underpowered battery cause of breakers tripping?

[acula28]

Could my electrical problems be as simple as underpowered battery? My nav light, horn, and depth finder not working. Could this be as simple as underpowered battery? Any thoughts? I know very little about electricity so im starting simple.

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: underpowered battery cause of breakers tripping?

Probably not. Those items use very little current. You could operate them with a lantern battery for a long time. You need to look for bad/dirty/cooroded connections at the battery and at the switches and inline fuse/breaker panel first.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: underpowered battery cause of breakers tripping?

georgesalmon is correct......my question is the tread title......do you have a breaker thats tripping?

 

[acula28]

Re: underpowered battery cause of breakers tripping?

I cant find any fuses or breakers. I think that the fuses might be on the switches at the helm. Im a series electrical noob. I will be going up to my boat saturday i just wondered if the battery could be the problem, before i get a electrician to look at it.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: underpowered battery cause of breakers tripping?

You are a "serious" electrical noob -- not a "series" electrical noob as that would take two of you!!! Sorry -- couldn't resist that. Three things that don 't work is a little vague. What other stuff does this boat have that DOES work. If other stuff works then the battery is not the problem. Does this boat have a name (as in what's the manufacturers name)? And does this boat have an engine? Do the switches have little white buttons next to them? If so, those are circuit breakers. If you don't know if the switches have fuses on the back of them all you need to do is look. You fish finder would typically have an in-line fuse in the red lead going to that unit.

 

[acula28]

Re: underpowered battery cause of breakers tripping?

The boat is a 1992 sea ray 200 bowrider, with 5.7 L and alpha one. The things that work are... stereo and all speakers, tachometer, fuel gauge, and oil pressure gauge, bilge pump, interior lights, and the blower. Things not working... nav lights, horn, depth finder, trim gauge. And the engine fires up every time no problem. It just confused me not to find a "fuse box" like in a car. Then someone posted that his sea ray (like a 89) has fuses on the switches. Im going up tuesday to poke around and take some pics.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: underpowered battery cause of breakers tripping?

If all other gauges work and the trim gauge doesn't then that means the gauge "probably" (note the probably) has power but to prove it you need a voltmeter or test light.
1) Check for 12 volts on the "I" terminal on the gauge with the key on. Yes = great. No = fix it.
2) Verify that there is a good ground on the ground terminal of the gauge. Yes = great No = fix it.
3) With the key on "momentarily" (note the momentarily) short the "S" terminal to the ground terminal. If the gauge should peg full up.
Yes = great, No = bad gauge. But only if #1 and #2 above checked OK.
4) if the gauge is ok, then the sender wire is either broken or disconnected between the gauge and the sender, or the sender is bad.
5) Disconnect the sender wire at the gauge. Measure the resistance while trimming the drive up and down. If the resistance varies smoothly the sender is ok. If no reading or the sender resistance is jumpy or intermittent the sender is bad.

Nav lights:
1) Remove bulbs and check them using a battery charger or a battery.
2) If ok, Check for voltage on the terminals in the fixture with the switch set to NAV.
3) Obviously check the fuse
4) Check for voltage into and out of the switch.

Horn:
1) Check the fuse.
2) Check for voltage into and out of the switch.
3) Check for voltage at the horn (someone obviously needs to push the button). If present, the horn is bad.
4) Horn needs a good ground.

Fish Finder
1) is it turned on?
2) Check the in line fuse
3) Check for voltage on the red wire feeding the unit.
4) Make sure the black wire is grounded properly.

 

[acula28]

Re: underpowered battery cause of breakers tripping?

Awesome! Thanks so much for the helpful info everyone! Everyone here makes owning and old boat much easier. Im going to use this checklist tuesday.
Thanks again