Archive for the ‘Voltmeter’ Category

Trim Trouble

August 20th, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Hi Kevin,

I have a boat which is a center console.

When I give the boat’s engine direct power, it starts and the tilt trim works. But, when I connect the battery to the terminals, it’s no good – it won’t even crank over nor will the tilt trim work.

I have tested the isolator switch with a multimeter and it seemed to be fine.

What else do you think I should do?Marine electrical trim panel

Thanks mate,

Ozzy

Hi Ozzy,

Test the switch and cables with the engine connected while you are trying to start it.

It is very common for cables and switches to read fine with a meter, but as soon as you draw current down them, there is too much resistance in the wire/switch and the engine will not start.

Since the meter draws a very small current, it not cause the huge voltage drop problem that you are seeing.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Hi Kevin

So do you think I should buy and try a new isolator switch?

Thanks

Ozzy,

I would test the voltage at the battery switch when you are trying to start the engine. It may be the boat battery cables.

Kevin

Posted in Batteries, Battery Management, Boat Battery Switches, Boat Battery Wiring, Boat Wiring, Marine Battery Switch, Marine Electrical, Marine Wiring, Testing, Trim, Voltage Drop, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Navigation Light Short

April 9th, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Hey Kevin,Attwood is the world's top manufacturer of navigation lights for marine electrical.

I just bought a 1987 Fisher bass boat with a 1989 110 hp Johnson outboard.

The boat navigation lights had been removed but the light wiring was still running up to the front of the boat. I bought a new Attwood LED navigation light and connected it (pretty sure I did it right) but the navigation light will not work. The white all round anchor light does work when I turn the switch to just anchor lighting and navigation lighting.

I followed the boat wiring for the lights and found that the negative wire was tied into the main negative wire going directly to the boat battery (this was connected). After those two wires meet, it appears the wiring coming from the two is supposed to be connected to a fuse but it was not.

There were two fuses open, a 20 amp and a 10 amp. As soon as I connected it to the 20 amp, the fuse blew. There was a spark when I connected it. I have no clue where to go from here.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Tommy

Hi Tommy,

It sounds like there is a short in your marine electrical between the fuse and the light.

You can either try to trace down the short or replace the wire. Sometimes it is much easier to replace marine wiring than to find the problem. Make sure to use circuit protection at the power source to protect the wire if a short happens again.

Happy wiring,

Kevin

Posted in Boat Battery Wiring, Boat Wire, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Cruisers, Ground issues, Marine Electric, Marine Electrical, Marine Wire, Marine Wiring, Navigation Lights, Outboard Engines, Panel Rewire, Pontoons, Power Boats, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels, Testing, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Radio Requiem

March 26th, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Hi Kevin,

I have a 19 ft open fisherman and the marine electrical includes a boat battery switch.

Over the winter one of the batteries reversed polarity, and I had the thing hooked up per their diagram. I have removed the bad battery, and have my accessories run to a marine electric fuse block.
My VHF fuse blows as soon as I replace it, and when it blows my GPS cuts off, and will not cut back on for a while. I have wiring coming from the battery red to the positive side, and black to the negative boat bus bar. Everything goes through its separate fuse but none on the fuse block blow.

I have no idea what is wrong. Could it be a bad ground on the motor, or could the radio be blown and have a dead short causing this?

Finally, I’m trying to save up for a new set of fishing rod holders, so if there is any way that I can avoid paying for the fix, it would be great.

Seymore

Seymore,

It is very possible that there was some internal damage to the radio.

Eliminate all of the boat wiring and connect the radio directly to the boat battery (with an in-line fuse). If it still blows the fuse, the radio is done.

If the radio still works, start tracing the wires that are common between the VHF and the GPS. There may be a bad/burnt connection that resulted from your marine wiring mishap.

Kevin

Kevin,

The radio still blows fuse when hooked up to battery alone.

Could the short in the radio cause the battery to reverse polarity? By the way I ran the battery down to zero, and have it on charge and it is showing a positive charge now.

Seymore

Hi,

The battery should be fine, but I’m afraid that the radio is dead :(

Kevin

Posted in Batteries, Battery Management, Boat Battery Switches, Boat Battery Wiring, Boat Wire, Boat Wiring, Bus Bar, Circuit Protection, GPS, Ground issues, Marine Electric, Marine Electrical, Marine Wire, Marine Wiring, Pontoons, Power Boats, Radio, Testing, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Choke Check

February 13th, 2012 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

I have a 1994 Mercury 60HP two-stroke on a Bass Tracker boat. The boat wiring includes a push-to-choke ignition switch, which isn’t working.Mercury 60HP

When I apply a jumper wire to the choke (fuel enrichner) it works as should. With a voltmeter on the lead coming to the choke coming from the switch it reads 12 volts as soon as I turn the key to the on position but doesn’t trigger the choke , when I push in it still does nothing, do I have a bad marine ignition switch? It is a six pole.

Thanks,

Nelson

Nelson,

This is a common problem.

The jumper wire has great connections and doesn’t have a voltage drop, so…

  • Check the voltage at the choke enrichner with the wire connected and you will see the voltage drop when the choke is pushed.
  • With the enrichner still connected, check the voltage on the choke position on the back of the key switch when you press the choke to determine if the drop is after the key switch or is the key switch.

Kevin

Posted in Boat Wiring, Engine Choke, Ignition Switch, Jon Boats, Marine Electrical, Marine Engines, Outboard Engines, Pontoons, Power Boats, Testing, Voltage Drop, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Cable Color Confusion

November 9th, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Hello KevinBoat Wiring Store has custom made marine electrical battery cables for your boat wiring project

Here’s my boat wiring issue.

I got a 25hp Mercury two-stroke from my grandfather this weekend.

