Not getting power to certain things and don't see any breakers tripped.

suss1173

suss1173

Active Member
Jul 11, 2013
411
Sea Cliff, NY
Boat Info
05 390 QSB 5.9,s
Past- 01- 340 -7.4 Horizon's. Pachanga 27- twin 350's, 94-300 twin 350's
Engines
Twin QSB 5.9’s
I installed a new shower & air conditioning sump pump which isn't getting power. When I hooked it up on Thursday it seemed to work fine. I went back to the boat last night to get ready for a trip and noticed the sump pump wasn't working. After poking around I also noticed the A/C and the stereo weren't working either.

I tested the wire going to the sump pump with a meter and verified that it's not getting power. I was able to trace the brown wire with an orange stripe (which should be a power wire). The wire enters the cabin under the top step then runs into the cabin, it runs under the galley cabinet and into compartment where the sump pump is. However I don't see any inline fuses or tripled breakers.

I don't have any breakers on the panel tripped, none at the helm station popped, and none of the red fuses in the gunnwal by the battery switches were popped, I've even looked at the red fuse on the mercathodes, which I don't think have anything to to with powering the A/C, stereo, or sump pump, but the fuse on the mercathodes are ok anyway.

I can't imagine the stereo and A/C would share a fuse, but neither is getting power. So, I'm guessing it's a breaker and not a small inline fuse? All the breakers that I know of aren't tripped, and not even sure where else I'd look?

Naturally, this has to happen right as we're about to leave the dock for a long weekend. Does anyone have the wiring schematics for my boat or any general advise that might help me figure this out and save our trip.

Happy 4th and thanks in advance.
 
Does it possibly run through a GFCI outlet, perhaps check each one.
 
This is a longshot as we have entirely different boats ...i had a similar situation where everything connected to my stbd batteries circuit lost power...even my stbd guages and main panel meters were dark and i could not shut down that engine from the helm ...like your situation no tripped breakers or obvious blown fuses... It ended up being a blown 80 amp fuse in my main battery charger... seems like when a fuse blows on one of the battery chargers circuits everything supplied by that bank of batteries circuit went dark even when connected to power ....it was confusing initially as all the wiring was good..all the fuses were good all the breakers fine etc. a long shot like i said but take a look at your main battery charger and see if the fuses are good within.
 
romanservices said:
Does it possibly run through a GFCI outlet, perhaps check each one.
Click to expand...

I checked all the GFI's and all was ok. But thanks for the input.


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rszarka said:
This is a longshot as we have entirely different boats ...i had a similar situation where everything connected to my stbd batteries circuit lost power...even my stbd guages and main panel meters were dark and i could not shut down that engine from the helm ...like your situation no tripped breakers or obvious blown fuses... It ended up being a blown 80 amp fuse in my main battery charger... seems like when a fuse blows on one of the battery chargers circuits everything supplied by that bank of batteries circuit went dark even when connected to power ....it was confusing initially as all the wiring was good..all the fuses were good all the breakers fine etc. a long shot like i said but take a look at your main battery charger and see if the fuses are good within.
Click to expand...

Even if it's a long shot, it's worth a try... do I just pull the cover off the charger and then the fuses are visible once the cover is removed?


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Re-check the connection you made for the pump in the sump, also check the float switch if the pump you installed doesn't have a built in switch.
 
JVM225 said:
Re-check the connection you made for the pump in the sump, also check the float switch if the pump you installed doesn't have a built in switch.
Click to expand...


It's not the pump or the float switch. It will come on if I direct wire to the battery and I've tested the "hot" wire going to the pump which shows it's not live.
 
If you have no power in the 12 volt wire going to the pump you'll have to trace it back from there and check every connection, fuse, or switch point to find where you are losing the power.
The problem is most often as simple as a corroded, broken, or dirty connector. Especially on older boats. The salt air environment wreaks havoc on these 12 volt connections, especially under the dash and around the helm where they are more exposed to the salt air.
While you are poking around the boat with a test light, take the opportunity to test both sides of each glass fuse on the fuse blocks and wiggle the retaining clips holding each side of each of those fuses. Those clips are riveted in to the buss and tend to loosen up a bit over the years causing bad or intermittent connections. Those fuse blocks are cheap and easy to change. It's a good preventative maintenance project.
 
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As stated, the A/C is 120 and the other items are 12V so that sounds coincidental. While you were working on the sump, did you perhaps accidentally disturb any 120 v wires that would go to the A/C or to the A/C pump? My cabin sump is in the same small space as my A/C raw water pump so I can see how you could have bumped something and caused a loss of power to the pump which could affect the compressor from coming on. Go over EVERYTHING in the area you worked and check all connections for security and corrosion. Let us know what you find.
 
Not sure on your boat mate..on mine there is a big charger that handles the 2 main 24v banks...the fuses and circuits are immediately visible when i remove the bottom cover.... I dont know your config or what kind of charger you have or if your charger even has fuses so cant give any more advice sorry mate :( Just sounds like your situation is similar where you may have a break in the circuit in some weird off the beaten path spot.... Im sorry i could not be of more help...i really hope you manage to figure it out in time for your trip . You dont have wiring schematics in the back of the boats owners manual?
 
Despite the lack of a shower and A/C we took the trip anyway. Fortunately we were lucky to have a nice breeze, good facilities and a clean shower at the marina (Strong's Water Club).

I checked every connection I could think of, and looked for an inline fuse on the hot line to the sump pump and couldn't find anything bad. The neighbor slipped next to us has an older 340 DA, and after speakind with him, Eric, about his boat, which he is restoring, I mentioned my issue and he said he'd be happy to take a look at mine. He found the issue affecting the radio and sump pump was a 3 amp fuse in the gunwhale.

FWIW for anyone else who comes across an issue like this, I had checked those red fuse breakers and none had popped so I figured they were ok. However Eric said we should open up the panel and put the test light on the back side of them b/c the fuse itself could be bad. Sure enough, that was the culprit for the radio and the sump pump.

It was great being slipped next to Eric and his boat, Nauti 340. He helped me diagnose the issue, gave me a ride to the local marine store (Light House Marine) to get the fuse and put it into the panel. It's people like him, and all the contributors on this Fourm, that make this such a great hobby.

We couldn't get the A/C to come on, but I have a call into CruseAir and hope to get it resolved this week. I'll report back and share the findings.
 
Your AC may just be low on freon.
FWIW, I'd put that bilge pump on it's own circuit so nothing else could take out my pump.
 
Glad it worked out for you. Get yourself a cheap 12 volt test light to keep aboard. It will help you isolate and diagnose simple things like this quickly and easily.
 
Im Glad it worked out for you and you got to do the trip anyways mate :) Electrical problems are always such a pain in the a$$ and can be so hard to find ! I once couldnt start my port engine for a few weeks because of one stupid knocked off wire haha Hope you and your family enjoyed the trip!
 
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