MASTERBrian
Petty Officer 3rd Class
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2011
- Messages
- 84
I've been trying to go through this fairly new to me pontoon. The electrical had been worked on a few times over the years, it's a 1990 Sun Tracker Bass Buggy, and had wire nuts, splices, etc.. In any case, I went through it all entirely a few weeks ago, got rid of the wire nuts and soldered & heat shrinked any and all splices. Everything seemed to work fine. At this time, I also added some 12v LED waterproof strip lights to the sides of the hull, put di-electric grease on all joints subject to water, then heat shrink tubed them. I ran the wire and controls up under the console and made the connections to hot and ground at a open spot on the fuse block.
Fast forward to the past few days, I've been out getting my navigation lights wired up nicely and cleaning up those connections as there were still some questionable connections there. I also added an anchor winch, wired straight to the battery. The winch works great and doesn't seem low on power, same goes for tilt/trim on motor, but when I try to turn on my navigation lights, the led lights do strange things and the horn doesn't sound. When I turn off the led lights, the other lights seem dim, where they didn't when I first wired them. The radio, which is on the same fuse block seems to work fine as well.
Does this seem like a low battery or a fault in the wiring somewhere? Turning on the navigation lights dims/resets the LED strip and horn won't blow, but everything else seems fine.
I find it hard to believe a bad connection, as I was very thorough when wiring, but realize things happen. I should also point out this is a brand new deep cycle battery, only had it to the lake once. I believe everything has been off, but maybe there is a phantom drain somewhere, so I installed a ground disconnect at the battery. I also find it hard to believe that the strip lights or anything else would drain it that quick.
Is it possible I need a heavier gauge wire coming from the battery? I believe it is 12gauge, maybe 14 gauge wire. Should I possibly run a separate power wire to the LED Lights?
Trying to get her ready for the fourth, so any feedback is appreciated!
Fast forward to the past few days, I've been out getting my navigation lights wired up nicely and cleaning up those connections as there were still some questionable connections there. I also added an anchor winch, wired straight to the battery. The winch works great and doesn't seem low on power, same goes for tilt/trim on motor, but when I try to turn on my navigation lights, the led lights do strange things and the horn doesn't sound. When I turn off the led lights, the other lights seem dim, where they didn't when I first wired them. The radio, which is on the same fuse block seems to work fine as well.
Does this seem like a low battery or a fault in the wiring somewhere? Turning on the navigation lights dims/resets the LED strip and horn won't blow, but everything else seems fine.
I find it hard to believe a bad connection, as I was very thorough when wiring, but realize things happen. I should also point out this is a brand new deep cycle battery, only had it to the lake once. I believe everything has been off, but maybe there is a phantom drain somewhere, so I installed a ground disconnect at the battery. I also find it hard to believe that the strip lights or anything else would drain it that quick.
Is it possible I need a heavier gauge wire coming from the battery? I believe it is 12gauge, maybe 14 gauge wire. Should I possibly run a separate power wire to the LED Lights?
Trying to get her ready for the fourth, so any feedback is appreciated!
