Hello all,
I have a Minn Kota EM44 trolling motor that I want to control by putting a pot and a forward - stop - reverse switch inside my allready working outboard engine controller (standard Teleflex / ultraflex).
The teleflex control operates the outboard by transferring my physical manipulation of the throttle to the engines speed and gear knob respectively. When I push the throttle forward, the mechanical control puts the outboard in its "Forward" gear, and increases speed. If I pull the throttle back to neutral, the mechanical control sets the outboard to "Neutral", and speed to idle. If i pull the throttle backwards, the mechanical control sets the outboard to "Rewerse" gear, and increases speed. So. One gear knob (F - N - R) and one speed knob (0 - 100%) on the outboard is operated by magical rotating disks inside the mechanical control coloumn, so that my forward and backward movement of a single lever switches gear and increases speed. All is god.
EM44
My EM44 is originally controlled by a hand held wired remote control that is connected to what I suspect is a good quality PWM. The motor itself is 12vdc. I have not found any information on this from Minn kota, but I have seen larger thrust motors (58LBS. Mine is 44LBS) is using some 30A under maximum load so I am assuming my motor draws under 30A at maximum load.
I dont have the hand held wired control, but I have found a service manual on a Dutch site that tells me the six wires in the cable for the control is: 3 wires (orange, green, brown) going to POT that does 0-1K ohm, and 3 wires (yellow, black, white) going to Forward - neutral - Reverse switch.
The hand held wired control costs some 100USD, and since I want to not use it and instead build its functionality into my exixting teleflex, I want to find a POT and a 3-position switch to use instead.
I gather i need a POT that is 1K Ohm, and probably any fairly capable 3-position switch, but I cant find any meaningful information on what watt / amp rating my POT and switch should be. Googling and reading a little leads me to believe that the POT and the switch does not need to be able to bear the full load of the motor itself (its probably 300 - 400 watts @ 12vdc), but most POTs i find on eBay are rated both in Ohm and Watts, and I would love to get som helt in deciding what Wattage if any I should try out. I am guessing any "standard" will do, but for all I know it is fatally important to select the correct wattage rated POT...
Second thing I would love to have some input on, is a simple relay switch that I would like to install on the power supply (12vdc) going to the EM44. EM44 is mounted on the anti cavitation plate of my outboard, and it only needs to be "live" / controllable when the main Outboard is NOT running. I figure It should be fairly straight forward to put some kind of relay / diode-ish automated switch on the wire(s) going from the engine to the battery for sensing if the main outboard is running (and outputting current to the battery bank) or not, and if Yes: Cutoff power to EM44 / if No: Run power to EM44.
Since Im rather new to this, I dont know if this kind of Relay-thing is a common gadged or a stupid, unheard of, impossible madman-thought, so be kind... :)
See attached picture of wires / pin assignment for the EM44 hand held wired control and images of the control itself and the PWM / main unit.