Not sure what happened

[dogdoc]

Recently upgraded my radio box (see what have you done lately) and cannot figure out what happened. Images show before and after change, problems are now have dim spreader lights fore and aft, dim helm light. Radio seems to work fine, with the exception that when I key the mic it goes to the local noaa weather station. There is no voltage drop seen on the meter when keying the mic or turning on the spreaders or helm light. Previously all were wired via the Blue Seas fuse panel. The conversion to breakers and switches is the major mod. All pos and neg daisy chain wires in new panel are 10 ga. Wires from load side of circuit breaker to switch and from switch to load are at least 14 ga if not more. The supply pos and neg wires are the same wires which powered the Blue Sea panel. All connectors and wire have been examined and seem fine multiple times. Voltage on meter shows 12.8 to 13 when on house battery, no engines running, and again no drops when powering up things, but things are dim. All other dc systems are working fine, helm panel, nav devices, etc... My thoughts are that my original pos supply was marginal and removing the Blue sea and adding switch panel increased resistance causing the problem. This supply wire originates from a pos buss under the helm on the starboard side. I believe the neg wire originates from a buss near the same pos buss.
thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[SkunkBoat]

"Radio seems to work fine, with the exception that when I key the mic it goes to the local noaa weather station. "

I wouldn't call that "fine" since you can't transmit on a weather channel.

You changed things and now it don't work. Start by isolating things. Connect them one at a time to the 12v power. See what that tells you.
You may find a bad crimp or you might find you miswired the panel.
Did you change from OEM Helm(red-white)/Spreader light with two built-in switches to instead use separate Contura switches for the Helm(red or white) and for Spreaders?
Did you change to new LED Helm light or did you use replacement LED bulbs in place of incandescent bulbs?
Did you switch from Halogen to LED spreader lights?

Definitely connect the radio on its own and see if it is normal. That is a very strange symptom to be caused by 12v power. It may be unrelated to your dim lights.

 

[Fishtales]

I'd be looking at all connections as a start and then connect and test one item at a time first. Then I'd connect one at a time and successive order.

 

[seasick]

Since you have dim lights, I suspect a ground issue since you say that the 12v is OK. When you measured the voltage where did you connect the negative lead? You may have also wired something in series and not direct. You need to check voltages at each device feed AND ground with and without load. One thing you can also test is the actual voltage from all grounds to a ground terminal at the battery. The voltage should be very small and not change a lot as loads are turned on. If the voltage is excessive, you have a bad ground circuit.

 

[dogdoc]

Some follow up. First radio, my bad. Radio was on memory scan and reverts to the last channel that signal was received from. Before the upgrade I was listening to the local WX channel. So when I powered up after upgrade keying mic sent it to WX. A call on channel 72 from the handheld set things right.
On the bench the switch panel worked fine. Powered from a good battery and with 2 loads, an led work light and a small bilge pump. No combination of wiring caused any dimming or alteration of pump running. When powering each load at the boat with the switch panel removed from a direct 10ga connection to the house battery both spreaders were dim as was helm light. I also spliced a 10ga neg from the battery to the grounds of spreaders and helm and this made no difference in the dimming, still dim. I was unable to power 2 loads at the same time. Anyway seems to me I have a ground issue somewhere and will look more tomorrow.
thanks

 

[SkunkBoat]

Some follow up. First radio, my bad. Radio was on memory scan and reverts to the last channel that signal was received from. Before the upgrade I was listening to the local WX channel. So when I powered up after upgrade keying mic sent it to WX. A call on channel 72 from the handheld set things right.
On the bench the switch panel worked fine. Powered from a good battery and with 2 loads, an led work light and a small bilge pump. No combination of wiring caused any dimming or alteration of pump running. When powering each load at the boat with the switch panel removed from a direct 10ga connection to the house battery both spreaders were dim as was helm light. I also spliced a 10ga neg from the battery to the grounds of spreaders and helm and this made no difference in the dimming, still dim. I was unable to power 2 loads at the same time. Anyway seems to me I have a ground issue somewhere and will look more tomorrow.
thanks

"I was unable to power 2 loads at the same time. " elaborate on this. Does that mean it wasn't dim when only one was on?


Your radio works using the same 10 gauge +12v and ground as the lights?
You ran +12v direct and a ground from Battery to lights and still had problem?
Maybe not ground problem. Everything in your E box uses the same 10 gauge black ground wire and Orange +12v 10 gauge feed....yes?

What about your All Around/Anchor light? probably using the same ground also, even though the +12v comes from your dash switch (grey wire).

I can't see the connections of the spreaders and helm light so I can't comment on them.
The OEM helm/spreader fixture had both switches internal, fed separately. You have a replacement fixture? Panel has switches for what exactly?
Spreaders are OEM Halogen that worked before your change or did you replace them as part of this project?

Dunno if its releveant to your situation but if you have the wrong LED replacement bulb in place of an incandescent, it can cause problems.
The form of the bulb holder, number of contacts and whether the base is actually a negative contact (or not) are factors.

 

[dogdoc]

Never cease to amaze myself with my own stupidity. Since I cannot seem to throw away anything that might look to be useful at some future date I saved the buss bar from the old ac/dc breaker panel in the cabin and used some of it for the ground buss in the radio box. 10ga neg was attached to one side with the radio and volt meter, can you guess what was on the other side, both spreaders and the helm light. I now wonder how the spreaders and helm light worked at all. Problem solved, sorry for the trouble

 

[SkunkBoat]

HAHAHAH I was going to say you are probably going to have a Homer Simpson "DOH!" moment, but I didn't want to be a dick....

We have all been there...