Electrical Problems

[olmpilot]

This past weekend, we took the boat out to a lake here locally to camp on an island, and ended up in a monsoon/hurricane (at least it seemed like it in the middle of the night onshore for 10 hours!). Anyway, my questions is this: The day before, I installed the anchor light post and the light flipped on for a half a second while I tested it, however, never came back on after that (before the storm and water came). I also lost the power to the other nav lights, horn and bilge (which was fun tracing wires to the bilge to empty the boat in the middle of the night with 6" of water!). But, as I said, I got the bilge working by temporarily directly wiring the hot lead to the battery, but non of the other switches on the helm seemed to work again. Any suggestions? Do I need to rewire the entire boat (along with fixing the hot lead to the bilge that we had to cut)? Is there a diagram somewhere about a common way to wire these electrical components since they seem to be all related (all other electrical systems were operational). Thanks for any advice. <br />'89 Sierra Cuddy Classic with '89 Evi 120 HP VRO.

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: Electrical Problems

What exactly did you do when you wired the anchor light? <br /><br />Often, these circuits can use a common connection back to the battery. That is, a main power cable is brought from the battery to the helm (or switch panel) and connect to what's called a bus bar. All accessories pick up their power and ground off these bus bars. So, any disconnection either at the battery or the bars would cause a loss of everything connected to them.<br /><br />Since you bilge works direct, I susspect everything else works too. Search for the common way these items are being powered and check the connections.

 

[olmpilot]

Re: Electrical Problems

I didn't wire the anchor light myself. This happened one time before and I took it to the dealer. They "shook" some wires and then it worked again, but shorted a fuse in the engine which made the helm totally useless. That was not the case this time. I tried "shaking" the same wires they did, but no luck, and the helm (guages) and engine were fine.<br /><br />Unfortunately, there is no bus in this boat that I have found yet, so I'm thinking there is a loose connection or inline fuse somewhere that I can't find. I have been reading here, and want to put a bus in or fuse panel so that I can have everything centralized. Currently, there are inline fuses everwhere, and it is a pain to figure out which are which (especially at night in pouring rain with 6" of water in the bilge).<br /><br />I'm thinking that I might just rewire the entire boat, so that I can have peace of mind and know where everything is powered from. <br /><br />Funny (and bad) part is that I might be able to goto the boat today and flip the switches and they may or may not work. And the fact that the anchor light always seems to be the crux of the problem, since that is what happened before I took it back to the dealer last time. I was testing it the night before and then it all quit.<br /><br />Rick

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: Electrical Problems

Sure sounds like a chaffed wire or lose connector(s) causing a short or open. You're going to have to trace the wires one by bloody one... You can start by tracing from the anchor light back since that seems to be at the center of the problem.<br /><br />If you decide to rewire the boat, start by reading this:<br /><br /> http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/05.htm

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Electrical Problems

The Wire Tracker. Costs about $50, worth it's weight in gold.<br /><br /> http://www.ancorproducts.com/Products/products_pdf/tools_meters/tools_meters_pag73.pdf

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: Electrical Problems

I see a new tool in my future

 

[JRJ]

Re: Electrical Problems

I didn't have to completly rewire my boat but I have more confidance in what I re-did than what was there. Kind of fun too. Good luck.