DC Elictrical "Alarm" - Grounding Problem?

[frisbee3557]

Hi Folks. Appreciate any help given.

I have a 2001 Bayliner Ciera 2655. Love the boat, but having some electrical issues. When the engine is off and on any battery source (1, 2, or both) an alarm sounds from the cockpit whenever the cabin or navigation lights are turned on. The pitch of the alarm is different depending on what lights (or combination of lights) are turned on. When engine is running, the depth finder continuously turns off and back on and the ship to shore radio will not turn on. Ship to shore radio will turn on when engine is not running, but I get the same alarm as when the lights are turned on. Also, when the engine is off and I turn on the ship to shore or press the horn button, the gauges on the dash jump.

After looking at this and other message boards for about 4 hours today, it appears as though I have an issue with a bad ground connection. If this is the case, where is the best place to start looking? If its not a grounding problem, what else could be the culprit?

Thanks for any help/advice you can give.

Dave

 

[frisbee3557]

Re: DC Elictrical "Alarm" - Grounding Problem?

Just an FYI in case any one else experiences problems similar to this:


I first started by tightening down all the wires to the grounding buss. A couple of them were a bit loose - but this didn't resolve the problem.

From the engine compartment, I then moved to the dash and checked behind the dials. Nothing looked out of place there, so I moved down to the dash with all the switches. BINGO! One of the tan wires that connects to the Nav Lights switch had come out of its coupling. After re-stripping the wire, putting a new coupling on, and reconnecting it to the switch, the problem was gone!!!

Now I can turn on every light in the boat while on batter power as well as anything else with an ON switch and no more annoying alarm noise!!! The horn even works - every time you press it!! You would have thought my brothers and I won the lottery with how much we were jumping around and screaming (realizing we didn't have to take the boat out and/or pay to get it serviced).

Looking back, it now all makes sense. We first noticed that to turn the Nav lights on, the Nav Light and the Anchor Light switches had to both be turned on. Now they work independently without any problems.

Just wanted to say that this message board is great and all the posts have been a great source of information from very helpful people!

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: DC Elictrical "Alarm" - Grounding Problem?

I'm a 'sucker'...for happy endings!

Nice job!