No Electricity

Jun 9, 2016
87
catalina 22 Spring City, tn
So my new to me '88 wing keel did not come with a battery. No problem, I went to Walmart and bought their marine type 24 deep cycle, dropped it in, connected the cables, flipped on the service switch on the panel, and....nothing. The little light didn't come on, Ok, I flipped on the "cabin" switch to see if any of the lights work (I had swapped out two of the bulbs for LED's, would have done the 3rd but walmart only had one pack of LED equivalent to the 1156 that were in the fixtures), tried both the old and new, and nothing there either. I flipped both off, and disconnected everything again. I checked the fuses and they are good (didn't check all, just the "service", "cabin" and another. Is there something stupid I'm missing? I hooked my multimeter up to the battery, and it maxed on amps and volts, so I don't think that the battery is the problem. I have been told that it would show full voltage even if dead, but I don't think it would register amperage, would it? I know, I need to learn my 'lectric, as a previous poster was admonished a week or so ago. I do plan do to so, but just hooking up a battery cable and flipping a switch shouldn't take an electrician.
And speaking of, if I do need someone to check the system, I am thinking of going ahead and springing for the upgraded panel at Catalina Direct so I can have some extra accessory slots. Any negatives there?
 
Jun 9, 2016
87
catalina 22 Spring City, tn
And I couldn't find anything obvious like a loose hanging wire from the panel or something like that. I did crawl under the starboard quarterberth and check the back. nothing obviously loose. Seems simple to just have the wires running from the battery to the service panel, right? I guess not...
 
Jan 7, 2011
4,727
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
Was the boat set up for just 1 battery? If not,,check to make sure you have the correct ground connected to the battery. My Hunter 280 was set for 2 batteries, and I wanted to hook one up for doing some work over the winter. I grabbed a black and red wire and hooked them up....no juice.

Turned out the black wire I grabbed was just a jumper between the 2 batts (i did not notice the other end was not connected to anything

Greg
 

SFS

.
Aug 18, 2015
2,066
Currently Boatless Okinawa
Also check the panel for a breaker labeled "DC main". Nothing except my bilge pump will come one if I don't throw this breaker along with the individual "service" or "cabin" breaker(s). Mine is a little away from the other breakers, so somebody new to my panel might miss it. Couldn't hurt to check.
 
Jun 9, 2016
87
catalina 22 Spring City, tn
Tally Ho: As far as I can tell, there is only one battery. The Catalina '22 was set up for one, and though it can be modified for two, I have seen no evidence the PO (who I believe was either the original owner or got it after only a year or so) did any substantial modifications to the boat.
SF: This boat is on a fuse panel, not breakers, at this point. It is a very simple system. As far as I can tell the "service" switch is the only one to turn on the system. The owner's manual doesn't say anything on the matter, and the wiring diagram doesn't show any cutoff or other interruptor between the battery and the panel.
If it matters to anyone's answer, this boat has NOT been in saltwater.
 

dzl

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Jun 23, 2016
159
Catalina 22 Trailer
I haven't been into my boat very deep yet, mostly because I have a functioning electrical system already, but I have a master switch at the bottom of the panel. The little light doesn't come on when I flip it on but it has to be on for anything else to work. Mine is running two batteries but it's just a simple parallel system that would work just the same with one battery without the jumpers.

If you have a multimeter, or test light, just start tracing wires. It shouldn't be hard to find where the electricity stops. Electrical is not hard. Most people freak out at the word... I'm not an electrician but fixing everything electrical that ever went wrong on my semi trucks for the past ten years along with scratch wiring quite a few motorcycles has gotten me a working knowledge
 
Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
Kinda concerned that you are testing battery amps with a multimeter. A battery can supply thousands of amps if you don't have a load to drive so ....... that would set your multimeter on fire!!!! also the battery should show zero to 14is volts. Suspect you have the multimeter set on a range that is too low voltage wise and that is why it is "maxing out". Try the 20 volt range for DC (dotted line over a solid line or "DC" on the meter.)
With out a picture of the panel, battery box, and fuses it is going to be difficult for us to help diagnose. There are so many ways to wire a panel it is unlikely we will guess correctly on your set up.
Good luck
 
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Jun 9, 2016
87
catalina 22 Spring City, tn
Bill, I believe I did check the range for DC at where you suggested, and it registered sufficiently high, if I recall. My point was, I don't think I got a dead battery straight from the store. As for the request for pictures, I can do that perhaps another day. By posting in the Catalina 22 forum I was hoping for someone with boat-specific knowledge to come along. Of course, any and all help is welcome.
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,760
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
My point was, I don't think I got a dead battery straight from the store. As for the request for pictures, I can do that perhaps another day. By posting in the Catalina 22 forum I was hoping for someone with boat-specific knowledge to come along.
What is the battery voltage, before connecting it to anything?

