Two weird things today

[thunderroad]

First thing...My boat has the two ballast resistors (porcelain, ceramic?). They have a stainless steel bracket that surrounds them and becomes their mount. They are mounted on the same bolt near the flywheel housing. Today I had the boat idling on the muffs in the driveway before we went to the river. It had only been running 3-4 minutes when I reached back in that area and my inner forearm came in contact with these stainless brackets. They were extremely hot. Burned my arm. I assumed something was wrong but all the voltages checked out fine. None of the wires hooked to them were even warm. We went ahead and went out on the river and had an eventless cruise. About 25 miles total. Why were they so hot? This doesn't strike me as normal.<br />Second thing.....We got to the sandbar and when I reached over to turn the key to off, I accidentally turned it too far...to Acc...The motor stalled briefly as I went past the off position but continued running when in the Acc. position. What's up with this?<br />I've about decided that being a poor boy with an old boat isn't the ideal combination.... sure is fun when it all works, though

 

[Don S]

Re: Two weird things today

Two ballast reisistors? Sure hope you have twin engines.<br />Anyway, resistors create heat, lots of it, and yes they will burn you.<br /><br />Regarding your ignition switches, well, sounds like they aren't properly wired or the wrong type switch. <br /><br />

I'm beginning to think boating isn't the proper sport for a poor boy.

Not if the boat has engine.<br />You do understand the the word BOAT stand for "Break Out Another Thousand" don't you?

 

[thunderroad]

Re: Two weird things today

Nope..single engine IL6. Mercruiser 160. 69 model. Sorry I didn't post that info. I thought it showed up in my signature.. There are two resistors mounted back to back. White wire from the ign. switch to one end of one, jumper wire between the two at the other end, then a white wire to the + side of the coil and tan wire to starter solenoid from the other post. So..it's not unusual for the bracket to be that hot? I didn't know. I'd never touched them before.<br />As for the switch, I think it's original. I'll track down the wiring and see what's the deal there..<br />"Break Out Another Thousand" huh? oh brother...it's gonna be a long summer.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Two weird things today

It's hot because it is dissipating around 8 watts. Thats similar to a tail light bulb in a car. Feel around the same temp?

 

[thunderroad]

Re: Two weird things today

ok....gotcha. <br />thanks Don & Bruce. Sounds like the resistor was just minding it's own business and doing it's job. I'll leave it be.

 

[bamadave]

Re: Two weird things today

poor boy+rich girl+old boat=perfect combination

 

[paulie0735]

Re: Two weird things today

The resistors are mounted on a metal plate that acts as a heat-sink so that the resistor can dissipate the heat into the steel. It’s not normal to have 2 though which makes me think the wiring is not original which than makes me think that your ignition switch is also not wired correctly, the ignition system should not be live with the switch in the ‘acc’ position.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Two weird things today

I sure would like to see a pic of this setup. My bet there are two because 2 5 watt resistors are cheaper than one 10 watt.

 

[thunderroad]

Re: Two weird things today

It is most definitely original. In fact, I have a wiring diagram which clearly shows the two resistors. I now understand about the heat dissipation. I'd say the resistors are acting normally.<br />I found the problem with the engine running in ACC. The ign. switch was bad. I replaced it, put the wires back on the same posts they came off of, and it works fine now.

 

[thunderroad]

Re: Two weird things today

here's the wiring diagram<br /><br />

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: Two weird things today

My Merc 120 has two exactly as described by thunder...I've toasted my arm a couple of times reaching back there...

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Two weird things today

Ok...hard to tell from the drawing but looks like what I was thinking. They put 2 of them in series.