Smoke from under dashboard

gospelcanada · Aug 1, 2013

Hi there, I recently had issues with my boat accessories not working (specifically my bilge, live well pump and horn). I found the problem (fuse) and all worked. Last night I decided to to ensure my new bilge pump was working so I took my negative starter cable and my positive starter cable (with my accessory cable) and placed it on the starter battery. Things started sparking on my positive side cable and then a billow of smoke. I then looked behind me and the underside of my dashboard was slightly smoking. I then noticed I had my accessory negative cable attached to the negative starter battery. This cable is normally for my other deep cycle trolling motor battery. I'm assuming the combo of the negative accessory cable on my negative starter battery with my positive starter and accessory cable didn't jive to well. I checked all of the inline fuses and the fuse box fuses and none are burnt. I looked at the wiring harness and everything seems to look okay. As it stands right now, my positive accessory cable appears to be dead as i cant get my bilge, horn, and live well pump to work again. Any other ideas?

gospelcanada · Aug 1, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

It's a 1995 Crestliner 1800 ProV with a 115 Merc. I also performed a continuity check on my positive accessory cable with my negative cable and it didn't pass.

NYBo · Aug 1, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

Welcome to iboats!:welcome:

I'm a little confused about what you did. Did you somehow hook the two batteries in series? Can you draw a diagram?

glenn property of pam · Aug 1, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

We really want to help get you back on the water but a fuse is never the problem. A blown fuse is the result of a problem. On most boats the negative cables are joined especially if you have a battery selector switch UNLESS you have a 24v trolling motor then the negative may not be a negative. Like nybo said a rough sketch would really help. If your jumper bypassed the fuses then you will need to go back and look at why it was blowing a fuse in the first place.

Scott Danforth · Aug 1, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

I think what was blowing the fuses just went up in smoke.

bruceb58 · Aug 2, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

gospelcanada said:
It's a 1995 Crestliner 1800 ProV with a 115 Merc. I also performed a continuity check on my positive accessory cable with my negative cable and it didn't pass.

Please explain how you measured this. Sounds like a bad test to me.

gospelcanada · Aug 2, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

Hi there,

I've attached a picture of the setup (which is usually how the boat batteries are setup)
I believe I mistakenly took the B cable and placed it where the D cable usually goes (I didn't have B and D together on the terminal just the B cable on negative side and C on the positive side.) This caused some sparking/smoke at the battery and under the dashboard of my steering wheel area where the fuse box and wiring harness are located. I can't find any burnt fuses or any signs of burnage.

NYBo said:
Welcome to iboats!:welcome:

I'm a little confused about what you did. Did you somehow hook the two batteries in series? Can you draw a diagram?

gospelcanada · Aug 2, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

I've attached a picture of the setup (which is usually how the boat batteries are setup)
I believe I mistakenly took the B cable and placed it where the D cable usually goes (I didn't have B and D together on the terminal just the B cable on negative side and C on the positive side.) This caused some sparking/smoke at the battery and under the dashboard of my steering wheel area where the fuse box and wiring harness are located. I can't find any burnt fuses or any signs of burnage.

Auger01 · Aug 2, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

If the negative wire of the TM and/or FF is some how connected to the Accessory negative, That would explain the arcing and smoke when the wires were hooked up wrong. I would guess that the negative wires burned open somewhere under the helm, otherwise a fuse would have blown.

gospelcanada · Aug 2, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

Hmm that would make sense. I've focused my attention on the red (cable C) accessory cable and tracing it to the wiring harness and fuse box. No burnt fuses or anything that would resemble burnt wires.

glenn property of pam · Aug 2, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

measure the voltage between
a and c
a and d
b and c
b and d
all should read zero volts unless there is a link somewhere that's joining your trolling motor and starting batteries.

gospelcanada · Aug 3, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

I'm just out of town for the weekend but I'll attempt the voltage test when I return. Thanks for your help everyone,

gospelcanada · Aug 5, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

Well do I feel like an idiot. The issue is fixed. Do you see anything wrong with this picture?

Thanks for your help everyone. Another lesson learned as a boat owner.

Fixed it by doing this:

bruceb58 · Aug 5, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

Is there some sort of animal in the picture we are supposed to find?

Auger01 · Aug 5, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

That would not explain the smoke

gospelcanada · Aug 6, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

Ya I know, I keep thinking about that too. I've looked everywhere under the dashboard and cannot find anything burnt. All gauges work. The motor runs. The fish finder, the trolling motor, and all accessories work. I can't explain it.

bruceb58 · Aug 6, 2013

Re: Smoke from under dashboard

Ahhh....thought it was a trick question!

Smoke from under dashboard

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