four winns 214
Senior Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2008
- Messages
- 769
The voltage delivered to the helm of this boat is at least one volt less than the 14.4 charge voltage delivered to the batteries. I posted a question about this issue earlier and received some good advice, but implementing that good advice is easier said than done. Here are the issues:
1) Access, of course. Getting to the connections in and around the helm without some fairly major deconstruction is tough. Before I go the deconstruction route, I want to make sure I've done everything possible given the access I have.
2) Figuring out exactly how this thing is wired. There is a wiring diagram in the original Sea Ray manual, but it is woefully inadequate and very poor quality. I've done a some work on small airplane DC electrical systems. They aren't anything cosmic and not a whole lot different than boats, but their wiring diagrams are usually very good.
I think one of the problems is that the main power and ground wire gauge to the helm is 14. That seems to inadequate to me.
It appears that the power goes from fuse to fuse under the helm via wired connections. Am I reading the wiring diagram and seeing this under the helm correctly? On small airplanes, there are usually buss bars to which circuit breakers are fastened which eliminates a lot of wires.
I'm having trouble figuring out exactly where the main power feed enters the helm operated electrical appliances. From the wiring diagram, it appears to enter at the windshield wiper fuse and then goes from appliance to appliance from there. And a confusing issue is that the wire color code box on the wiring diagram has an entry for orange "hot" wires and there are several under the helm, but none are indicated on the wiring diagram. For example, the cigarette lighter is orange wired, as one might expect, but it is completely absent on the wiring diagram.
Does anybody out there in iBoats land have experience with Sea Ray electrical systems of this vintage that can offer some help?
1) Access, of course. Getting to the connections in and around the helm without some fairly major deconstruction is tough. Before I go the deconstruction route, I want to make sure I've done everything possible given the access I have.
2) Figuring out exactly how this thing is wired. There is a wiring diagram in the original Sea Ray manual, but it is woefully inadequate and very poor quality. I've done a some work on small airplane DC electrical systems. They aren't anything cosmic and not a whole lot different than boats, but their wiring diagrams are usually very good.
I think one of the problems is that the main power and ground wire gauge to the helm is 14. That seems to inadequate to me.
It appears that the power goes from fuse to fuse under the helm via wired connections. Am I reading the wiring diagram and seeing this under the helm correctly? On small airplanes, there are usually buss bars to which circuit breakers are fastened which eliminates a lot of wires.
I'm having trouble figuring out exactly where the main power feed enters the helm operated electrical appliances. From the wiring diagram, it appears to enter at the windshield wiper fuse and then goes from appliance to appliance from there. And a confusing issue is that the wire color code box on the wiring diagram has an entry for orange "hot" wires and there are several under the helm, but none are indicated on the wiring diagram. For example, the cigarette lighter is orange wired, as one might expect, but it is completely absent on the wiring diagram.
Does anybody out there in iBoats land have experience with Sea Ray electrical systems of this vintage that can offer some help?