Reading thru your previous post, comments and looking at the pics I think this captures the situation:
- This 20A fuse and wire are not factory.
- It is unknown what it powers.
- When it blows, the engine quits and you lose “electrical systems.” I assume this means your dash / all electrical items you get when your key is in the ‘run’ position. I.e. it is like the key turned off.
- And it blows about once per season.
Alldodge in the 2023 string (post 10) suggested looking at the 10 pin connector > pin 6 powers the helm > to see if any issues with that connection. And you seemed confident was ok. However, that is only the
connector, and not the entire wire run.
Here is a probable situation: the power to the helm issue was not the connector but something else and the ‘fix’ by the previous owner was to run this 20A fused wire to the helm. And there is connection or splice somewhere that is corroded / not right causing a high resistance that occasionally pops the fuse.
Here is a suggestion:
- As mentioned above pull the fuse and determine what does not come on. I’ll bet you cannot even start the engine.
- Get a wire tracer (link) and determine where that wire goes. These are cheap devices and uses a tone generator that allows you to ‘trace’ that wire without the need for really long leads on your multimeter. See this link for how they work. I suspect you will find it in the helm but not able to trace it up the gunnel cavity.
- Look for any potential high resistance spots: corrosion in connections and splices. Inspect the fuse holder itself > it may be the issue! And it looks like there is a splice just downstream of the fuse, so check that out! Also look at the battery switch connections as well. Upstream of the fuse holder the wire looks to be connected directly to the switch, so pull it off and check it out.
Caution: disconnect the battery prior to doing this, including with the wire tracer.
While you goal is to fix this 20A blowing fuse issue so you can have confidence when boating, I suggest, post that, going after the root cause of why this (what appears to be a) workaround was established in the first place and get
that corrected and then eliminate the 20A fuse.
Good luck and keep posting with results and questions!
