Still have power with battery switch off

[deronw]

Hello,

I just bought a 2001 Hurricane Sundeck 217. While cleaning the boat after its first trip on the water, I turned the battery switch from "both" to "none." However, upon doing so, I noticed my radio and all cabin controls still had power. The trim on the motor, however, did not have power (which it should not have, of course).

The strange part is that I tested the electronics before I bought the boat, while it was on land, and none of the electronics worked until the batteries were switched on. Now, however, it seems I suddenly have a situation where only certain electronics are working, even with the switch off.

Does anyone out there have any idea what is causing this and how to resolve it?

Thanks so much,

Deron

 

[flargin]

Re: Still have power with battery switch off

Deron,

Welcome to boating and to the iboats forums.

Since the boat is new to you it may take some investigation...

I would first check the switch... doubt it would be the switch, but I always start simple. you should not have any connections between in and outs when off.

I would guess that you may have some extra wiring... in theory, there should only be one wire on each battery... going ONLY to the A/B Switch.

If you do have extra wires, what you may want to do is remove them and see if everything is now "off".

Once you figured if that worked, find out what those wires power, and determine if you want it powered with the switch or not. (i.e. some people leave the auto bilge, and chargers directly connected to the battery)

Let us know how that goes...

 

[deronw]

Re: Still have power with battery switch off

Thanks for the suggestion, Flargin. I will follow those steps.

The only part that I don't understand is how the switch seemed to properly turn off power when I tested the boat on land, but after the first trip in the water, it didn't turn off the accessory power. Very odd.

Cheers,

Deron

 

[flargin]

Re: Still have power with battery switch off

Thanks for the suggestion, Flargin. I will follow those steps.

The only part that I don't understand is how the switch seemed to properly turn off power when I tested the boat on land, but after the first trip in the water, it didn't turn off the accessory power. Very odd.

Cheers,

Deron

I don't either, but I will bet after a little research, you will figure it out.. Electricity has a way to find a way... we will figure it out.

People do a lot of different things with electrical - so you never know.

It is also possible you just have a simple short due to some form of corrosion... The key is to figure out anything that is not controlled by your switch, this will likely be where the "leak" back to the rest of your system is coming from (or your switch itself)

 

[rbh]

Re: Still have power with battery switch off

you mentioned that your trim switch did not work, I was always under the impression that the trim motor was hard wired into the battery so you could use the trailer/trim button any time.
rob

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Still have power with battery switch off

Not true. Properly wired, everything on the boat except the bilge pump should be wired to the COM terminal on the switch. The trim system is powered from the positive battery cable so when the switch is OFF there is no power on that circuit. It is certainly possible to wire the trim system directly to the battery but unless the owner or a shop does it, the factory system is not that way.

 

[deronw]

Re: Still have power with battery switch off

Well, it seems the problem was that the last owner simply connected all the power on my panel directly to the battery instead of the outgoing wire from the switch. Was a simple enough fix. Only the bilge is hard wired to the battery now. Thanks for the suggestions.

Deron

 

[perry678]

Re: Still have power with battery switch off

I seem to be having the same problem. Batteries are off at the main switch, but juice is coming to the power switch on the dash. Although, none of my electrical access. are working right now with the batteries on and the power switch on the dash on? I am trying to figure out why juice is getting to the main power switch on the dash and then also why none of my guages/lights/radio are working. Only my trim and bilge pump is working, but my bilge pump will not turn on from the dash, only from the float switch.

 

[gozierdt]

Re: Still have power with battery switch off

Perry678, you really should start your own thread, rather than "hi-jack" this one (just a point of etiquette).

It appears somebody (previous owner?) has run a wire directly from one of the batteries (or the attachment point on the master switch where one of the batteries attaches), and has run it up to the drivers position and connected the trim and bilge pump so they are always powered. You'll have to trace those wires from their switches back towards the stern to figure out exactly where the splice occurs. Could be near the drivers position, or further back near the stern.