Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

[jhashey]

Hi,

At the beginning of this year I was putting the battery back in and didn't pay enough attention to the cable contact and blew the starter fuse. I took it out and ordered a fuse. It was on back order and took awhile to come in so I wasn't 100% on which wire went where when I finally got it....and blew that one!

I'm back in after getting another fuse in the mail from iboats.

Nothing electrical was done at the end of last season other than unhooking the battery and it was stored inside our attached garage.

Here's the set up, something is wrong here:

Battery:



and the two black lines I had on the negative (close up above)

The rest on the postive:



Then I attached the black wire to the top post on the fuse: The "black wire" is only tipped black, it is an orange and red wire together





Then put the positive wire on the post, the fuse, then tightened it down:



Can you see what I did wrong? Thank you! I've seen the wire diagram but can't seem to put my finger on it.

Joe

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

The starter does not have a fuse. the block is a fuse between the battery and the boats main power source.The orange wire goes to your alt, the red or red/purple goes to the 50A circuit breaker ,then thru the harness plug up to the dash.
A shorted alt or a solid short will blow that fuse.

 

[alldodge]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

I blew mine to when not disconnecting the battery when removing the ALT and the wire fell aginist the block. As BT Doctur indicates the ALT wire connects to the smaller post.

 

[jhashey]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

I blew mine to when not disconnecting the battery when removing the ALT and the wire fell aginist the block. As BT Doctur indicates the ALT wire connects to the smaller post.

Thanks for the responses!

Im pretty sure the alt wire is on the smaller fuse post (that's the post you meant, right?)

Ill double check this morning.

Thank you,

Joe

 

[alldodge]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

Im pretty sure the alt wire is on the smaller fuse post (that's the post you meant, right?)

Yes the small post. Make sure your ALT isn't shorted before you install another fuse. Remove all wires then place an ohm meter between the ALT main post (yellow wire) and the case ground. You should see meg ohms which do not settle down if not infinity. If you don't have an ohm meter, have all wires disconnected from the ALT and the ALT is installed, take a wire from the pos battery terminal and just touch the main ALT terminal (where the yellow wire goes). If you see any spark it's shorted, if no spark is seen its not. If it's not installed use jumper cables the same way, just make sure to just very breifly touch the post to see if it sparks.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

i believe that is a 90A so blowing that and not the 50A one says start looking at the alt first.

 

[jhashey]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

Thank you for the idea. Ill try this sunday.

Just to verify, so i dont blow anything, this should be the process

1. Unhook battery
2. Take wires off alt
3. Rehook up battery
4. Touch yellow wire's pist with red wire. Spark = alt is toasted

Thanks.

Joe

Yes the small post. Make sure your ALT isn't shorted before you install another fuse. Remove all wires then place an ohm meter between the ALT main post (yellow wire) and the case ground. You should see meg ohms which do not settle down if not infinity. If you don't have an ohm meter, have all wires disconnected from the ALT and the ALT is installed, take a wire from the pos battery terminal and just touch the main ALT terminal (where the yellow wire goes). If you see any spark it's shorted, if no spark is seen its not. If it's not installed use jumper cables the same way, just make sure to just very breifly touch the post to see if it sparks.

 

[alldodge]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

Thank you for the idea. Ill try this sunday.

Just to verify, so i dont blow anything, this should be the process

1. Unhook battery
2. Take wires off alt
3. Rehook up battery
4. No, No, No Touch yellow wire's pist with red wire. Spark = alt is toasted

Thanks.

Joe

NO, use a new seperate wire and the ALT has not been removed from the engine. Connect the new wire to the battery Posative post, and then touch the post on the ALT which the yellow wire was removed prior If you get a spark the ALT is fried.

 

[jhashey]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

Whew thanks!

 

[jhashey]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

Actually since i have to go to advanced auto I might as well pick up a multimeter to do it right.

