I took the boat out today after De-winterizing and my 3 yr.old Minn Kota Power Drive V2 won't work. The battery status on the unit shows 100% charged batteries, but I can't get the motor to turn (neither the prop, or direction) Has any one had a foot control unit go bad? I was looking to upgrade to the new i-pilot anyway, but now i'm worried there my be something wrong with the unit itself. Any one have something similar happen?

It is most likely something like corrioson on a switch or some contact area. Check out all you connections where the control plugs into the trolling motor. Oh yes if you have just connected anywiring back up... check the polarity. I think Minn Kota may have reverse polarity protection. If all your checks find nothing... check for a local authorzed Minn Kota service center. I think your V2 came with a 3 year warranty... are you inside that 3 year period. If out of warranty, ask what it might cost to check out youy trolling motor. You might alaso find some friend with the same model and try their foot control on your unit.

Remember the prop is turned by one motor and the steering by a different motor so it is something in common with the two and not bad motors. I hope I helped in some way.

It is most likely something like corrioson on a switch or some contact area. Check out all you connections where the control plugs into the trolling motor. Oh yes if you have just connected anywiring back up... check the polarity. I think Minn Kota may have reverse polarity protection. If all your checks find nothing... check for a local authorzed Minn Kota service center. I think your V2 came with a 3 year warranty... are you inside that 3 year period. If out of warranty, ask what it might cost to check out youy trolling motor. You might alaso find some friend with the same model and try their foot control on your unit.

Remember the prop is turned by one motor and the steering by a different motor so it is something in common with the two and not bad motors. I hope I helped in some way.

Thanks, Fish-Eagle. I thought about the polarity thing on my way home from work today. No such luck, the wires are connected to the proper posts. I keep the connecting plugs covered when not connected, and the pins look nice and shiny.

This is how I would go about troubleshooting... I have a Minn-kota also, and have heard stories about the foot controls going bad, so that's where you should start. It sounds like you have power going to the V2 if you can get it to display battery charge, so that tells me that you haven't tripped a breaker, fuse or overload. You want to make sure that you are getting power to the foot control before considering it a bad one. If you have a multimeter, set it to dc volts and check across two pins on the pigtail coming from the trolling motor that the foot control plugs into. Which pins I cannot tell you, but one will be positive voltage and one will be ground. Be very careful not to short the meter leads against two pins or against each other - that can cause sparks and potentially trip breakers or fuses. You should see voltage across two pins if power is present. If not, then you aren't getting power to the foot control unit. If you do have power, the next thing to do is make sure the internal switches in the foot control are working and that the contacts haven't corroded. To do this, set the foot control to continuous run, set your multimeter to ohms (resistance) and touch it to the pins inside the molded plastic foot control pigtail. You may find it easiest to draw yourself a diagram of the pins and record the resistance measurements across the pins. After you have recorded the values, switch the foot control to momentary (which basically breaks the circuit and tells you if the switch is working) and recheck the resistance across the pins. If the resistance values are unchanged, this tells you that there is corrosion inside the foot control and the switches aren't making contact, thus no power back to the motor to tell it to run the prop. The last thing to check is the resistance as you push down on one of the corners of the foot control. Again, if the resistance doesn't change, the control isn't telling the motor to change direction. Keep us posted as to what you find, or pm me and I can send you pictures to help explain better.

well, upon further inspection of the cable connecting the foot controller to the motor, i noticed a spot that looked like the cable was some how pinched and disconnected inside the protective cover. I pealed back the black covering (which had no damage), and sure enough three of the seven wires were severed. I figured, cool... I'll just reconnect these wires and all will be good again - no such luck. The motor will still not respond to the foot controller. So, i bit the bullet and installed the i-pilot. Still no response. I am getting power to the control board, which is reading the voltage, but is not sending signals or power to the prop or steering motors. The I-pilot does not 'beep' which assures me i am not getting any power to that unit. I'm going to replace the control board and hope that fixes it.

Ok, I replaced the control board - $110 and shipping. I-pilot and motor working like a champ. Tossed the foot control away. Now, just need a break in the weather.

Rooo - I'm happy for you that you are back up and running. Just the other day I was talking to my wife's boss and he said that he was on his 3rd or 4th foot control with his V2. One of them wouldn't turn left, the other wouldn't turn right. Must be a design flaw. Anyway, he was looking into purchasing the new Fortrex, but didn't really want to put out the gobs of $$ for it. A ? for you - does your V2 deploy really hard? I've had mine for about 6 months and it takes two hands pushing down very quickly on the release to get it to deploy. Does anyone know how to loosen it up? Can I add some lubrication to the release or the shaft to free it up some? It's almost to the point of being dangerous. I feel I'm going to fall over the front deck some day by pushing too hard on it.

07, I fish a river that usually is muddy or off color. When the scum builds up on the shaft, it sticks a little while deploying and recovering. Luckily, it's nothing that a little warm soapy water won't take care of. I usually have to wash it every 5 or 6 outings. I have not used anything special to lubricate it, but you might try something like Armor-All. I know that stuff gets slick when wet. Don't forget to clean where the prop motor stores on the rack. If that's really dirty, it makes it hard to store and deploy the motor as well.

My PD 2 worked great for about 6 month and then it decided to turn left only when it wants to. After a few trials it turns the way I want but it irritates the hell out of me. I 've heard that's a common problem and would like any input how to fix it w/out replacing the foot pedal.

mcopeland, the problem was with the controller and/or the control board. Replaced the board for about a hundred bucks. Thought about trying the old foot controller on the new board, but didn't want to take the chance that it was the cause of the board failing in the first place. I have an I-pilot on it now and like it a lot.