Problems with Pro-Troll Black Box

[fshnfnatic]

Hey guys. I recently purchased a used Pro-Troll black box off a buddy of mine. Installed it last
weekend and went for an afternoon trip. Put a fresh 9volt battery in it,and also had it hard wired to
the house battery. When turned on the numbers won't adjust past .006 volts. When I got in I went
over all the wiring with the owners manual and everything seems in order. Buddy says it worked just
fine when he removed it to switch over to braid on the riggers. Just wondering if any of you out there
have had any experience with this brand at all. I know the Scotty brand has been around for years and
has a good reputation,but I haven't heard anything about these. Thanks for any feedback!!

 

[Theb55]

We're the riggers in or out of the water?

 

[fshnfnatic]

They were both down. One had a 10lb. ball,the other a 12lber. I can;t see how that would make any difference.

 

[scott craven]

Just my opinion , switch to PowerPro 200lb braid
Use palomar knot to a scotty snubber, 2 red stopper beads and you're golden !
I used wire for years and would never, ever go back.

 

[chris73]

Been using the Pro Troll BB for years and no problems ever. Sorry, no idea what's going on with yours.

 

[danthewire]

My dads fixed a few of them, all had bad solder connections.
One needed a variable control electronic part (did the same thing as yours improper adjustment or reading)
Part was like 70 bucks.
I've never looked inside though.
Oh yeah they hate getting wet.
Dan

 

[juandesooka]

I had one on prior boat, when I checked the readings manually on the DR wires with a digital voltmeter, readings were quite a bit off what the pro-troll display said. So I just used the voltmeter readings, adjusted the dial to what I wanted, and ignored display.

If you find your readings are super low on the downrigger wires too, then you may have a problem that needs fixing! I recall once was getting super low readings....zincs were corroded, scraped with wire brush, and readings back to normal. Corroded wire will do that too....want the wire nice and new and shiny.

It's also possible that the protroll leads are not making good contact, if they have rusted at all on the inside curve....get some sandpaper and scrape them off ... or better yet, replace with scotty leads, I think they get more consistent contact.

You won't get proper voltage readings until downrigger balls are in the water, and the readings will be different if only 1 ball.

Protroll instructions, in case you don't have them: http://www.protroll.com/books/?id=5&p_id=all

 

[fshnfnatic]

Thanks for all the feedback,guys. The zincs are new on both the main and kicker motors. The rigger wire is 1 yr. old
and seems to be in good shape{ still shiny}. I did read in the manual,though,that the kicker needs to be either grounded
to the main moter,or to the negative on the battery. That still shouldn't create a super low reading. I suspect the
variable control is shot. I'll try a couple of more things and if I can't get it working,maybe I'll try the braid out. Too bad
because I firmly believe in the black box technology.

 

[juandesooka]

First thing is to test the charge on your line with a volt meter (natural voltage) ... see if it matches what the black box says. If yes, then you have a voltage problem to work out (black box or not). If no, then you know your black box is broken! (or the leads that connect to your downrigger wire aren't conducting properly)

 

[greenhornet]

Sorry to hear your having problems with the black box,Ive been fishing with the best over in Ukee,Matt olsen ole,kenny myers and they don't use any of that fancy stuff,what they do and myself also is make loop at the bottom of your down rigger cable and attach a piece of 6 to 8 ft of fish net cord,you can get it at pac net and twine,attach your release clip with another piece of cord i like about 6 ft from my down rigger line to the release clip that way your not hanging outside the boat to put your line in the clip,anyways the cord at the end of the down rigger line deadens any current that travels down the line,tried tested and true Ive caught 100s of fish with this system it works and no frustrations with electronic boxes just my opinion there more trouble than there worth...

Tight lines
Billydoo