NEED Help!!!! with Faulty electronic on Boat

[JN44]

I have a 20Ft CC Alumacraft. right around September time frame all electronic accessories stopped working i.e bilge, live well, horn, nav lights etc. first thing I did was clean up the Ground - battery terminal. them cleaned up + terminal and charged battery. after that still no electronics.

I then used a VOM and checked power from battery to first connection on switch panel and I have a severe power drop approx. 5-6V. I thought this was a little High for only about a 6-8ft run of wire.

while working with my brother (electrician in the USCG) he is perplexed at this issue, as the "TYPICAL WIRING DIAGRAM" in the owners manual doesn't look anything like how the dealership wired the boat up.

Now that I have gotten all of you folks just as confused as I am here is another cake topper for you, the other day while hooking up to the boat to go duck hunting I turned my switches on to just may hope and pray it fixed it self my courtesy light on the side of the console was on but VERY VERY dim and still not livewell or bilge pup or nav lights.

Any help in this matter would be great I am about one step away from pulling the main hot and ground out and putting new in?

P.s. I am original owner

 

[GA_Boater]

Welcome aboard, JN.

Do the same test you did for the voltage drop, only disconnect the battery and and change the meter to OHMs. If the wire is good it should read very close to zero ohms. It sounds like the battery to switch panel wire is not working so good.

 

[bilge rat jim]

Might be a bad ground to the terminal block under the dash ( i presume there is a - terminal block somewhere?). Try running a jump wire from your negative battery terminal and metering the results from each device.

 

[Grandad]

I then used a VOM and checked power from battery to first connection on switch panel and I have a severe power drop approx. 5-6V. I thought this was a little High for only about a 6-8ft run of wire.

Voltage drop only becomes significant when there is an actual load on the electrical system. With nothing turned on (nothing using power), the voltage read by your meter should be identical at both ends of the same wire. Since you've found a big difference in 8' of wire, that wire's terminations are suspect. But, is your battery actually functional? I would try to power a sizable load such as a searchlight directly from the battery terminals. If it won't light, perhaps the battery is pooched. A faulty battery could appear charged when read with a VOM when no load is applied. You could also see what the VOM says when you turn on those courtesy lights. If the voltage falls, the battery is not doing its job. Depending upon quality and how they are maintained, batteries can fail prematurely. Even with proper maintenance, I expect to replace my good quality batteries every 5 years BEFORE I have a problem. At $100 for 5 years, having no problems is worth the $20 cost of replacing them a year early. Please let us know when you find the problem. - Grandad

 

[JN44]

Thanks for the info guys. bilge rat jim. under my console is a huge connector that has all the wires coming from the switches to the accessory I have yet to find a terminal block underneath the console. Unless it is under the floor which wouldn't make since.

my brother and I worked on it again Monday night and instead of try to correct everything at once we focused on the anchor light. had power to the socket. power thru the light but not on the return so BAD GROUND. we started at the battery and I cut the heat shrink of the ground and it was horribly GREEN, so I then cut the terminal off and and stripped more back approx. 1" still corroded (not as Bad) so now i'm chasing corrosion on my ground. I decided that im going to cut the ground at the connector under the console, and sure enough Corroded ( dark Blackish not green).

I also noticed that the ground from under the console running under floor is not the same gauge wire that leaves the battery and runs under the floor. so my guess is that the wiring changes from about 10ga to 12 ga under the floor somewhere and the connection was sitting in water and corrosion just worked it was up both sides.

so im going to pull that wire and replace with one solid run with no connection under the floor.

 

[alldodge]

Thanks for the info guys. bilge rat jim. under my console is a huge connector that has all the wires coming from the switches to the accessory I have yet to find a terminal block underneath the console. Unless it is under the floor which wouldn't make since.

my brother and I worked on it again Monday night and instead of try to correct everything at once we focused on the anchor light. had power to the socket. power thru the light but not on the return so BAD GROUND. we started at the battery and I cut the heat shrink of the ground and it was horribly GREEN, so I then cut the terminal off and and stripped more back approx. 1" still corroded (not as Bad) so now i'm chasing corrosion on my ground. I decided that im going to cut the ground at the connector under the console, and sure enough Corroded ( dark Blackish not green).

I also noticed that the ground from under the console running under floor is not the same gauge wire that leaves the battery and runs under the floor. so my guess is that the wiring changes from about 10ga to 12 ga under the floor somewhere and the connection was sitting in water and corrosion just worked it was up both sides.

so im going to pull that wire and replace with one solid run with no connection under the floor.

:welcome: to iboats

Suggest picking up a ground bus and run your new 10AWG wire from the negative terminal to the bus. Then run other grounds from it, use either just a ground bus or bus with fuse/breakers

http://www.iboats.com/Minibus-100-A...0526459--session_id.741688225--view_id.163849

 

[JN44]

ALLDodge,
I purchased a dual purpose buss bar one with a positive side and one with a ground side, I was planning on running my hot from the battery to it and jump all my switches for accessories to it as well and do exactly what you said on the ground side as well

 

[alldodge]

ALLDodge,
I purchased a dual purpose buss bar one with a positive side and one with a ground side, I was planning on running my hot from the battery to it and jump all my switches for accessories to it as well and do exactly what you said on the ground side as well

Sounds like you got it

 

[gm280]

WOW any time you see wire gauge changes, you know you're in for some real surprises. And just for info, you can clean up discolored wire via some vinegar and salt solution. Dissolve as much salt as you can into the vinegar and then place the wire ends in it for a few minutes and they will come clean again. Then soak them in clean water with baking soda mixed in to neutralize the vinegar. However, as easy as that works, I'd replace such wire and know for certain everything is good... I just throw that out there incase you ever have to solder corroded wires and can't because of the corrosion.

 

[JN44]

Nice info but check this out. I tried to upload a pic here but it was to big. Took it with my phone. After cutting of some more tape on the harness and yanking I found were the ground wire switched sizes. Yes it was a crimp and had heat shrink over top of it and also six more grounds coming out of it.

This was sitting in the bottom of the boat underneath the welded floor. So when it did get water in the bilge it just sat in it.

 

[bilge rat jim]

Glad you found your problem- voltage drop in a circuit is almost always corroded/bad wires or terminals, and wiring that lays in the bilge is trouble just waiting to happen. Hopefully you will be able to relocate the wiring to a better location- maybe under the gunwales? Make sure to select a wire gauge suitable for your devices. (add up the amperage of all your devices, add 10%. Then use your browser to find a handy "marine wire size calculator online.)

 

[JN44]

Gentleman, I want to start by saying happy new year and thanks for all the tips and advice.

Before the ball dropped last night I was able to get the old harness out and run new 8ga wire from my battery to a buss bar. After I got that hook up and mounted I then fished all my hot wires going to the acc. To the switches.
Now all I have left to do is extend ally grounds (with new wire) to the buss bar and jumper from the hot to my thermal reset breakers. Hopefully will finish up tonight and be back duck hunting tm AM.

I also used bigger wire than what was originally ran (both ground and hot) is this good or bad

Also are these thermal reset breakers any good I have never dealt with them would it be better to put in blade fuses instead?

 

[bilge rat jim]

As a rough guess, your length of run will be 12 to 15 feet. At this length, 8 AWG wire will be able to handle about 30 amps (continuous) at 12VDC. I would suggest that if you are running any high amp devices (stereo amps, downriggers, etc), you run a separate ground from the battery to these devices.