Thanks for advice re tiller pilot problem (Solved)

V

Vega1447

.
Oct 19, 2019
921
Albin Vega 27 Limerick
Hi all. Many thanks to all (take a bow Steve B in particular ) who posted advice on this.

I temporarily (as advised here) wired tiller pilot (Simrad TP10) directly to battery today.

Hey presto, instead of 1-2 V voltage drop when tp operates now 0.1V or less voltage drop.
I sailed at 6 knots close winded (no engine) with 20 knots apparent wind and tp steering. No drop outs.
I am very pleased as single handing (90% of my sailing) will now be even easier.

I'll now spend some time figuring out where the bad connection(s) is/are.

Thanks again to all who replied.

John V1447 Breakaway
John Kinsella
Mathematics and Statistics Dept
University of Limerick

Phone 0035361202148
Web jkcray.maths.ul.ie
 
V

Vega1447

.
Oct 19, 2019
921
Albin Vega 27 Limerick
In the unlikely event that anyone is still interested and in the hope
that it may be helpful to someone...

I spent an hour looking for a bad connection, and found it.

Some previous owner (why is it never the present owner?) had wired the
negative earth bus bar to the neg terminal on the starter motor (MD6A).

The primary neg earth cable from the batteries is wired to a bolt on the
water pump.

So the electric connection for the neg earth bus bar to the engine earth
is via the frame that supports the starter motor.

Maybe it was reasonable to do this??

But the connection clearly was unsatisfactory... Large voltage drops
when saloon lights/nav lights/ ... were turned on.

Not to mention the Tiller Pilot.

Anyway I wired the neg earth bus bar back to the same bolt on the water
pump that the primary neg earth cable from the batteries is secured to
with a heavy cable.

Makes a huge difference..

I should have realised that there was a problem sooner but I blamed old
batteries (now replaced)..

I clearly had a very bad earth and all the appliances wired to the neg
earth bus bar were drawing far too much current as a result.

Thanks to all who advised.

John V1447 Breakaway
 
T

tiempo2010

.
Sep 24, 2008
346
John

Glad you found the problem. There should only be one negative connection to
the engine rather than several.
 
P

pjacobs55

.
Oct 30, 2019
1,459
It's been my experience that 99% of electrical problems in cars, boats, and trailers can be tracked down to a grounding problem of some sort. It's amazing where currents will go just looking for a way home. I wonder if the human brain works in a similar fashion? ....

Peter
#1331 'Sin Tacha'
 
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