interior lights and bilge pumps won'twork

knot flying

I can't figure out why I can't get my interior lights or bilge pumps to work. I checked all of the fuses and they all look good. it seems like there is no power going to them. I put the switches on and the lights on the switches aren't going on either. Does anyone have an idea as where to look for something disconnected?

BrentB · Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 10:45 am Post subject:

I would check the battery voltage and connectors for corrosion and loose connections. Then check the switch with the power off, fuses and light bulbs for conductivity using a digital volt meter

matt_unique · Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 10:52 am Post subject: Gimme lights!

Forgive my stupid question - do you have a battery selector switch and if yes was it on 1, 2, or Both?

I doubt all your lights and pumps are burned out so I'm sure they are not getting juice at all. Start at your bats as suggested above. A voltage or multi-meter is your friend for this problem.

Are you getting power anywhere?

journey on · Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 11:35 am Post subject:

This is a classic case of "I'm not getting power to ___________"

We can all guess and give reasonable advice, as above, but the ONLY way to really find out what's going on is to buy a voltmeter and learn how to use it. They are cheap, Harbour Freight ~$4, and when set on the 20VDC scale can be used to trace how far the battery voltage is going.

Start with the battery, that's a good place to see how a voltmeter works, and keep going to the front of the boat to see where voltage disappears. Remember, the red lead goes to positive and the black lead to negative. The switches are all positive.

That's all it takes and you can find the fault immediately.

Boris

Matt Gurnsey · Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 12:00 pm Post subject:

Is there a master breaker back near the battery? Try resetting that.

BrentB · Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 12:06 pm Post subject:

My boat (not a C-Dory) came with an electrical diagram and I updated it with add-ons and updates.

designbug · Posted: Fri May 07, 2010 12:18 pm Post subject:

I had a similar problem last year and it turned out that the main circuit breaker was defective. I was able to determine that the main circuit breaker was the problem when I bypassed it and dc power was restored.

Since I replaced the breaker I have had no further problems.

Thanks, Dick