Sea Ray SSS 1993 63 ft

Look for a company that services and repairs electric motors. These companies usually only work on large motors. It may be more economical to just replace. Another source might be a company that repairs auto alternators and starters. Getting harder to find in this "throw away" world.
 
Sdarc: thanks for the ideas!! They are good ones! I have ordered a replacement motor but wouldn't mind having a spare if it's not to drastic to repair this one.
If I tap it it runs but have to tap it each time to run. Have pulled it apart and the brushes etc all look good so not sure what could be the problem. Anyone got any ideas other things I could check besides the brushes and continuity of the wires which I have both done. What could be the cause of tapping makes it run temporarily again?

Thanks against SDARC! An auto alternator reconditioning place would probably be the go :)
 
Graham: I do not know the answer to those questions. Will be back at the boat tomorrow morning I will check both of those things!
Thank you so very much for the input and giving me a direction to travel in :)
You always have really great advice!

Thanks Graham will post tomorrow what happens when I put voltage to it and where I find the start trigger. Any idea what to look for re the start trigger ?

Thanks again :)
 
Rob

When I say start trigger, I guess I mean how does the vacuum pump motor set off, I would think there is a swtch / solenoid that turns the motor on when the vacuum drops, ie when you flush the toilet, and if this is not actuating correctly, the motor may be OK but the switch is not turning it on when needed, and then when you tap it the switch turns the motor on and all seems fine.

Try and find where that swtch is located, or is it a part of the vacuum pump assembly, another way is to put power straight on to the motor and see if it works correctly, or does it still need a tap to get it going.

Before you put power to the motor, be sure to measure the voltage at the pump on the original wires to be sure if it is 12 or 24 volts.


Graham
Graham
 
Hi Rob and Graham,

On our Sea Ray and most Vacuflush systems there is a vacuum switch just near where the motor connects to the tank. You can normally play with the switch a little to activate the motor or stop it from running etc. Having said that if you're motor is drawing current while not running then I wouldn't imagine it was the vacuum switch.

PS. I apologise for giving the wrong advice on the 12v/24v thing! I actually called an electrician friend of mine last night to clarify as I'm looking at upgrading the cockpit stereo on the Princess and just assumed I would need a step down convertor for the amp (which I have already bought). He was aware that you could get a 12v feed direct from the batteries but was reluctant to connect that way. We agreed that if it was that easy Princess would have run a 12v feed to the circuit cabinet rather than having several factory fitted step down converters for the various 12v systems. Maybe you should put a separate post in the electrical forum to see if any experts can confirm that connecting a 12v feed directly to one battery won't have a negative effect on battery life or anything? Having said that the LEDs you are hoping to connect are going to draw nearly no current in comparison to the amp I'm connecting for the cockpit.

Paul
 
Rob,

#2 on this schematic is what you should check...

imag0597.jpg

Under the white cover!!!
vacuum_tank_oem_full.jpg

Hope this helps. Maybe a bad connection?
 
Hi Jason,

I'm not sure if Rob's will look like that. Ours in the same year model 400 DA looks alot more the following picture which is attached to a bigger vacuum tank:

100_0002.jpg

Paul
 
Good Deal Paul... The switch looks exactly like the one in mine though. Thanks for the heads up!
 
sweet said:
Hi Rob and Graham,

On our Sea Ray and most Vacuflush systems there is a vacuum switch just near where the motor connects to the tank. You can normally play with the switch a little to activate the motor or stop it from running etc. Having said that if you're motor is drawing current while not running then I wouldn't imagine it was the vacuum switch.

