Multiple, simultaneous electrical problems

A

aj-falmouth

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I have a 20' 1995 GW Adventure that I have owned since it was new. It has consistently run well and has always been serviced and stored over the winter with our local dealer. This year, a surprising problem has emerged: multiple electrical accessories are failing intermittently. For example, my depth finder, radio, and "cigarette lighter" power outlet work some times, but not others. Switching and/or cleaning the red (positive) connectors for the radio and depth finder at the fuse panel helped for a few days, but then failed to maintain power a few days later. I'm not ready to hand this problem over to my dealer yet and was looking for some suggestions? Is there a central ground wire that needs to be checked? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

aj[/b]
 
LI Grady said:
Are you losing all of your 12 volt power at the panel or only certain switches?
Click to expand...

No, only some items fail to work. For example, the GPS I installed several years ago works fine.
 
I'd check all the circuit breakers in the helm switch panel since those are notorious for getting corroded contacts and making intermittent connections. Unfortunately, there's no way to service them. They just have to be replaced. There's also a 40 amp main circuit breaker mounted near the batteries that may need to be checked.
 
I agree with OnoEric's comments. You might also want to check to see if the orginal installer made any splices. Even heat shrink splices can invite corrosion over time. Good luck!
 
One thing I always do when tracking electrical issues on boats is draw a simple diagram.

battery to panel to switch to etc. You'd be surprised but once you draw it out and start running through it from the battery forward with a multimeter it becomes fairly simple to diagnosis
 
Murphy's law, in part?

The boat is old enough to start seeing these things, got to keep up with the them or they will overwelm you.

Auto cigarette lighter outlet sockets are not reliable, unless of the heavy duty marine type.

Electrionics these days are very sensitive and can react to any power interruptions, so the need for solid connections.
 
If the GPS isn't acting up, the first step is to see what is wired differently from the other devices. For example, if all the devices including the GPS are wired off the fusr block, the power and ground to the block is probably good.
If the GPS is wired separately from the other devices, you need to look at those connections. Most folks look only at the positive connections for issue but there is as much a chance that there is a bad ground. Start at the main ground distribution bar on the fuse block and look for corroded or loose connections.
If you use a voltmeter or test lamp, connect its ground to one of the device grounds that is acting up and to a positive feed for the same or another device. Start wiggling and shakink things while looking for voltage drops.
 
Thank you, Seasick. My hunch is that it is a grounding problem because all the connections in question are coming off the same fuse block. Some work and some don't and all of my attention to date has been focused on their positive connections. Now if my hands were only just a little bit smaller this job would sure be easier.......
 
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