PWM

[_WW_]

Did it extend your battery charge for the whole trip or did you have a way to recharge?

I had a generator and a solar panel. With the crazy weather I relied on the generator to make sure things were topped off every night. I would connect the battery to my trailer battery with a jumper cable and let the trailer inverter do the work. I did put the multimeter on the battery after one trip before charging and it read 12.73 volts. I was running about a half mile to and from at medium speed with a little moving around while out there.

 

[Engee]

Anyone have any updates on their PWM projects?

I just finished my third attempt. The first two ended up smoking after some use. This one has a 2" fan installed and 4-1" screened/louvered vents. I bought a SPDT toggle to replace the supplied forward/reverse switch so I could use a weatherproof boot on it. I also installed a SPST toggle w/boot for the fan. The percentage speed indicator is epoxied inside the clear J-box cover so I can look down at it from my seat. The angle with two bolts is for placement on the arm rest on my boat seat. I drilled two holes in the arm rest, so the PWM slips onto the arm rest and is easily removed when I am done. The PWM itself is rated 60amps continuous and 100amps max, although I don't have much confidence in the ratings on these Chinese boards. The PWM is mounted on a piece of dry erase board (I didn't have anything else so stole the dry erase from the wife) with rubber grommets between the PWM and the mounting board. I run a 34lb thrust Watersnake motor so the PWM should be plenty oversized. I'm hoping this one lasts. If not I may just bag it.

 

[Buzzy]

I just finished my third attempt. The first two ended up smoking after some use. This one has a 2" fan installed and 4-1" screened/louvered vents. I bought a SPDT toggle to replace the supplied forward/reverse switch so I could use a weatherproof boot on it. I also installed a SPST toggle w/boot for the fan. The percentage speed indicator is epoxied inside the clear J-box cover so I can look down at it from my seat. The angle with two bolts is for placement on the arm rest on my boat seat. I drilled two holes in the arm rest, so the PWM slips onto the arm rest and is easily removed when I am done. The PWM itself is rated 60amps continuous and 100amps max, although I don't have much confidence in the ratings on these Chinese boards. The PWM is mounted on a piece of dry erase board (I didn't have anything else so stole the dry erase from the wife) with rubber grommets between the PWM and the mounting board. I run a 34lb thrust Watersnake motor so the PWM should be plenty oversized. I'm hoping this one lasts. If not I may just bag it.

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Nifty! When are you making me one?

 

[Old406Kid]

For all of the work and thought you put into it I hope that the third time is a charm.

 

[_WW_]

Just got back from another BC trip. Again my PWM worked flawlessly. It survived two days of rain, sleet and snow on this trip. I usually have it sitting on its side bewtween my saddle bags.As I mentioned earlier I did not hook up the % meter when doing mine. Since my Fishing Buddy went wonky I picked up a Lowrance 4x GPS sonar. It gives me my trolling speed along with a host of other things. Once I get a permanent transducer and screen mount rigged up I'll be good to go.

 

[veilside180sx]

If it does die again...just save yourself the hassle and buy the Minn Kota Traxxis 12V 55lb Thrust control board Part 2774036. For a little over $100...it's worth the reliability factor.

I did the 100a PWM, but if I did it now...I would've just used the MK. No F/R reverse switch needed with the MK, as the PWM is a F/R variable switch.

 

[Engee]

If it does die again...just save yourself the hassle and buy the Minn Kota Traxxis 12V 55lb Thrust control board Part 2774036. For a little over $100...it's worth the reliability factor.

I did the 100a PWM, but if I did it now...I would've just used the MK. No F/R reverse switch needed with the MK, as the PWM is a F/R variable switch.

If I knew the Traxxis board existed, that is the way I would have gone from the start. Thanks for the helpful suggestion.

 

[Chadk]

If I knew the Traxxis board existed, that is the way I would have gone from the start. Thanks for the helpful suggestion.

I just did the MK Traxxis for my Kayak after melting wires on the PWM that came with my Kayak that someone else built. I reverse engineered what he did, then chose to go the Traxxis route instead of a cheaper board.

Results - it works. But didn't get any gains like I hoped (not sure why - just hoping). My kayak is slow in general. Terribly slow with this motor. But it is a great trolling speed, so works. But give me some current and wind - not going to be good. I can always paddle to assist if needed. And if I'm going in big water with wind or in current - my OT 120 PDL is fast and handles it no problem.

I ordered just about everything off Amazon. Control board, battery status indicators, selector switch, water proof box, etc. No fans added yet. Testing it on a few times to see how hot the Traxxis gets. It has a vent, but not much airflow. I'll add more if needed. Fished in a hard down poor last night and it stayed dry inside. Didn't get hot after a few hours of solid use just trolling around the lake.

Indicator lights are a nice touch. Not needed, but only cost a few bucks from MK, so I ordered them. They snap right in to the harness. Drilled out holes for the LEDs and the toggle button. Used clear silicone to hold them in place.

 

[Chadk]

A few updates on this.

1) setup works great, but it is still slower than I think it should be.
2) switched from the ~30lb AGM battery to a 12lb LiFePo4 battery. Love the weight difference alone! Seems to have added a bit more torque as well. Should give me a full day of use, even with being 50AH since it allows nearly a full draw down without degrading. My traditional battery starts lagging after a few hours, even though it has higher AH.
3) My buddy managed to flip my yak last night (rookie mistake - didn't understand you can lean all the way over!). Batter box was half full of water, but that strap kept it from getting lost. PWM took on some water, through my drilled wire holes, but just dumped it out. Kept running like a champ.

