accessories won't work

[johnwparsons]

My boat starts fine but the accessories all don't work? I have cleaned all the terminals and the batteries(2) are fully charged. The boat is a 2006 19' key West with a 115 Yamaha ob. I have a multimeter but not an expert on it. What are my next steps? Thank You.

 

[GA_Boater]

Welcome aboard.

Find the fuse or circuit breaker panel and verify the fuses are good or no CB's are popped. Verify voltage is being supplied to the panel from the battery. Can you drive the meter to do the voltage and continuity checks?

 

[Silvertip]

There should be a fuse or circuit breaker within one foot or so of the positive terminal of the battery. That breaker or fuse is in the wire that feeds the accessories via the console switch panel. If there are no wires on the battery other than the two large battery cables going to the engine, that would explain why the accessories don't work. Accessories are powered through the BOAT harness, not the ENGINE harness. You have two batteries -- so how are they connected? Dual battery switch, no switch, one for a trolling motor other for starting, one for both the troller and accessories and on and on and on. We need details.

 

[johnwparsons]

Thank you for your help. When I disconnected the circuit breaker to check continuity it checked fine, but I noticed the kind of green build-up you would expect after 10 years of saltwater. I carefully sanded each connection and when re-connected everything worked great. Thanks for saving me $500 at the marina.

 

[GA_Boater]

Easy fix, John.

Something that can help delay the creeping green crud is dielectric grease. Auto parts stores sell it for use on spark plug boots, battery terminals and a few other names/purposes. A couple of bucks is worth preventing a mountain of trouble down the road.