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Author Topic: Fixing Unresponsive Minn Kota Talons  (Read 8532 times)

Offline Curt

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Fixing Unresponsive Minn Kota Talons
« on: April 01, 2021, 10:20:24 AM »
A little over a month ago I installed a second Talon in my boat.

After installing it, I successfully paired it with my first Talon, and then I also made sure that both of the remotes in my boat would operate both of the Talons, either together or individually.

No sweat, right?

Well, that's what I thought too. And then last week I decided to finally get the boat on the water for the first time so I could fish and try the Talons out for the first time as a pair.

As I walked into the garage with the remotes in my hand, I pressed the Down button on one of the remotes. Nothing happened. So I grabbed the other remote and tried it. Nothing happened. Then I walked over to the new Talon and pressed the Down button in it. That unit went down. I pressed the Up button and it retracted normally.

Then I walked to the Port side, pressed the Down button and watched as nothing happened.

What the heck?

I spent the next 20 minutes or more checking connections, fuses, etc. All was perfect.

But neither Talon worked. They were seemingly dead.

My next logical step was to call Minn Kota and speak with their tech support department. SO, that's exactly what I did.

I spoke with a guy named Dave, who was super helpful.

He walked me through clearing the memory on both Talons and both remotes, and then re-initializing them.

Then, he had me install the Talon app on my phone and connect to the Talons with that. The app immediately alerted me to the fact that there was a software update available for both units.

Next, I installed the update to both Talons.

Then I paired the two Talons and verified that they both worked with the app on my phone.

Next, I paired one of the remotes with the Port side Talon.

I then tested that remote and saw that both Talons worked as expected.

I then paired the other remote with the Starboard side Talon and tested it. All was good.

A few seconds later, the lights on the first remote began blinking, which indicated that the software update that I had installed in the two Talons was not being uploaded to that remote from the paired Talon.

That update finished and than I saw the other remote start blinking, indicating that the same thing was taking place with that one.

Once that updates had completed, I tested both remotes and found that neither of them worked.

Next, I took the battery out of the first remote and reinstalled it, powering that remote back up. Then I did the same with the other remote. Nothing worked on that one either.

So, we walked through the steps of clearing the memory on both remotes and both Talons one more time.

Then we paired the Port side Talon with one remote and the Starboard side Talon with the other remote.

Once we had gone through this procedure again, everything was working normally and has stayed working since then.

Apparently the problem was the result of a combination of two things;

1. The steps that I had used to pair them once I had installed the second Talon.
2. The fact that a software update was needed.

Those two facts caused them to become completely unresponsive, acting as though they were completely dead.

So, if you have a Talon, or a pair of Talons, and they become unresponsive, check your electrical connections first, and verify that there is voltage there.

Once you've verified that, walk through the process of clearing the memory of your remotes and the memory of your Talons. And then re-pair everything.

I would strongly recommend also installing the Talon app on your phone and installing any software updates that might be available as part of this process, but do it before pairing the remotes with the Talons.

I hope this might help someone who is wrestling with unresponsive Minn Kota Talons.

And if all else fails, call Minn Kota tech support. They are super helpful.

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Offline Jig Man

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Re: Fixing Unresponsive Minn Kota Talons
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2021, 09:17:02 AM »
I am glad you got them going.  Aren’t today’s gadgets lots of fun when they are glitchy? When I had Power Poles I had to put the CMonster app on my phone to get the remotes to function properly.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2021, 10:50:11 AM by Jig Man »
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Offline Curt

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Re: Fixing Unresponsive Minn Kota Talons
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2021, 10:50:48 AM »
Quote
Aren’t today’s gadgets lots of fun when they are glitchy?

When technology works, it's fantastic. But when it doesn't, you'd better be tech savvy or it will make you crazy in a hurry.  (yes)

Thankfully I'm tech savvy, so once I understood what was going on, I had no trouble going through the steps to get everything working again.

And now that I know why they stopped working, I will probably have no trouble getting them working if they act up again.

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