When I tried to attach the motor to the battery last night, I couldnt determine positive and negative battery cables as they are both black.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Jerry

Hi Jerry,

I would trace them back to their connection on the motor.

The positive will be connected to the starter solenoid and the negative will be connected to the engine block.

You can either do this visually or with an ohmmeter.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Batteries, Boat Battery Wiring, Boat Wiring, Marine Electrical, Marine Engines, Ohmmeter, Outboard Engines, Power Boats, Testing, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Stumped Starting

October 10th, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Good Morning—

I have a 1987 Silverton 34C.

The boat wiring system I have has two engines, two battery switches, and four batteries. Two batteries are dedicated to starting either engine and the remaining two batteries are in parallel for the house.

I have a problem when trying to start the engines. Following is the boat wiring and switch information for the batteries:

  1.  Both boat battery switches are set to “1” normally for starting
  2. Parallel battery switch on boat is disabled
  3. One battery (through switch) is wired to port motor and one battery (thru second switch) is wired to starboard motor

    4. Silverton 3400

  4. Batteries three and four are paralleled (mechanically) and also run through the switches
  5. There is a battery charger hooked to the system that monitors the batteries and charges
  6. A Lewmar 700 windlass is connected to the house batteries
  7. All boat battery cable terminals and battery posts have been thoroughly cleaned and brushed
  8. Inspection of the two battery switches shows the connections to be completely clean

When I try to start the motors, the port motor is usually dead, but the starboard motor fires right up. When I go down and change both battery switches to “2” the port motor fires right up.

This weekend I tried switching the port side engine battery with one of the house batteries (thinking that maybe I had a bad starting battery on the port side) and the problem REVERSED itself!! With the battery switches on “1” , the port side motor fired right up, but then the starboard motor was completely dead—it wouldn’t even turn the motor over once!!!

I am stumped. Do you have any ideas? Do I need to re wire and/or add something to the marine electrical system?

If you need any more information please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Have a great day,

Jake

HI Jake,

It sounds like a connection/cable problem to me. Even though all are clean, there may still be a problem.

Check battery voltages at the starters while you are trying to start them. A bad connection/cable may appear good until a load is added to it.

You will find your boat wiring problem,

Kevin

Posted in Batteries, Battery Chargers, Battery Management, Boat Battery Switches, Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Ground issues, Marine Electrical, Marine Engines, Panel Rewire, Power Boats, Shore Power, Testing, Voltage Drop, Voltmeter, Windlass | Comments Off

Gauge Problem

August 15th, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

I have a Faria Combination Fuel/Voltage gauge and the volt meter works erratically. Most of the time there is no reading at all.

Reading your posts it seems like it may be a bad ground but I would assume the gauge has one ground for both meters and the fuel meter works fine.voltmeter

Do you agree it is probably not the ground?

Any suggestions?

Jim

Hi Jim,

You are correct.

A combination Faria gauge has a common ground. It also has a common power source. If the fuel gauge works correctly, there is something wrong internally with it.

Sorry,

Kevin

Posted in Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Fuel Gauge, Gauge Panels, Ground issues, Marine Electrical, Panel Rewire, Pontoons, Power Boats, Testing, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Hot Tunes!

July 11th, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Hello Kevin,

I have recently experienced some problems with my marine electrical. My boat’s aerator pump will not operate, my fish finder will flash on then stay off, my radio will turn on for a split second then kick back off. Multimeter

I have disconnected my boat battery completely and then just hooked up my onboard electronics (thru fuse) and was able to turn my radio on. The radio operated flawlesslessly for a moment but eventually became very hot and smoked before I disconnected everything once again.

I have inspected my fuses which appear to be unscathed. What is my problem?

The boat is a 2000 Fisher and all electronics are stock. The (2) fuses in the boat are AGC 20′s.

Thanks,
Wade

Hi Wade,

It sounds like you are experiencing a voltage drop problem. Low helm voltage will cause most of the problems that you are experiencing.

Check all of the connections between the battery and the helm. Check the helm area voltage with a digital meter when the devices are turned on. If you cannot find the problem with the existing boat wiring, I would run a new power and ground feed to your helm. Make sure to install circuit protection at the battery end of this new circuit.

Kevin

Posted in Batteries, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Cruisers, Livewell Pump, Marine Electrical, Multimeter, Panel Rewire, Pontoons, Power Boats, Testing, Voltmeter | Comments Off

Wiring a 36 volt trolling motor

February 28th, 2011 by Kevin Hannula

Kevin,

I have seen similar questions about this, however I’m going to ask anyway to be sure that I don’t screw up my boat wiring.

I recently purchased a 36 volt trolling motor. My boat is wired for a 24 volt…two batteries, two red wires and one black to the switch. I am hoping to add minimal new wires.

The plug is a Marinco – I think maybe for a 24 volt – and has the three wires connected to it.

Two questions:Marinco trolling motor connector

  • Do I need a new plug?
  • How would this be wired?

Thanks in advance. I will also be adding a three-bank battery charger and using this set-up only for the trolling motor, no 12volt accessories.

Todd

Hi Todd,

The Marinco trolling motor plugs are all rated for 48 volts. You will not need to replace it.

Wiring the 36 volt system is simple. It is basically an extension of a 24 volt system like this.

I would recommending using a dc voltmeter to make sure you have the correct polarity and voltage at your plug before connecting it to your trolling motor.

The three outputs of your future charger will connect directly to your batteries.

Good luck,

Kevin

Posted in Batteries, Battery Chargers, Boat Battery Switches, Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Ground issues, Jon Boats, Marine Electrical, Marine Engines, Outboard Engines, Pontoons, Power Boats, Trolling Motors, Voltmeter, VSR | Comments Off