trobinson017
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2004
- Messages
- 183
For the past few months my boat has been on the lift while I've been doing work on it. The drain plug was pulled so
my bilge pump wasn't used at all. During my test runs I realized the bilge pump wouldn't turn on (it's a Rule-mate 500
with auto/manual switch). I took the batteries out (small, tight bilge) and removed the pump. Took it apart, cleaned it
up, etc. and reinstalled. After hooking it all back up it still wouldn't run using the Manual switch. I took the two leads
off of the switch and touched them directly to the battery (fuse still in-line). Nothing happened. After a full day of
Googling and scratching my head I decided to check every wire connection. Everything was fine. Scratched my head
then decided to replace the ring terminals (hot and ground). Well, wouldn't you know it, I took the ground terminal off of the
battery postre and the wire under the crimp separated from the rest of the insulated wire! I guess the terminal was held
together by a strand or two of the wire and they just broke off whle unscrewing the nut or just removing it from the post.
I restripped the wire and put on a new ring terminal. Viola! Runs fine now.
Wow, that took a lot of thinking and troubleshooting just to discover this simple problem! But I offer this anecdote in case
anyone else is ever scratching their heads about an electrical component problem. Overlook nothing!!
Trob
my bilge pump wasn't used at all. During my test runs I realized the bilge pump wouldn't turn on (it's a Rule-mate 500
with auto/manual switch). I took the batteries out (small, tight bilge) and removed the pump. Took it apart, cleaned it
up, etc. and reinstalled. After hooking it all back up it still wouldn't run using the Manual switch. I took the two leads
off of the switch and touched them directly to the battery (fuse still in-line). Nothing happened. After a full day of
Googling and scratching my head I decided to check every wire connection. Everything was fine. Scratched my head
then decided to replace the ring terminals (hot and ground). Well, wouldn't you know it, I took the ground terminal off of the
battery postre and the wire under the crimp separated from the rest of the insulated wire! I guess the terminal was held
together by a strand or two of the wire and they just broke off whle unscrewing the nut or just removing it from the post.
I restripped the wire and put on a new ring terminal. Viola! Runs fine now.
Wow, that took a lot of thinking and troubleshooting just to discover this simple problem! But I offer this anecdote in case
anyone else is ever scratching their heads about an electrical component problem. Overlook nothing!!
Trob