Electricity is NOT boat specific. The simple panel on your boat is common to many small boats.

Have you checked to see if the panel light is burned out? Take it out of the panel, if you can, and connect it to the battery with two wires.
 
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Nov 6, 2006
9,885
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
IF the battery terminals have been sitting, un-connected for a pretty long time, they and or the battery terminals may have enough corrosion to do that.. remove the terminals and using 80 or 100 sandpaper, clean up the terminals on the battery and the insides of the boat-side terminals.. Measuring across a battery with a meter set on AMPS will usually blow an internal fuse and give ya a dead meter.. usually the fuse is easily replaced after opening the meter case.
 
Jun 9, 2016
87
catalina 22 Spring City, tn
Battery is brand new. Just had it tested. No corrosion on wire connections either. I took the panel off, and it looks like each switch progresses from the "service" switch to its fuse, to the next, up through accessory. Does every switch have to be "on" for any to have power? I didn't want to power up the mast switch as that light is missing and the wires are taped. That doesn't make sense but I don't want to assume anything.
 
Last edited:
Aug 17, 2013
816
Pearson P30 202 Ottawa/Gatineau
as others have stated, start tracing your wires, usually you don't need to have all the switches on to have power to a specific circuit, just take your time and check continuity on your circuits to make sure they aren't open somewhere (make sure no power is present), check every circuit on board and fix what needs fixing, electricity is pretty logical, it either goes or not
 
Mar 20, 2012
3,983
Cal 34-III, MacGregor 25 Salem, Oregon
if you know the battery is good, then check for power where the battery wires connect to the panel..... on the wire terminals themselves.
if you find power there, check for power at the studs or panel buss where the cable terminals connect to and see if the power is getting from the batt cable terminals to the panel buss, as its common to have a loss of continuity due to unseen corrosion at these connections....

its best to connect one lead of the multimeter to a battery post, and use the other lead to completely run the opposite circuit to search for the failure. if you find it to be good, then switch multmeter leads to the other post on the battery, and run the other circuit to find where the failure is..... in this manner you will always know the lead connected to the battery is a solid and depedable connection, whereas if you use both multimeter leads to run down both the ground and hot circuits at the same time, it unlikely you will know which circuit is the bad one when it shows up....

when you find you have 12v power at the pos buss, and ground at the neg buss of the panel, you will either have power to the light circuits, a blown main fuse, blown circuit fuses or a damaged panel....
 

bushav

.
Aug 18, 2015
170
Catalina 22 Panama City, FL
Its a dirt simple electrical system. I suggest you buy your best "nerd" buddy a few beers and have him over to troubleshoot if for you. A basic understanding of electrons is all that is needed along with a volt meter. Troubleshooting via web board is probably not the quickest or most accurate fix. Try to fix the old panel before tackling a new panel swap out. Once you disconnect all the wires the troubleshooting will be much much harder for your buddy.

Lane
 
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Jun 9, 2016
87
catalina 22 Spring City, tn
No one has cautioned about the risk of fire while trying to track down the problem. That was my first concern; that there was a short somewhere that could arc and start a fire while I was sitting scratching my head. Unfortunately, 95 degree weather and a boat that is 45 minutes from where I live doesn't make for an easy job of convincing someone to track down the source of my woes. As for the new panel, knowing I want to add some things in the future, and I was already buying some stuff from CD, buying the panel now only added $2 to my shipping charges when I called about amending my order. Since they charge shipping by $$ rather than weight when ordering online, talking to the sales guy seemed to get the adjustment for a negligible increase in cost. I figure if I'm going to end up with having to hire someone, it would make sense to go ahead and have them replace the panel now rather than track down this issue, then convert to a new panel later. I have made sure the battery is not the issue, so that is one source of trouble eliminated.
 

emac55

.
Jan 27, 2015
2
Catalina 22 Charleston
I had to clean the corrosion from both sides of the fuse holders for a few of my circuits to work. I disconnected the battery and used a little abrasive paper to clean both the fuse panel and cap end. After that all was well.
Eric
 
Jun 9, 2016
87
catalina 22 Spring City, tn
Thanks Eric, I will give it a shot. Someone earlier asked about whether the service light was out. It appears to be glued in place. I havent been able to try any fixes the past few days. Either it is too hot or there is a thunderstorm looming.