Electrical wiring question ...

spete

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I was cleaning up electrical connections and came across two corroded circuit breakers which appeared to be wired in a series - 20 amp - appeared to be ignition and maybe trim? Wires are hard to follow from the back of the boat to the front. So I get three of the four corroded nuts off and then break the fourth one out of the circuit breaker and go to the store and get a replacement. After i get back i notice that there's a silver and a bronze colored post on the new circuit breaker (couldn't see that on the old rusted one) On the breaker in small letters one post says Bat. and the other say Aux. - does it matter which post i reconnected the wires to? Does the circuit breaker work either direction or do certain connections go to specific poles? I hooked up the circuits and test started the motor - started fine but now I noticed that the upper breaker that i didn't replace now has the reset button kicked out and it will not click back in? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 

graddy

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

What make year and modle outboard?
 

spete

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

This is a '98 115 Yamaha Inshore model - B115TRLW
 

graddy

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

Sorry I don't work on Yamaha. Mercury only.
 

spete

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

Don' t know if this wiring problem actually relates to a specific brand of motor or is just a general electrical question? Looks like these Circuit breakers are installed as part of the rigging by the dealer? The Circuit breaker that I installed is a Sea Dog Line and the other breaker looks a bit different. Wondering if the small black reset button on some of these actually sticks out a bit more than the Sea Dog? Motor starts and trim works ... so I'm not sure if I should worry about it?
 

Koda

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Feb 14, 2003
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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

remove power from circuit then ohm across the terminals, 0 ohms circut breaker closed, infinity crcuit breaker tripped,if tripped and can not reset I would replace it.<br />Good Luck
 

Koda

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

sorry only answered part of your question, bronze,gold or copper colored terminals go towards the + (source) of the battery the silver goes towards the load side of the circut<br />Luck
 

spete

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

Thanks Koda - glad I posted because electrical stuff just baffles me. So simple now that you said it, I guess you just need to analyze what the function of somthing (electrical) actually is and use the proper measuring device. One last Q - if all the wires leading to the breakers are red - how do I tell which is negative?<br /><br />Thanks again for your response!
 

spete

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

wondering ... wouldn't I get infinity if the circuit is closed and zero if it's tripped and open?
 

spete

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

Also, can you tell me why it makes a difference on this circuit breaker to have positive or negative going to a specific post? Can it only sense the surge/overload in one direction?
 

rickdb1boat

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

spete <br /><br />If the breakers are "Inline" type, they will only break the power in the red wire. There would be no reason to worry about a negative. Where are they located? Zero OHM's across breaker = Closed/ Infinity across breaker = open. Personally, I'm not so sure it matters which way it's going on an inline circuit(One Wire)
 

spete

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

All wires connected to the two circuit breakers are red. They all appear to go from the back of the boat where the batteries/3-way Perko series switch/outboard wires enter - to the front of the boat/center console - assuming starter switch/trim switch/jack plate switch.<br /><br />(Put a meter on the one breaker and I get "0" - guess i had that flipped in my mind - zero resistence = closed complete circuit)<br /><br />Two 20 amp breakers are mounted together stacked- one above and one below. On the bottom breaker there's one wire attached to the left pole and two on the right pole (one coming in and one short jumper wire attached to the breaker above right hand pole) Top breaker has two wires attached on the left pole and the one jumped wire on the right pole.<br /><br />Can you explain the jumper wire from bottom right to top right pole of breakers?
 
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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

The right side is more than likely the side coming from the battery, and the jumper is being used to feed both breakers from 1 wire from the battery. The other wires on the left side are going to loads,( starter,jackplate,etc.) Another way to test the breakers if the circuits are complete is by setting your meter to DC volts and measuring across the breaker. If it is open you will read 12 volts across it. If it is closed you will read 0 volts,just like touching both test leads together. One benefit of this test is if you get a partial voltage across it like 4 volts this is how much voltage you are losing at the breaker due to a bad connection inside, and the load will only be getting 8 volts.<br /><br /> I'm an electrician by trade hope this doesn't baffle you...
 

spete

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

Thx B.A.E. - one quick question ... if the circuit is "open" wouldn't that prevent the current from traveling in one pole and out the other? If you connected meter on an open circuit wondering why that would not read zero? Guess I am baffled - some electrical basics would be greatly appreciated
 

spete

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

Also wondering - how does charging from the motor get to the batteries? Is it its own circuit that goes directly to the batteries?
 
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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

Your talking about current (flow),not voltage (pressure). When you measure across a swicth or breaker one test lead is connected to the positive of the battery coming to the switch or breaker. The other test lead is connected to the negative through whatever load is connected to the switch or breaker. The charging circuit of the motor usually makes its connection to the battery at the starter solenoid, where the big cable comes from the battery to the starter.
 

spete

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

On the inline breaker that I'm looking at all the connections are positive/red wires. What I tried was attaching black meter lead to neg battery post and then red lead to each post/side of the breaker. I got 12.79 on both. If there were a bad connection on the inside I should have gotten a lower reading on one side ... is that correct?
 

rickdb1boat

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Jan 23, 2002
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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

spete <br /><br />That is Correct. Should be same on both sides.
 

spete

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Re: Electrical wiring question ...

excellent tutorial ... Thanks for the answers!
 
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