PS. I apologise for giving the wrong advice on the 12v/24v thing! I actually called an electrician friend of mine last night to clarify as I'm looking at upgrading the cockpit stereo on the Princess and just assumed I would need a step down convertor for the amp (which I have already bought). He was aware that you could get a 12v feed direct from the batteries but was reluctant to connect that way. We agreed that if it was that easy Princess would have run a 12v feed to the circuit cabinet rather than having several factory fitted step down converters for the various 12v systems. Maybe you should put a separate post in the electrical forum to see if any experts can confirm that connecting a 12v feed directly to one battery won't have a negative effect on battery life or anything? Having said that the LEDs you are hoping to connect are going to draw nearly no current in comparison to the amp I'm connecting for the cockpit.

Paul
Click to expand...

Tapping 12V from one battery in a 24V bank can play havoc with the health of the batteries because it may throw off the charging scheme as one battery is drawn down faster than the other(s). Just one cycle of excessive draw-down of a battery can drastically shorten the life of a battery. Rob has an "equalizer" that Sea Ray put into the design to enable using 12V for the systems, like electronics, which only use 12V. An equalizer is also known as a "balancer" which I think better describes its function which is to balance the load being drawn out of the batteries so that the voltage on all the batteries is always kept the same. So, the existing 12V system enabled by the equalizers is where I think it would be best to look to make new connections, although I agree that the addition of LED lights might not make a material difference in Rob's case (but see no reason to take that chance).
 
You can tap 12v out of a 24v system by drawing off one battery only

However it is NOT good practice. You tend to shorten the life of that battery. I would not advise it at all.


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Wow lots of info going on here!! Thank you guys :)
Hmmm now I am thinking of running with paul on a step down converter after reading all of this! Although two 3 ft long led lighting strips will put very very little drain on a battery but like you guys said it is not the correct way to do it and I don't want to start doing things half assed! Interesting topic though have learned a ton from all of this.

Pyro my vacuum pump motor is different to yours but thanks a tin for posting your pics :)

Graham : I did what you said and connected the pump directly to a 24 volt feed. It did not budge. I have found the issue. The brushes are on a little spring well the spring has become detached from both of the brushes dunno how the heck that happened! So they were getting pulled out of place as the motor spun. The rest of the motor is good, there is a way after detaching two screws to pull the whole brush assembly off. So I have gone to domestics website and gave them the part number asking if I can just buy that piece. We will see what they say. Turns out my problem was two fold. The vacuum pump switch. And thank you so much to the person that posted a pic of what it looks like I can't scroll up while posting to see who that was. One of the wires was broken off on the pump actuater. This is weird this pump is only one year old had it replaced when I got the boat. The old 13 year old one is still going strong!

So paul what do you think you going with the converter or wiring 12 v off one of the batteries?? I am leaning to just getting the converters as from what everyone is saying its very bad for the battery! Now here's a weird thing my 12 Volts house systems are running off of that bank not an independent battery. So sea ray wired it that way. Maybe that is why I have had so many battery problems!

Again so many thanks to all of you for sharing your knowledge, taking the time to post pictures and help me to figure out these issues! Looks like its time to sponsor the site again has already been a year will be sure and give club sea ray a donation later on today when I am not on my phone but at a computer!

Thanks to all of you, your the best!!
Rob
 
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1336023238.832742.jpg


Ok question, I have an energize switch for 12v and on my built in voltmeter a setting to check two 12 volt banks starboard and port. Here's what I don't get every single thing I have ever looked at on this boat is 24 volt all the lights pumps everything! What the heck is actually running off of 12 v on this thing? I have not come across one thing, so why the 12 v breaker and indicator switches. Posting a pic of my 24 vdc distribution panel. Maybe I am wrong that there is no 12 volt systems attached to that battery bank as I just can't see Searay wiring something incorrectly!
 
Hi Rob,

If there is 12v at your distribution board I can't see why you can't tap into that for your LEDs. As you say I'm sure Sea Ray wired it correctly. On the Princess the 12v systems include (from memory) cockpit stereo, VHF and a few other little things that I can't remember.

For my LEDs I'm intending on putting a small step down converter after the cockpit light switch so that the one switch controls the blue cockpit lights and the blue led strips. It may cost a bit more than how you intend to wire up yours with a new switch but at least I won't need to worry about fitting a new switch to the dash etc.

