No Electricity

[dzl]

I recently inspected my boats wiring. Wow. I'm gonna be redoing that snarled rats nest. Anyway, I found that my boat is wired as a switched ground system, meaning there's no power to the panel. The positive wires go straight to the accessories and the ground is switched. If you start looking at your panel with a multimeter and nothing makes sense, keep that in mind.

 

[druid]

Centerline has it right. Put that multimeter on 20V DC range. Clip the neg (black) to the neg post of the battery. Pos (red) probe to the pos on the battery. Voltage? (yes - you've already done that!). Pos probe on the positive bus of the fuse panel. Voltage? If yes, the problem is in the panel or further downstream. If no, the problem is in the wiring from the battery to the panel. And so on, working down the connections until you don't see voltage.
The negative side is a bit more tricky (and probably the problem!). Most systems don't use a proper negative bus-bar, relying on a spiderweb of connected black wires for the negative. Clip the pos (red) probe of the multimeter to the pos on the battery, then carefully find a negative post you can get at in, say, one of the lights. Oh - you said there's a light on the panel: that should have a negative attached to it. Again, work down the line until you don't see voltage.
DC wiring is not rocket science - a systematic troubleshooting procedure will find your problem.

(BTW: if your boat also has 120 VAC ("shore power") BE CAREFUL. The black on AC is HOT, while traditionally the black on the DC is negative. ABYC has changed the colour codes several times to address this, but most folks still use black for DC negative)

druid

 

[Jongleur]

LED lights are polarity sensitive. Try reversing
the wires to the LED lights. Worked for me.

 

[druid]

I recently inspected my boats wiring. Wow. I'm gonna be redoing that snarled rats nest. Anyway, I found that my boat is wired as a switched ground system, meaning there's no power to the panel. The positive wires go straight to the accessories and the ground is switched. If you start looking at your panel with a multimeter and nothing makes sense, keep that in mind.
View attachment 125678

Eek - that's a mess! Be sure to strap your batteries down as part of your "redo" (and/or put them in proper battery boxes!)

druid

 

[dzl]

Eek - that's a mess! Be sure to strap your batteries down as part of your "redo" (and/or put them in proper battery boxes!) druid

Yes sir. I have no idea how they're supposed to be in there but it's getting a tray with straps at the very least. And those wires at least need to be tied up so they're not laying in the bilge... Not sure why you'd redo a system and leave it like that... Just as easy to do it right the first time

 

[jdub tn]

I fixed it. Moral of the story: What looks clean isn't always clean. Today I took an old can of electronics cleaner I had from when I used to collect electromechanical pinballs and cleaned all the connection points; from the battery terminal rings to the pins and connectors on the main panel. Nothing ever looked corroded, no obvious rust, or anything. But after spraying the cleaner, brushing it as best I could, and letting everything dry, I hooked it up and I had power! I kinda feel stupid, but felt it important to post this for those that come later and have a similar issue. So, if you get a new-to-you boat, and find you have no power, if you have no reason to suspect the wiring system to have issues, make sure every contact is good and clean before you spend a fortune hiring a pro to figure it out for you.

 

[Jacktar]

Basic lesson too is when presented with a vast problem do not attack it with half vast solutions; just kidding always wanted to put that in a post sometime. Actually large problems are best attacked one piece at a time, usually that will first of all identify the solution(s) and let you gain insight into the system itself.

 

[Pat]

I bought a new batteries from Auto Zone a couple years ago and they had not arrived at the store charged....I just assumed if was for sale, they had to be charged....Not so according to the store manager.....I took it back, not knowing the above until I handed it to the manager....so he charges them and I'm on my way ......have since replaced them with East Penn.

 

[Sacto Dave]

I fixed it. Moral of the story: What looks clean isn't always clean. I felt it important to post this for those that come later and have a similar issue.

Thank you, jdub tn! Posts like this one of yours are what make forums such valuable resources.