Dash Rocker Switches Have No Power

[fieldtrnrtec]

First of all, I am new to boating and to my boat:joyous: I have a 1999 Crest Pontoon 25' with a 1998 Johnson 90hp v4 outboard. I am going through some basic things in bringing her to condition to be serviceable on the river. I have had no electrical problem until this weekend and my, DepthSounder, stopped working. I noticed it popped a breaker, round white button next to a rocker switch. I reset this and it came back on. The next thing I noticed was that it went off again and so did everything else on the rocker switches. That included fm radio and bilge pump. I have looked behind the panel and the under dash console area . I have not found a power distribution center of any type. I checked two small wires that had inline fuses and they test good. I have a multimeter, Fluke. I am not sure which way to go. I am a Master Electrician by trade, so have basic knowledge, but have no idea about marine applications. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Don S]

Re: Dash Rocker Switches Have No Power

You should have a fuse or circuit breaker near the battery for power going to your switch panel that sounds like it has individual breakers or fuses for the individual circuits.

A few pictures of the switch panel front and back will also help understand what you have.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Dash Rocker Switches Have No Power

Consider the battery the entrance panel for AC power distribution in a building. The breaker at the battery is the MAIN breaker for the BOAT electrical system. The engine and it's systems are powered via the large red and black cables going to the engine. Fuses at the engine protect the harness going to the helm. The switches are NOT powered through that harness. If the engine starts and runs fine, that system is ok. There is a pair of #8 or 10 wires that run from the battery to the helm. Since the boat has breakers next to each switch, the hot side of all breakers is fed directly from the battery. Each individual breaker feeds the LINE side of each switch. The LOAD side of each switch feeds whatever accessory is attached. Since you lost power to all switches, look at the fuse or breaker back at the battery. Then determine what is causing the high current draw in the MAIN. Very few boat accessories draw more than a few amps so look for direct shorts.