40 amp circuit breaker?

Here's the photos of the mystery device, the hole from underneath the hull and inside the hole from underneath (kinda fuzzy) and the amp gauge at idle and at 2500 RPMs. The gauge is connected to the alternator and from one side of the red 40 amp button breaker.
Mystery device:
Close up:
Hole in hull from underneath:
Inside hole underneath:
Amp gauge at Idle:
Amp gauge at 2500 RPM:

Amps above idle are lower that I originally stated. From memory, I thought that there were three lines between the 0 and 40 and I was hitting the third. This shows around 20.

Yeah, I thought that it was part of a depth finder. There is no upper part of it anywhere in the boat. I guess that it was removed. Obviously can't remove that part. The amps settle down a bit after running. Battery age is unknown. My replacement breaker was shipped out yesterday. I'll put it in and cross my fingers next time I go out.
Thanks, again for the advice, Pete and JEFF.

Poster112 wrote: My replacement breaker was shipped out yesterday. I'll put it in and cross my fingers next time I go out. Thanks, again for the advice, Pete and JEFF.

    Aw, I hate to hear that!! NO WAY do I want ya to die out and get towed by a underdog.

    The only way to tell your load from the dash ammeter is by having the engine off and key on while you have all your accessories on and see what the ammeter reads. Of course its going to read discharge. Running the engine will only tell you what the battery is charging at....not the load being drawn. When the battery becomes fully charged the ammeter will read zero.
     As far as the battery goes, if it gives you no trouble there is no need to replace it. A weak battery WILL NOT cause the breaker to trip. The only purpose of the battery is to initially crank the engine. After its running, the only purpose of the baterry is to be a giant capacitor (filter) where the alternator is providing all the power.
     A $40 multimeter like Pete said is certainly handy as you might want to check you batt voltage as well with the engine on and make sure its not like 16volts as that would cause a problem too. Usually though, if this were to happen your ammeter would always show its charging.
     A last resort crude test is to run the boat and feel if the old breaker gets warm, and how long it takes. Then install the new breaker and do the same. If the new breaker runs cool in comparison to the old given the same time, you probably found the problem.
     Isnt this fun??
     Pete, someday I can give ya a call and explain everything as it would take 10 pages on here and might upset the applecart. Shoot me a email when you get a minute. I need a another technician up here if youre interested!!!


                                   Jeff...
      

JEFF, I got a mutimeter the other day. I'll run it longer tomorrow afternoon, and watch the ammeter and I'll check battery voltage with the multimeter at a fast idle and post the results. By the way, when I checked the breaker for resistance, I got inconsistent readings. The contacts on the old breaker do not seem to be conducting well.
Thanks.
Chris

The amp meter should have at least started to come down from 20 after 5 min. I really think your problem may still be battery or charging related. Put the amp meter in line with the breaker and see what it says.

The nav. light switch is wired wrong. It should turn on the nav. lights and gauge lights at the same time in one position and the stern light only in the 3rd position which is "at anchor".

The jump you saw with amps when you turned on the blower is normal since it is the inrush current required to get the blower going.

Could be the battery. Thats why I inquired about its age. I have seen bad batteries that will still turn the engine over. Can you put it on a charger and see what happens?

Disconnect the battery when you put it on the charger.

Jeff, I'm going to hook the current meter from the dash in line tomorrow. What am I looking for it to do? As you can see it is not well graduated other than the -40, 0 and +40 with the two halfway marks. Am I running the engine with it on there (looking for charge), with just the key on (discharge) or both? Also, which side of the breaker should it go on? Does it matter?
Chris

Pete,

Looking at the diagram, I can't read what it says at the ameter. I can see "wire end taped if no ameter is used" but the other, "red to _______". Do you know what that says???

I can read everything else.

Great. Thanks Pete.

So I hooked the amp gauge to both sides of the breaker and got slightly lower readings when the engine was running than before. I must say that after running at 2000 RPMs, it read just below 20. After I backed off the RPMs, idled for a while, then brought it back up to 2000 RPMs, the gauge read about 5 amps lower than before. I hope that this is a good thing.

I put it in series. I unhooked the wire going to the breaker and put it on one ammeter post and used 10 gauge from the other post to the breaker.

Also, here is how mine is wired, as far as I can track it without undoing a bunch of tape. I cannot yet tell where the small wire from alternator is going.

It looks the like my ammeter is wired differently than in the diagram, as my ammeter is also hooked to the solenoid through the breaker. Is that right or could that be the problem?

112,I'm strugling with your sketch!! OK, you said you have a wiring diagram. Is it the same one as the one I posted? Jeff says it's different and your sketch is different.

What happened when you put the battery on the charger?

112, Do you have the red wire from the ign. switch to the solinoid?

Does it look like the breaker was added and not original?

The battery charger you have, does it have a amp meter on it and did it taper down to dear zero?

    8122 see what I mean about the PCM diagram being innacurate?? See how you can disconnect the ammeter completely and still run everything except you will get output from the alternator.

    112, if the sketch you drew is correct, that isnt right either, but shouldnt blow the breaker. The most it would do is the ammeter would read just the current being used by the ign switch. This also assumes that the wire you have drawn from the ign sw to the solenoid isnt battery power, but connected to the small post on the solenoid (coil).

    couple of questions...Would be nice to know first why the breaker heats and trips. You confirmed 20A on the ammeter when put in series with the breaker. 20A should be fine and it shouldnt heat up. Is the breaker new?? Did you replace it yet?? Also, can you recall when everything was hooked up to original, and you had the engine and key off, would the ammeter go to "discharge"???


                                   Jeff...