Pontoon boat dash power |
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75 Tique
Grand Poobah Joined: August-12-2004 Location: Seven Lakes, NC Status: Offline Points: 6121 |
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Posted: May-31-2020 at 4:33pm |
I know some of you guys are closet pontoon boat owners (not that this is necessarily a pontoon boat specific issue) so maybe you can help me out.
Boat starts and runs fine. Gauges wor,k, but I have no power to accessories (multiple light circuits and horn) My fault I guess. I plugged in to power slot (lighter) an inverter. Did it all the time last year, no problem. Earlier this year, knocked out dash, but after a lot of jiggling and fiddling, power came back. Tried again last night. Lost power to dash, no recovery this time. Everything has its own resetable breaker, but none of those tripped. Hard to trace anything as all wires are cabled up. Checked all kinds of terminals with VOM, but no power to anything, as best I can tell. MIght there be master breaker someone that I am missing? Any other ideas? I am just about ready to run a new hot from the battery and :"backyard hack" a fix. (I tried to find SweetwaterFan.com.... but apparently no such thing) |
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“So, how was your weekend?” “Well, let me see…sun burn, stiff neck, screwed up back, assorted aches and pains….yup, my weekend was great, thanks for asking.” |
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8122pbrainard
Grand Poobah Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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Larry,
Is there a fuse in the battery box? If there's nothing at the dash, trace back. From a closet pontoon'r! |
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75 Tique
Grand Poobah Joined: August-12-2004 Location: Seven Lakes, NC Status: Offline Points: 6121 |
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You were close Pete, but not quite, but thats only because what you said makes sense and what they actually did is stupid. I knew there was no fuse in battery box because I had checked, but then I thought, no, they wouldnt, would they. So I crawled under the boat, (much like being in a sewer) and found a fuse holder underneath the floor. Why did they think that was a good idea versus by the battery or inside the helm console where you can actually get to it???? Anyway, that was it. Thanks.
Since I had to buy a pack of multiple 20s, just for grins, I plugged the inverter (for some cool under bimini decorative lights I happened to have around, but are 110 v 12) and it blew again. I guess the inverter is shot. Worked fine all last year. Hello amazon? (Probably silly to get another inverter since I can probably get a string of 12 V lights for less. (tho I also used the inverter for a blue tooth sound bar up in the bimini also. Hey, this is a first class red neck operation.) |
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“So, how was your weekend?” “Well, let me see…sun burn, stiff neck, screwed up back, assorted aches and pains….yup, my weekend was great, thanks for asking.” |
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8122pbrainard
Grand Poobah Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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Larry,
Glad you found the problem and the hidden fuse. |
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KENO
Grand Poobah Joined: June-06-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 11045 |
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Probably silly and also somewhat dangerous to get another inverter. I'm not sure what you have for a setup but running 110 volts AC around on a pontoon boat probably with an extension cord and not a good AC grounding system is a pretty good way of increasing your chances of shocking or electrocuting you, some passengers or the dog etc. Even a little inverter has plenty of capacity to kill you. 110 volts AC, water, aluminum handrails, wet people etc don't make for a good combination In comparison, with 12 volts DC it would really take some big time effort to be able to get shocked or electrocuted. You see boats like cabin cruisers, big sailboats with 110 AC systems but there's a grounding system installed and having to meet all kinds of requirements |
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