Electrical Breakers

[Gbetsch]

I have a 2003 Beneteau 393. This spring I discovered that the my AM/FM radio and Auto Bildge had both stopped working. The radio was newly installed last year and both were working fine when I put the boat to bed last fall.

I should say first, that solving electrical problems is not my strong suit. I have checked and repleced the fuse on the radio with out success. I have looked for any obvious shorts without success. A curious thing I discovered, is that the breaker lights on the DC control panel for both the radio and bildge remain partially illuminated in the off postion and fully illumnated in the on postion.

I have been told, that what these circuts have in common is that they are both expected to be always on, as a result they should be directly connected to the battery. I also discovered that removing the fuse from the radio stopped both the radio breaker and bildge breaker light from being partially illuminated in the off position. This perhaps suggests some kind of short through the radio wiring. The bildge does not work in either the auto or manual mode.

As back ground, I had new house batteries installed last year, at which point, the fuse on the radio had to be replaced. Beyond that I had no electrical issues throughout the season. I would appreciate suggested next steps or further trouble shooting ideas.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

It could be a number of things but the first place I'd start is to check the breaker. They go bad. They often leak, short or open or are intermittent. Testing it might serve enlightening.

 

[Gunni]

Somehow your radio is backfeeding the circuit which it shares with the bilge pump. Not enough to power the circuit, but enough to light the LED. I would want my bilge pump to have its own circuit (not shared with the radio). Sounds like someone didn't get things put back together right. Your B instruction manual has a wiring diagram, study time.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Somehow your radio is backfeeding the circuit which it shares with the bilge pump. Not enough to power the circuit, but enough to light the LED. I would want my bilge pump to have its own circuit (not shared with the radio). Sounds like someone didn't get things put back together right. Your B instruction manual has a wiring diagram, study time.

Only via the breaker... As I suggested, it could be a number of things but the first place I'd start...

 

[Ron20324]

...breaker lights on the DC control panel for both the radio and bildge remain partially illuminated in the off postion and fully illumnated in the on postion.... /quote]

We assume your radio and the pump are on different breakers. The radio has a "memory" DC lead that goes to a battery so the station presets, maybe the time, do not go away when the radio itself is off. I'd suspect that both LED pilot lights are under the same screw on the neg buss bar (in the breaker panel) and there is a higher resistance in the connection- or no connection. Thus, the memory voltage works through the radio and backfeeds both LEDS when the breakers are off. By chance, have you strapped a short across the breaker(s) to see if things work?

 

[dugsmith98]

There is a fuse in the engine compartment that feeds the bilge pump and stereo memory while the switches are off. Check the fuses there first before tearing too much apart.
Doug

 

[Ron20324]

There is a fuse in the engine compartment that feeds the bilge pump and stereo memory while the switches are off. Check the fuses there first before tearing too much apart.
Doug

That refreshes my mental memory, Doug. I thought my new stereo died. I put the OEM back in, and it didn't work. Took the new one back to West and he put it on a battery +&-, and no-go. Back at the boat, I realized I had re-routed those memory wires and fuses and overlooked putting the memory fuse back in. Problem solved. That's when I learned (on my stereo at least) that the memory has to be fused to make the stereo work, but not visa-versa.