232 Electrical issue

[seasick]

My experience with loose spade connectors (female) is that it is better to replace the connector rather than squeeze it with a pliers especially if it is old. The connectors get loose for a few reasons, corrosion is one and deformation due to overheating is another. You can tighten them but you may find that they loosen up again.
Make sure that you also look at the male side of the connector on the switches/breakers for corrosion and if dirty, clean them up with some emery paper. Finally AFTER reconnecting , use a protectant like Boeshield T-9.

 

[Jpbb03]

Some photos. So with panel in correct position but not screwed in, I could get green lights to go on and off by pushing on bottom of panel. As for horn, pretty sure its just shot. Tried the hammer, read 12 vokts on connectors, no sound. No big deal right now.

 

[seasick]

It looks to me like a lot of the spade connectors have rusty corrosion, at least the ones with the blue wire that I can see.
I also see some connectors in the background and they may be connectors for the switch panel. My panel has connectors and if you have them, you can pop them and remove the whole panel. That will make it a lot easier to work on it.

 

[Jpbb03]

Never done this before, but here is a five second clip of the problem. You can see when I push on the panel, it losing all power.

 

[SkunkBoat]

Clearly you have a loose connection.

If the all of the green lights go out AND none of the switches work, then its the first connection of the +12v feed to the panel. The 12v feed connects to the daisy chain of orange wires.
The 12v feed will be a 10 gauge red or orange wire. It may come from the fuse panel or it may be in that white plug in the picture. I would look at that plug for corrosion or burn pin.

If its just the green LEDs going out but some or all of the switches work then its the feed to the illumination crciut.
The green LEDs are all fed from the chain of blue wires and ground from the chain of black wires. Often the blue wire is fed from the NAV Lights switch (so that the switches are all lit when its dark and you have your NAV lights on).

There is a small chance that the loose connection is not on the switch panel but the other end of the 12v feed wire is pulled when you press down.
There is a slim chance that an exposed terminal is grounding out on something when its in the hole but not popping a breaker or blowing a fuse.

 

[Jpbb03]

Thank you so much for your assistance. I will look into some of the items you mentioned above when I can get back down to the boat. I know the oranage wire you are speaking about, that goes from Terminal to Terminal. I also know the blue wire you mentioned. Easy to check if its just the lights, or all the circuits to each switch are losing power with the lights.

"There is a small chance that the loose connection is not on the switch panel but the other end of the 12v feed wire is pulled when you press down.
There is a slim chance that an exposed terminal is grounding out on something when its in the hole but not popping a breaker or blowing a fuse. "


These will be a little more difficult to diagnose, but at least i can check out everything else first and hopefully find the problem. I've pushed and pulled on virtually every wire, everything seems connected well, but corrosion could have something to do with it and I will inspect further.

Previous owner did use the extra switch (bottom right) to connect some additional lights. I wonder if his wiring could be playing a factor in the problem.

 

[Jpbb03]

So, when power lights off, equipment such as water/bilge pumps don't work either. Not just a lighting issue, more serious.

So unfortunately I didn't have any time to watch any videos so I decided to just dive rright in, see photos.

Taking Switches out in one piece seemed imimpossible. Then the fuse or breaker, need to unscrew silver screen behind it?

 

[Blaugrana]

Honestly, those connectors you pulled off look really good compared to mine. Looks like someone might have replaced already.


For the experts...

If everything is fine until he closes a circuit , does that mean that the ground is disconnected somewhere or shorting out? Seems like something is pulling the current because power should be at every switch because of the jumpers, right?

 

[Jpbb03]

There are much Worse wires, bottom row is pretty bad. Someone may have cleaned that one in particular.

But there is no way I'm pulling all those wires at once to remove the panel and get everything back together again. Won't matter how well I label everything, there are just too many wires. I know it gets repetitive since the orange and blue are all link to the next switch, but I'm still skeptical.

 

[Blaugrana]

I wouldn’t remove them all, as it will be a pain to put back.

Just get a multimeter and test the switches out. Also, make sure the panel wiring matches the owners manual. Not sure if Skunk said in this thread or another but you are probably dealing with a PO’s mistake.

 

[Blaugrana]

Didn’t notice this before, but where do those two cut wires come from/ go to in your original post (

That does not look like factory to leave exposed and opened like that

 

[SkunkBoat]

Breakers -unscrew the rubber boot on top to remove out bottom
Switches- you have to squeeze the 4 flanges..2 one one end then push up then the other 2 and switch comes out from top.
But you really don't need to remove them.

Given your experience level, you should not remove too many wires at once. Do one switch at a time. the "Doubled" connectors tend to be the problem.

Your intermittent problem doesn't lend itself to us helping much more than what has been said.

One thing you could do (after looking over the connections and cleaning/tightening ) is you could isolate one thing at a time by connecting the 12v feed just to one switch or one row of switches.
I'm afraid to send you down a rabbit hole where you are not comfortable.

You have not shown where the 12v power is connecting to the panel and where that wire comes from.

There are 2 light blue wires cut in an earlier picture...put some tape on the exposed ends (separately)

 

[Jpbb03]

Okay, thanks. Will Do. I haven't found the where the power supply is coming from just yet. I will locate next time I'm there. Just not enough time for everything.

I'm dealing with the dreaded issue of delicately balancing wife/kids vs boat. I'm not sure who is winning, think we are all losing, lol.

 

[AveDalang]

Hi....I would think even with low batteries you would in any case get a light or some radio capacity, I have no clue about battery wiring since I just have a solitary stock battery.
I will post photos of mine and the breaker screwed to the divider, it very well may be that whoever introduced your subsequent battery took the embellishment combine out in spite of the fact that I don't have a clue why.

pcb assembly services