bad). Borrowed another TM and it had same drain issue so not the TM. Marinco plug was a bit jenky/old/some corrosion so I changed both male and female end out. Still same issue. Carries same voltage all the way through the system from battery to the TM head. I'm stumped. It is so simple a system, can't figure out what the issue could be. Only thing I haven't done is cut back wiring and redo all connections (could be corrosion under coating???). Only other issue I see is at the Marinco plug I have heavy gauge (maybe 8 gauge) wire going into those small fittings. I had to trim out about half of wire to fit into connections.
> 
> Anybody have similar issues with their TM? Driving me crazy. Any direction would be appreciated. I hate to bring this in to an electrical guy as it shouldn't be that hard.


I'm not real confident that the built in gauge on the TM is very accurate. Could it be that the battery is simply not getting fully charged? What kind of charger are using and what is its charging current (amps), what size (amp/hour) battery, and how long are you letting it charge?

Also, trimming the wire down to fit the smaller terminals creates a bottleneck for the current, which turns into heat, and could very likely catch fire....I had it happen to me after 10 minutes of running a 36v 101 at 90%-100%.


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## Hardluk81 (Jan 3, 2016)

I'm pretty sure they sell an adapter that goes on the back of the female side of your plug that accepts the right gauge wire. I'm not sure why it's not originally made like that, just something else to break in time. I actually bought that plug and ended up putting a clam shell on the deck instead.


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## MariettaMike (Jun 14, 2012)

All of the above plus: What size battery are you using? How long are those wires? How old are those wires? Have they been sunk in saltwater? Are they marine grade, fine strand copper wires for DC? Does the TM start running weak after a short period of time? Have you tried running the TM directly from your battery?

You're right that it's not complicated.

Redo the wire connections by cutting back until you find clean copper and reterminate. Buy and Use a Marinco #6 gauge wire adapter if needed.

If the TM runs strong, ignore the gauge on the TM.

If it doesn't replace your 8 gauge wires.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

I do not believe in load testers because my personal experience is that they are not worth a s......

How old is the battery????????


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## timogleason (Jul 27, 2013)

I am fairly confident it is getting charged


topnative2 said:


> I do not believe in load testers because my personal experience is that they are not worth a s......
> 
> How old is the battery????????


Thanks for insight guys. Boat is only 2 years old. Since I took all variable out by testing with new pieces, last thing is wires. My guess is wiring has some corrosion in it some where. Gonna start cutting back and see what I see. It is the only thing left. I may go out and get that adaptor but like someone said, one more thing to break. I may just hardwire the TM too and get rid of that plug all together. It has been a corrosion issue from day one. Not sure of quality of wire itself. Came from boat manufacturer so I assume it is marine grade. Everything else is done quality.


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

My earned experience tells me get a new battery.

I think that bad wiring would not be an issue in draining power from the battery because there should be a loss in performance in the tm. Are u "feeling" like u are having to up the "speed" setting to get the same performance as before?

Ya can't go wrong w/ a new battery after 2yrs.


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## timogleason (Jul 27, 2013)

gonna cut and redo connections first. I tried with a different batt. same issue...Batt was my first thought though. Batt is only about a year old. Had one go bad and changed out for a new one. It does get used daily though...


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## GTSRGTSR (Nov 10, 2009)

I used to use the marinco plug and got rid of it and hard wired it. Too much corrosion where I had it installed.


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## floridascuba (Mar 15, 2012)

I use and love this plug


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

What make, model, manufacturer on the battery?

The general consensus around here is that your generic marine battery is ready for replacement after 2-3 years of use.

One of my two dedicated trolling motor batteries is definitely smoked at two years old.


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## CaptainRob (Mar 11, 2007)

floridascuba said:


> I use and love this plug


Best trolling motor plug out there IMHO. I also use this and never had an issue.


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## timogleason (Jul 27, 2013)

I ended up testing under load and found I was getting significant voltage drops throughout system so I replaced wiring/breaker and plug as well as putting a larger battery. Seems to be OK now. thanks for all the help


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