DC Electrical Problem

D

designbug

Member
Hi All,

This past Saturday I discovered that my pilot station electrical panel, GPS and VHF Radio stopped working. The engine starts fine, the AC power through the shore connection works and so does the anchor windlass. I checked all the fuses, which all seemed fine, and checked all the reset buttons on the panel itself. There is a reset switch near the battery selector switch which I have reset several times to no avail.

My wife, Laurie, said that she turned on our inverter (300 watt?) which was attached to the panel's 12 volt plug while we were connected to shore power to run the ipod - could this have caused some kind of short?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks, Dick
 
Don't think the inverter and ipod is the issue.
How many batteries do you have on your boat?
Depending on how whoever wired in your batteries, some items may be wired to the crank battery...which seems to be fine....while others may get power from one, or more "house" batteries.

Byrdman
 
How many batteries do you have on your boat?
Depending on how whoever wired in your batteries, some items may be wired to the crank battery...which seems to be fine....while others may get power from one, or more "house" batteries.

Byrdman

Hi Byrdman,

I have two Group 24 batteries, which I believe is the standard CD25 setup. Using the battery selector switch either of the batteries can be used to start the engine and both appear to be working (I'll retest again this evening to be sure).

Thanks, Dick
 
Dick-

What I'd do is get a voltmeter or continuity tester and start back as far as you can and trace the power's flow/continuity from the battery(s) forward through the fuses and switch panel to the dash, looking for the break in continuity or voltage loss in the circuit.

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
I think I found the problem. I bypassed the main circuit breaker and dc power was restored. I will replace the main circuit breaker this weekend.

Thanks for everyone's advice, Dick
 
Good question? In my research I noticed that Bill on Barnacle Bill and Pat on Daydream had similar problems - not sure about others. This web site is a great resource.

Thanks, Dick
 
hey dick, I had a very similar problem today. lost all DC power on my 2009 25 C-dory, GPS, radio, and all rocker switch operated electrical items. Windlass, trim tabs etc continued to work just fine. No lights on my control panel, no power, no nothing. where did you find the main circuit breaker that you replaced. I found a resettable CB near the #1 battery and perko switch which was not popped and I reset anyway. still no power. looked all around the distribution panel in berth behind sterring wheel kick panel but could not find anything that looked
like a main CB for the entire panel. thanks USMC dory
 
See the answer to your other post--basically you need to get the volt meter out and check the entire circuit. A volt meter needs to be in every tool kit.
 
And I want to add a thought to Bob's very true post. Learn how to use that voltmeter.

For DC circuits that's a simple thing. Even Pat Anderson is learning.

Boris
 
From Pat:

"Now, although there is 13.6 volts at the socket on the circuits for the lights and turn signals (the only ones I checked), when I insert the trailer plug, none of the lights work. The trailer is hooked up, and I have used the trailer frame as ground for my tests, so I don't think it is anything a simple as a ground wire, bu there is a white wire hanging loose out of the trailer harness. "

That was Step 1. For Step 2, he just needs to learn what wires do.

Boris
 
It sounds like you found the main circuit breaker. Mine was located near the battery selector switch.

The way I found out that the circuit breaker was bad was by bypassing it. I did this by disconnecting the wires going to the breaker and then briefly touched them together where I noted that power was restored.

I seem to recall that the bad breaker was Sea Dog(?) brand and I replaced it with Blue Seas(?) brand - about $40-$50 at West Marine. I haven't had a problem since.

Thanks, Dick
 
Dick, that's one of the beauties of a voltmeter. You don't have to wire around a suspected bad switch, breaker, fuse, etc. What if the breaker had broken because of a fault downstream? You would have connected 30 amps of 110 VAC directly to a short. That would have been more exciting than you'd like to remember.

Voltmeters are good things to use. Saves a lot of guessing and can be quite safe.

Boris
 
In the chapter on "Understanding and Troubleshooting Electrical Circuits" (p.123), Nigel Calder gives a good basic lesson on trouble shooting with a volt/ohm meter.

Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual, 3rd ed., 2005. An excellent resource for the boatowner. It requires a little effort to understand, but it covers a lot of the basic systems.

Tim and Dave Kinghorn
 
have taken the USMC-dory out twice now since the first failure and replacement of the 50 amp main fuse. no recurrence of the initial failure. still not entirely comfortable since , as many others have mentioned something must have caused the main fuse to pop initially. have not been able to find the cause and obviously it has not happened again....yet. just in case, I purshased two of the 50 amp bussman fuses. one for the replacement and one spare for "mom and the kids" in case it fails again. BTW found them cheaper on the web by about $10 bucks than they were at west Marine. I will keep all of you in the loop ...hope not to have that experience again.
 
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