Is it possible to test without the boat running? (most threads I read said to start the engine to test)

Thanks

 

[alldodge]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

Your original post was because you were blowing the 90amp fuse. What I have provided is how to find out if your ALT is shorted and is blowing the fuse, and the engine is NOT running. If it turns out your ALT is not shorted out, then a meter will be needed to determine if your ALT is putting out 14.65 volts when running.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

 

[alldodge]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

correct the org not the yel comes from the ALT

 

[Don S]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

I know you say it keeps blowing fuses, but WHEN does it blow?

Does the engine run for a while then die? Does the engine turn over and then it blows? Does it blow when you hook up the battery or turn the battery switch on?

Just curious, do you disconnect the battery cable when installing the new fuse?

 

[jhashey]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

I know you say it keeps blowing fuses, but WHEN does it blow?

Does the engine run for a while then die? Does the engine turn over and then it blows? Does it blow when you hook up the battery or turn the battery switch on?

Just curious, do you disconnect the battery cable when installing the new fuse?

Originally the cables hit the wrong posts on the battery. So i bought a new fuse and installed it w/ the battery disconnected.

I checked to see if the boat would turn over and i had power at the dash. I did so i went and hooked up ths hose to get it running.

Got back in the boat, went to get it started and the fuse blew immediately w/o cranking this time.

So thus is fuse #3 and im trying to take every precation since if it blows ill have to wait another week to get another in.

Thanks!

Joe

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

Now the Truth comes out.
If you hooked up the battery cables backwards you fried the alt and most likely any other piece of electronics. removing the orange wire from the alt should stop the fuse blowing. have the alt repaired or replaced

 

[bonzoscott]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

It's not difficult to get mixed up on the description of the problem. I know first thing you said was "I got mixed up"! Happens all the time....

 

[jhashey]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

Yes the posts were mixed up. Thanks for all the help so far!

So here's where it is.

I tried:

"Connect the new wire to the battery Posative post, and then touch the post on the ALT which the yellow wire was removed prior If you get a spark the ALT is fried."

and did not get a spark, but I wasn't confident it was grounded correctly.

I pulled the alt off because autozone said they could test it to be sure. I took it down and they changed their mind and said they couldn't test it, but they could order me a $250 new one.

They suggested I hook up my multimeter, positive to the positive post then negative to the mini posts inside the where the wire plugs in. Then I was to hand spin it to see if there is any reading. I got no reading even though I spun it hard. Of course, no where near the speed of an engine so Im not sure if autozone guys were right or not...

So I have the alt out. Not sure if it is bad or not, but chances are it is due to the battery posts hooked up backwards.

Is there a better way to test it out of the boat, or should I just try to find an alt online and order it?

Also, I took a better picture of the fuse to show that the red/orange wires were hooked up to the top fuse post. I hope that is correct.

http://i769.photobucket.com/albums/xx335/jhashey/FUSE.png (said it was too big to upload)

Thank you all for your help!

 

[alldodge]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

OK we have two issues, (1) need to know if the ALT is shorted (or fried), and (2) need to find out what is blowing the 90AMP fuse.

(1) You have the ALT off, the main terminal out put is where I said to place the posative connection from the battery to it. I mentioned it to be yellow when it was actually Orange. The picture your showing has noting to do with the fuse during this test. Take a good 12V battery and a set of jumper cables. Place the NEG cable end to the NEG post on the batt and the other end to the case frame of the ALT. Take the POS cable end to the POS post on the batt and the other end touch the main terminal of the ALT. The main terminal is the only one which has screw threads on it. If you don't get a spark the ALT is not shorted. End of test.

(2) remove all wires from the starter and make sure they are not touching anything. Put electrical tape over the ends of the wires if need be. Your ground cable on the boat battery should be attached to the batt and the engine block. Get a set of jumper cables and use only the red ends. Place one end on the post where the fuse use to be. Make sure the metal part of the cable touches nothing but the stud end of the solenoid. Take the other end and touch it to the POS batt post. If you get a spark the starter solenoid is shorted to ground if no spark is seen, end test. Report what you have seen

 

[jhashey]

Re: Starter fuse keeps blowing (pics)

Awesome! Ill do the battery test today. Is it any 12v battery or one like i have on my garden tractor? Thank you.