all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

brantly · Feb 27, 2011

ok so i have a 96 seapro 210 cc w/ a 150 johnson O/B. all my gauges and radio are dead. i put a meter on all the gauges and didnt get a thing on any of them. im pretty sure that its a bad ground to a fuse panel of some kind (i cant think of any other reason everything would be out at the same time)? but i cant find a fuse panel or anything of the like anywhere. any help would be appreciated! Brantly.

SparkieBoat · Feb 27, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

you just have to trace the ground wire and find out where it is corroded/not connected/cut...or could be the power wire or a fuse..or just run a new wire from the battery to the panel.

NYBo · Feb 27, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

Usually, the radio and gauges are on essentially separate electrical systems. Does the motor start? Does the tilt & trim work?

You may not have a separate fuse block. There could be circuit breakers or fuses on the switch panel. A picture of the switch panel would help solve that particular part of the mystery.

brantly · Feb 27, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

Motor stars fine. Runs great. Tilt and trim all works good. Some of the wires have in line fuses. There are some fuses on the dash panel but there in good shape. I was thinking maybe there was a separate fuse panel somewhere. I don't know why all the gauges would be out at the same time as one another unless there's a master ground of some kind? Any input? Maybe the power source is cut or interrupted?

brantly · Feb 27, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

Sparkie, I think you're right. Can I get away with just running a ground from battery to gauge to determine If that is the problem? If power was cut do you know of a likely area I could start looking?

NYBo · Feb 27, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

The gauges should be wired to the motor's electrical system, through the ignition switch. Perhaps someone tapped into this for the radio also. Trace the battery positive wiring from the gauges back to the ignition switch.

SparkieBoat · Feb 27, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

yes you can run a bypass wire for testing..but NYB is correct, your gauges positive current comes from your key switch..

LippCJ7 · Feb 27, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

Your actually pretty lucky since they still don't work, the worst type of electrical problem is intermittent problems, all you can really do is get your Volt/ohm meter out and start looking for no power or no ground, until you do that your kinda peeing into the wind...

This is a pretty easy deal that we can help you figure out but it all starts with a decent volt/ohm meter you can buy at radio shack for $20 once you have the basics down you can do pretty much anything with a little training, which we can do as well you just have to buy beer.......

Boatist · Feb 28, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

Do you have more than one battery?
If you do is it still in the boat and are they both charged?

If you get a meter you can measure from the battery ground to the ingition switch and see if the the acessory line gets 12 volts with the key on.
Since the motor starts you know the ingition switch has 12 volts and when you turn the key the motor starts terminal is 12 volts but is the accessory terminal also reading 12 volts with the switch on?

brantly · Mar 2, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

ok so here is what ive found. Im going with bad ground from battery. any opinions please feel free. ok so i found pwr and gnd on ignition swith. getting 12v on meter with key in on pos. i ran a supply from ign hot to fuel hot. (there was no pwr supply at all to gauges.) i put my meter on fuel pwr to ign gnd (known good ground) and got 12v. i put my meter on ign hot to fuel gnd and got nothing. the ground from the battery runs from the fuel gauge to battery directly. and from fuel gnd to the gnd post on other gauges. the ignition switch has a seperate ground wire from what i can tell. (its working so thats my assumption) what do all of you think? am i correct? sorry if this seem like a dumb question but i test continuity by licking my fingers and holding on for dear life. haha. thanks again!

SparkieBoat · Mar 2, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

try running a test wire from your battery ground to ground on fuel gauge..if it works ..wire it in permenatly

Tolyn · Mar 2, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

Greetings!

Sounds like it to me. Maybe run a new temporary wire from battery ground to fuel gauge ground and see if your problem goes away.

Best of luck,
-T

*edit* Sparkie beat me to it

brantly · Mar 3, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

Ok so I grounded the gauge and now engine won't start. And no pwr at ignition terminal. Most likely an inline fuse on pwr supply wire for ignition terminal?

SparkieBoat · Mar 3, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

sounds like you crossed the wires and blew the fuse under the engine cowl. not sure if your harness is the one with the big red plug or the newer as they started in 1996 with the newer style, but there is an inline fuse near your big red plug if you got it.

Silvertip · Mar 3, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

You blew the fuse under the engine cowl. You should NOT be using a ground wire at the ignition switch. In fact there is no terminal labeled ground. Even though a wire is grounded, that ground is the kill circuit for the ignition. It is NOT intended to serve as a ground for the gauges or any accessories. Replace the fuse at the engine. The harness that runs from the engine to the control box has a ground wire in it. THAT wire should be connected to the ground terminal on all the gauges. There is no need to run a separate ground from the gauges all the way back to the battery. You should also know that you cannot make reliable measurements with a voltmeter if the ground reference is not available. That is the only reason you would run a temporary ground wire back to the battery. When you fix the problem, eliminate that temporary wire.

There is a diagram of a typical instrument panel setup right at the top of this forum. Check the sticky titled "Generic Boat Wiring Diagram".

brantly · Mar 3, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

your right. i did blow a fuse. i found it and going to get a new one. its says "buss aga 20" and 32v on it. its a very small fuse.

brantly · Mar 3, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

when you say control box do you mean the battery switch?

Silvertip · Mar 3, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

No. The control box is the throttle/shift control box. Only now you mention that you have a battery switch. Have you proven that it is functioning properly. Generally when a battery switch is used, the accessories are all powered from the COM terminal on the switch. That doesn't affect the gauges because they should still be powered through the engine harness so they can be turned on and off with the key.

brantly · Mar 4, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

Silvertip, here's what I know so far. The batter cut off works good. I tested it by putting the meter on it. But what I do know one problem is is someone cut the 10ga wire that goes into bit sides of factory plug. So I found the 10ga pwr wire they cut and the 10ga gnd wire and got no reading. So I set up a temp ground to battery and tested them both again and got 12v. So my gnd is bad. Don't know y I just know it is. It's connected on battery post but not grounding somewhere. So I am going to get a new dash panel with all wires in harness in place and connect the ole pwr and ground into the old plug as it should be. Hopefully that fixes it. I cant really tell if any livewell pumps are working but that's for another day.

SparkieBoat · Mar 4, 2011

Re: all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

if it is only a ground problem, then do not mess with the positive side. run a new ground wire directly to battery.

all electronics dead.....cant find problem. at a loss for words.

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