Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

[Sharps-Nut]

Well I muffed this up. About two months ago I replaced a malfuntioned amp guage to a volt guage. I thought I knew how to do this. I took the positive wires and hooked them as the volt guage showed. Then took the two large amp meter leads and put those together to finish the circuit. I felt confident and reassembled my dash and never even check it to see if it worked. Well this weekend I put in my boat battery to prepare for spring and I have nothing when I turn my key on. No dash lights, blower motors, radio nothing. The power trim which is on a seperate circuit does work. Any clue how I screwed this job up. The good news is I wired it with no power on at the time and I am sure I have not let the smoke out of any of my wires. You know you can't get that smoke back in them once its out. Help, thoughts, suggestions. Ive wired in auto motive gauges and guess I missd something here. The boat is a 1977 caravelle bowrider, 165 horse mercruiser inline six cylinder. Thanks Sharps-Nut

 

[Walt T]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

check basics and obvious things first. It may not be related to the muff job. Check the big 'ol breaker too.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

1st thing I'd do is,<br />Disconnect Everything you did Before.........<br />Then hook the Battery Back up,+ See What You've Got...........

 

[Sharps-Nut]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

Big old breaker, there is a breaker? I am green eneogh to push in the ground and grow as far as boats are concerned. Enlighten me on the breaker. Also Bondo I don't think going backward is going to be possible as I threw away the factory amp guage and it had like six wire running to it. Everything looked logical whenI did it last fall. So logical I did not even put the battery in to try it. Dang I muffed this one up. I look her over again tonight and amy have more questions tomarrow if you two don't mind helping. Thanks Sharps.

 

[Walt T]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

I dont know what you have, but the big ol breaker is on top of most stern drive engines.<br />Re check your connections. Might just be rusty.

 

[Sharps-Nut]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

I should have included what I was working on in the post. I have a 1977 caravelle with a 165 horse mercruiser inline six cylinder.

 

[Trent]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

Mercrusier? If so check the big rubber cannon plug to see if she is all the way plugged in. What ya got?

 

[navigator336]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

You had six wires going/coming from the amp meter. You shorted the two heavy wires together. What did you do with the other 4 wires?<br />Definitely check the circuit breaker on your engine, but the radio and blower should be on a different circuit than the engine breaker. An amp meter goes into a positive only circuit. A volt meter goes to both positive and negative. If the amp meter did not have a light in it, the other four wires should have been attached to a positive feed (like back to the two shorted together heavy wires). If the amp meter had a light, then one of the four went to ground.

 

[Sharps-Nut]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

Navigator that may be where I went wrong. I shorted the two hots but I think I put the other hots to the positive side of the guage. The guages were made by the same manufacture so I hooked them up to what seemed to be the correct lugs according to the instructioins. Now I realized after reading your post I bet the amp guage is what powered the entire set up. So if you don't hook all those other wires up to the two large positives nothing is getting powered up. At least that what I am getting from your post. That seems logical. I still have not got a chance to tear back into it.

 

[navigator336]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

Yes, If the only leads going to the positive side of your new voltage meter are the "other 4" off your old amp meter, then your voltage meter probably isn't reading and nothing works because nothing has power. I'm guessing a little here without seeing your current wiring, but I'd say run a new lead from the + side of the volt meter to a switched terminal on your ignition switch (so your volt meter is only on when the key is on) and attach the other 4 wires to the shorted hots (assuming one of them was not a ground for the ammeter gauge light). I'm assuming every one of the four other wires goes to something with it's own switch to turn it on and off. If not, and the amp meter was connected directly to the battery (as it should have been), then everything will run all the time until your battery is dead. Don't you just love wiring!

 

[Sharps-Nut]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

I am sure you nailed it. After I got to thinking about it all the other wires were very light gauged wire. I am now realizing they were using that ameter as a buss bar to power everything. I will look at it tonight last night the yard had to be cut to beat the rain. Tonight I'll play boat mechanic again. Thanks for making me think. Sharps-Nut

 

[papdetomaso]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

Don't know if this helps but I removed an amp guage several months ago and replacing it with a volt guage. I secured all the wires coming into the amp. guage with the wires going out of the guage and used heat shrink and electrical tape to prevent and shorting. Then just ran a lead from the ign. switch that shows volts with the key in the on position. Had a good ground for the new volt guage and hooked up the light...hope this helps...sounds like your on the right track...thanks to the above posts...Pappy

 

[Sharps-Nut]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

Well I got home last night and tore into the dash again. As susupected the amp meter was the power feed for the entire dash set up. So I retraced the wires. I think my original wiring set up was fine except that securing the two hots eliminated power to everything. So I jumped off the two hots and fan one fused wire over two the ignition switch. That fixed the problem but my iginitionis hot all the time. One side dies when you go to crank/run mode the other runs hot no matter if which is on or off. Any thoughts as to how to make the volt gauge not run all the time? I hate place a toggle inline kill the circuit, am I overlooking the obvious?

 

[navigator336]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

Yes, run the new positive wire from the voltage meter to the "I" terminal on your ignition switch which is only energized when the key is in the on position. Your starter motor solenoid wire should be hooked to the "S" terminal and your heavy wire shorted lead positive feed should go to your fuse panel and ideally have its' own separate resettable breaker or replaceable fuse like a 30 amp or so. One smaller fused wire (like a 12 - 14 gauge) should go from the fuse panel to the "B" on the ignition switch. Your other "appliances" should each attach individually to the fuse panel with their own fuse. P.S. it's been a long time since I wired an ignition switch but I think the "B, I, S" designations are correct (battery, ignition, starter).

 

[Sharps-Nut]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

Thanks I will play with this thing this weekend and see if I can get all the bugs worked out. I know like it is now is not right. It will work as I can turn off all battery power with the battery isolation switch at the battery. This would stop the volt meter from draining the battery from long periods of sitting but I hate cobling something that was completely unmolested prior to me messing with it. If I would have realized the amp meter was wired in all funky I would have just replaced it with another amp meter. Oh well live and learn. I am on the downhill side on it now. First boat and I want it right so I can take the family out and play when the weather breaks. Thanks for all the help navigator.

 

[Destin]

Re: Wiring mishap, converting from amp quage to volt.

I believe the plus voltmeter lead is normally tied to the same switched ignition wire , usually purple, going to the other electrical gauges(fuel, temp and oil pres).