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Random Quote: Anglers have a way of romanticizing their battles with fish. Ernest Hemingway
I have a new Bennington 2275LX with a Mercury 115 four stroke motor. The boat is great and the motor is sweet but I keep blowing the 20A fuse that comes directly off my battery to the accessories. The way the boat is wired, there are two 20A circuits coming off the battery (one for the motor and one for accessories like lights, radio, horn, etc.). The fuse for the motor has never blown.
I store the boat in dry storage about 5 miles from the Marina. When I leave the storage, all accessories work fine. Once I get to the water, the boat starts fine and runs great but at this point all accessories are dead. I replace the 20A fuse coming off the battery and everything works fine for the rest of the day.
Any ideas what might be going on? I did replace the factory radio and installed an hour meter but I think my work is first rate and can't see any visible areas where a short could be occurring. This has happened twice now out of four launches.
Maybe your accesories draw more than 20 amps when all turned on? Have you added anything to that circuit recently? If you add up all accesories and total current draw is less than 20 amps, look for a short somewhere or faulty equipment. Is there a paticular accessory that when turned on the fuse blows? You might try a using a "slow blow" type 20 A fuse, some things have a current surge when started up and can blow a "standard" fuse of same size. Let us know what you find.
Actually, from your description it sounds like it blows when YOUR NOT using them, ie: "... it blows after storage...", then your replace it and everything "...is good all day...". If that is the case, your probably not using to much amperage. Sound like something to do with the battery switches (if any?) or something. In other words, when you shut off the switches, to store the boat, something shorts and blows the fuse. OR, maybee your are switching the battery switches wrong when turnin off, and in fact your are putting two batteries in series (24 volts) and blowing the fuse.....
Just giving your some ideas to think about if it's not the obvious as above post states..., maybe something like that.... give us some more detail of your system, how many batteries? Switches? Electronics?...
I have one battery and no switch. The problem occurs when everything is turned off while trailering and/or launching the boat. The fuse that is blowing is coming right off the battery in a little box that holds a single in-line fuse. Most of the accessories run through their own fuse or circuit breaker that is after the 20 amp fuse and none of those are ever tripped or blown.
Perhaps I should just add a battery switch and leave it turned off when storing and trailering? Still, there must be a short somewhere. My guess is that it will either go away or start happening more frequently.
Are you sure something is not running and overheating? Without a battery switch how do yo kill the power to this circuit? Could be a bilege pump with stuck float switch, etc. Maybe the switch trips when they lift a boat to put it into storage. If everything works fine once you replace a fuse, take the fuse out before you put the boat in dry storage.
"Everyone should believe in something. I believe I will go fishing" --- Henry David Thoreau
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Yeah, breakers are great, taking the fuse out when ya store it will work great to..... BUT, big BUT, what is the PROBLEM? Obviously something is wrong, and if you are like me (and I think you are, hence the question), I would FIND the problem and fix it. Otherwise you will someday have the problem while out on sea and that would suck.
I like the float switch idea, it has to be something like that if it only occurs during storage. Does it occor while trailering ONLY? In other words, ever check it before your store it, just after towing it somewhere? That would narrow it down to "it occurs while in storage" OR "it occurs during trailering".
If it is a trailering problem, bet you have a loose, frayed or nicked wire that shorts when bouncing around on trailer. Going to be hard to find, but I would find it anyway.
You're dead-on with that advice Birdman. I would guess something is grounding out around your accessory panel. Weird though it doesn't happen when you're bouncing around on the water.
You can always start unplugging accessories before storin to see which on is the culprit.
Definetly would try to find the root of the problem though.
Then replace the fuse with a breaker. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
Thanks for the suggestions guys. This mystery is getting more strange but I am getting closer to solving it.
Yesterday I launched the boat again and pulled over to the dock to check the fuse situation. I have an accessory switch that glows red when on and it was working fine. I then went to plug in my GPS and bam...no power. The GPS is the small Garmin Legend with a 12V cigarette lighter adapter. The unit was off when plugging in but the circuit still blew. Also, the adapter has a 2 amp fuse inline that never blew. I replaced the 20A fuse then tried to recreate the failure but I couldn't do it! Maybe there is a short in the 12V socket in my console or something? I don't see how the GPS could create a power surge big enough to blow a 20 amp use?
I will be on the boat all weekend so hopefully I can recreate the problem and figure out what is going on. Better stop at Walmart on the way to buy some more fuses, just in case.
BTW, my real job is as an electrical engineer and I understand this stuff pretty well. This one really has me baffled though.
everytime the fuse blows is there some accessory plugged into the 12V socket? those sockets are notoriously problematic. loose terminals, corrosion etc.
Ahoy Mate,
I understand that your problem is occurring when "trailering and/or launching". What else do you do at these times? Tilting the drive up! Perhaps your trim pump is drawing a heavy load and causing your problems.
Well, it looks like the 12V power adapter for my GPS is causing the problem. I got it to fail on Saturday without ever moving the boat. Apparently it is creating a large power surge when I first plug it in that is blowing the fuse. Once it is warm, it seems to work okay. I tried several other 12V gadgets in the socket and they all consistently work fine. I think I'll post in the electronics section to see if anyone has ever had a problem like this with a Garmin Legend 12V power adapter (I orderd this one from Cabelas). For now, I guess I just carry some extra batteries.
Thanks again for all of the suggestions. Looks like my boat is not the problem...that's good [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
