I have power but almost nothing works. Need a little help.

[oregonducker]

1998 22' Wellcraft CCF.
Fresh batteries (even tried a second set to rule that out) but several things aren't working. I have 13 volts everywhere I've checked but pumps won't come on. Nor will the anchor windlass. Nav lights and the motor work but that's about it. The anchor windlass wiring and the livewell pump are easy to get to so I disconnected them at the pump and windlass, turned their respective switches on and I get 13 volts between the wires. Plug them back together but neither work. Took a separate battery and ran test leads directly to the wires at the pump and it runs fine. Same with the windlass. All of this stuff is from one distribution panel including the nav lights.
Things that aren't working - bilge pump, fish box pump, livewell pump, deck lights and anchor windlass. All the switches have 13 volts.
Things that are working - Nav lights and engine but the engine is pretty much separate from the rest of the electrical stuff.
Any ideas on what do to next?

 

[bruceb58]

The fact that you measure 13V with no load and then it doesn't work after you connect to you load means you have a highly resistive connection somewhere.

 

[wrench 3]

You need to check the voltage with everything plugged in and turned on. Start with locations that are common to all the affected items. Such as the power distribution panel or a ground buss'

 

[oregonducker]

Ok I'm back. Started swapping old switches with new (was going to do that anyway) but that didn't help so I check voltage at the switch I was working on and it said 1v. I swear it said 13v a couple hours ago. So I traced main wire to the switch panel back to a pull apart connection and when apart, the line end reads 13v when connected everything there drops to 1v. I'm thinking I'll check/replace all the switches like I was planning to do and see what I find.

 

[bruceb58]

What does it measure at the input of the switch when the switch is on? My bet is it will also read 1V.

 

[Silvertip]

So you are really going to replace all switches hoping this fixes the problem?? It won't unless you accidentally fix the bad connection in the feed to the panel which is what is causing none of them to work. All switches on a panel do not fail at the same time.

 

[oregonducker]

No Title

Why yes I really am going to replace the switches. One went bad last year so I ordered all new ones last winter. I hope my lack of expertise in boat wiring is obvious. I'm not trying to hide it.
The next part of the system after the disconnect in the line is the switches. Seems like I should go through all those connections next. There's a lot of stuff there as each switch has a breaker too.here's what I'm looking at. The blue rectangle is the disconnect. The switches are daisy chained at the top of the pic.

 

[oregonducker]

Voltage keeps changing right now it's 8 at the switches. I saw 13 & 1 yesterday. 13 this morning and now 8. I can tell when it changes because the dome light in here will be off or dim and a few minutes ago it was nice and bright but that went away. When the light is on and I flip the switch for the bait tank pump the light goes off. Then back on with the pump switch off.

Edit: the light goes off when I turn on the horn, courtesy lights, bilge pump or bait tank pump. Still at 8 volts.

Unplugged the tank pump at the pump and nothing changes when I turn its switch on. The rest of the stuff still bad though.

Thinking out loud. When I turn a switch on that has a load voltage drops to 1. All switches off it goes to 6, 7 or 8 at the switches. The distribution buses are separate I guess. They stay at 13.

 

[oregonducker]

I have continuity between the negative buss and the load side of that blue connector that feeds the switches. That's not normal is it?

 

[Silvertip]

I have no idea what you are using for testing or how you are testing but you have an issue that you are spending more time trying to diagnose and are overthinking.. If power at the positive bus is solid, but not at the switches, disconnect, clean and tighten the positive feed between the bus the feed to the fuse panel. If that doesn't fix the issue, disconnect, clean, and reconnect the negative wire between the negative bus and wherever the bus is terminated which will be the engine block or the negative terminal of the battery. The issue here is that any load you turn on exceeds the current carrying capacity of the connections feeding the switches. That means the problem lies between the battery and the positive and negative bus, not with the switches or their associated circuits.

 

[bruceb58]

My advice is to check the connections back at the engine which supply's the power and the ground. Either one of these could be your problem.

Another thing you can do that will tell you a lot is get some long test leads and connect your meter between the positive post of the battery and the positive connection at your fuse box. Turn on some loads and see what voltage is measured. Should be very low. Do the same test with the negative side. The side with the most voltage drop is where you problem lies.

I have continuity between the negative buss and the load side of that blue connector that feeds the switches. That's not normal is it?

Don't bother checking continuity. It is a poor way to test. Too many sneak paths and just a small resistance is causing your issue which will VERY tough to measure.

 

[oregonducker]

Found it. Found another blue connector on the same wire like the one I described under the console but this one was back by the batteries. The wire runs up to the top of the underside of the transom and then down to go under the deck. Up there where you can't see unless you lay on your back is that connector and while it's clean and corrosion free it's very loose fitting. The one under the console was all taped up and when I took it apart I noticed that it also was very easy to come apart. Anyway, when I put that connector back together everything came on. I'm going to replace those connectors with something better and go fishing.
Thanks for all the help. Sending me back to recheck the battery connections is what got me to start tracing that end of the wire.