 

[Josh]

Heads up that the Minn Kota Traxxis board seems to be running almost $150 a lot of places.

 

[Josh]

1) setup works great, but it is still slower than I think it should be.

@Chadk What lb thrust is your motor? Do you think the "slower" part is because of the PWM setup? The motor? Your kayak?

 

[wanderingrichard]

To more experienced users: how has it been adjusting to steering with one hand, and changing speed with another? I’m not sure how that’s going to work for me. Especially if I want to troll a fly.

But I finally got my PWM wired up and tested. I even made a janky water resistant lid out of a takeout container. It’s not super functional inasmuch as its hard to turn the knob when it’s in there, so it’s more of a “just in case” kind of thing. I also need to mount the meter...or not. Maybe I’ll just remove it. I am still not sure if it will really be useful. It seems like I can just go by feel.

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@MattB
If you want to continue the form factor you have with the take out box, but want something far sturdier , pick up gasketed waterproof storage box made of lexan from Fred Meyer or Wally World. I built my kayak battery box years ago from one and its still going strong. Just remember that if youre drilling holes in Lexan, g go very slow and lubricate/cool with a steady water bath. I learned that trick from a,master fabricator after having destroyed two other attempts.

 

[Peyton00]

Holy smokes........seems like a lot of labor and more shit in the way, and more stuff to break or fail.

Spend the money and get a motor with variable speeds.

 

[Josh]

Spend the money and get a motor with variable speeds.

You know, I was going to make some comment about "who has money for a new motor"? But then I looked at it, and a new Minn Kota Endura Max (with a factory PWM) is ~$250 or so depending on thrust and shaft length. If someone was thinking of making the nicer PWM with the Traxxis board instead of the $20 ones from Amazon, you'd end up being close to $200 I suspect with all the bits and parts. At that point I might just prefer to have the new Endura Max. Although on that note, there are a LOT of negative reviews about that motor on the Minn Kota website.

That said...

There are a number of reasons why someone might want to have the separate PWM box setup. A kayak is a perfect example. Look at the setup @Chadk is running. As far as I know, there isn't a transom mount motor with a factory made PWM that will do what he's doing. Even with my super-basic tiller-extension steering setup on my kayak, it would be really handy to have the throttle and fwd/reverse right at hand so I didn't have to deal with remembering how many clicks I twisted in which direction.

 

[Chadk]

You know, I was going to make some comment about "who has money for a new motor"? But then I looked at it, and a new Minn Kota Endura Max (with a factory PWM) is ~$250 or so depending on thrust and shaft length. If someone was thinking of making the nicer PWM with the Traxxis board instead of the $20 ones from Amazon, you'd end up being close to $200 I suspect with all the bits and parts. At that point I might just prefer to have the new Endura Max. Although on that note, there are a LOT of negative reviews about that motor on the Minn Kota website.

That said...

There are a number of reasons why someone might want to have the separate PWM box setup. A kayak is a perfect example. Look at the setup @Chadk is running. As far as I know, there isn't a transom mount motor with a factory made PWM that will do what he's doing. Even with my super-basic tiller-extension steering setup on my kayak, it would be really handy to have the throttle and fwd/reverse right at hand so I didn't have to deal with remembering how many clicks I twisted in which direction.

Yeah, in my case, the motor was already attached to the yak I bought. The controller just got toasted. So I decided to upgrade to something more reliable when I got a new controller. I like the long extension handle approach like Josh has now. But this build is pretty cool - chopped the top off the MinnKota and moved to the controls up by the driver essentially. Motor can be raised and lowered from the seat as well. It is a great little fishing boat, but I prefer my pedal kayak. It is faster (I top out around 4.5mph) and cleaner (no wires, battery, etc). But fishing out of either is a lot of fun.

 

[Chadk]

@Chadk What lb thrust is your motor? Do you think the "slower" part is because of the PWM setup? The motor? Your kayak?

I think it is 90% kayak design. FeelFree isn't know for speed. Don't know the thrust as I didn't put the motor on this thing and the top is chopped off. But looks identical to my other minnkota 30lb version.

 

[_WW_]

For me it's all about fingertip control.

 

[mickey rat]

I didn’t solder my fittings. And I ripped one right out unloading the battery. Doh! I’ll try to find my soldering iron and solder the rebuild.

I found 3M Scotchlock gel filled UR or UY2 connectors to be a lot easier.

Here's the link to plastic vents that snap into a 1" hole that @Engee and I used. I super glued mine to make sure they didn't pop out.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DH8CTKU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I latch my PWM right onto my NOCO battery box with Anderson plugs which also has a SAE charging port and circuit breaker. The top Anderson plug on the PWM enclosure is the for the motor. The only pigtail coming out of the PWM is for the controls. If the PWM board craps out I just unlatch the box and plug the motor back into the battery box.

 

[Josh]

I'm getting tempted to copy this guy's design. I could tuck the battery and box behind my kayak seat and have the little control box mounted next to my seat.

 

[Chadk]

I'm getting tempted to copy this guy's design. I could tuck the battery and box behind my kayak seat and have the little control box mounted next to my seat.

A step further would be to use the RC controller approach for fully remote control. You just hang the controller on a lanyard or something. Pretty easy to do and lots of youtube vids on how to do it.