PS. Good luck with fixing the toilet system. They're great when they work but a pain to troubleshoot when they don't!

Paul
 
Ray, most electronics like radar, plotters, stereos are 12VDC. There is a breaker panel in the engine room you might take a look at, it has the breakers for those systems. They are all fed out of the battery equalizers.
 
Alnav will do thank you :) I was going to follow along with Paul and get the step down converter but i want the extra challenge so i think i will attempt to go off the existing 12 volt system ...wish me luck hahahha Ah i see so its my cockpit stereo and a few other electronics up there that are on the 12v... have been wondering big time what actually was 12 ...

I swear another year or two of zoning this thing and i will be part mechanic, part electrical engineer... part everything lol its great all this stuff you learn by maintaining a boat flows over into everything in life!! it is truly an education of the best sort just a shame its so damned expensive like going to university lol

Still no word from domestic on if i can buy just that plate with the brushes or not ...would be a shame to trash the whole motor for 2 bad brushes!! It seems everything that is original on this boat is holding up pretty well , all the new things and things recently professionally fixed are where my problems come ...the port engine has given me a bunch of trouble , thats a fresh rebuild ...this vacuum pump motor is 1 year old!! almost all of the problems i have encountered seem to be with the recently fixed or replaced items...that says something for how they used to do things and how they do things today ...everything that is 13 years old on this boat so far has worked well ...i think they took more time made things of a better quality and just did things all around better like 10 years ago ..nowadays its cheaper materials..get it in quick save save save...hey i may be wrong but it just seems that way to me!!

Paul:I may be at DH this saturday, you gonna be down this way?
 
I have been so backwards and forwards on this one with what to do, found myself in an electronics store today and they had converters on sale for 50 bucks so i got one 24 down to 12 .... wow running the wiring was a huge deal to find a way into the engine room from the vents they were sealed off by screens took me an hour to figure that out ...the port side is easy a the switch i am wiring to and the power source is right there ... but the starboard damn lol ..i got it have the wires all run .... now here is my question the step down thing has a white wire with a fuse what do i actually connect that fused wire to? i know it sounds like a dumb question but i have never wired much and have no idea what to connect the fused wire to? I know you guys would know!

I am almost there, now that the wires are run there is not much left to do just connect the converter putting the led lighting in is easy as it is very light and adhesive backed...so once i figure out this fuse thing will get it all done!!

Thanks guys!
 
Driving me nuts as I can't get this to work! Tested the power have 24 volts. Connected the converter to it and the led lights to the output wires. The input and output wiring for the converter both have a white wire one of them has a fuse. So I connected them together to make a circuit. No power comes out of the converter.

A diagram that came with the converter says that you should connect the white wires to a cars AC and has a diagram of a key switch. Wtf are they talking about ! I am guessing it's these damned white wires that are messing me up just dunno where the hell to connect them. Put them together thought that may work but no joy. Dunno so annoying 1 am here and giving up before I smash this thing!
 
Paul:was just looking back through the posts and saw you mentioned the avionics app for iPhone and how you navigated home with it one day! That truly is an amazing app and really is just as good as any real plotter...they keep updating it and making it better and better!! Do you have the boating suite? It is made by one of the members of this site and is such a good app swell for boaters... has a log book maintenance log, expense reports everything it is so useful and handy! I will be in Dh from about 2 pm onwards tomorrow will overnight, just mentioning it in case you are headed that way...
 
So frustrated guys, tried putting those white wires in every single way I can think of!! When I connect the converter to the 24 v power source a light comes on showing there is power to the converter but on the 12 v outlets there is no power. Either the converter is bad or that fused connection is not right hence not allowing the power to go through.

Driving me nuts my whole new led system is ready to rock apart from this hitch!! No one out there with any ideas on how to get this thing to work??
 
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