RT 188 Front graph not working

[jml]

First time front graph would not work day of tournament. Checked block under trolling motor and showed 12 volts. Powered up when I hooked to jumper battery. Ran 2 wires straight to battery to get through the day . Hopefully figure out today back home.

[jml]

Finally have time to look at the boat. Front trim switch not working also. All fuses good , power to block graph plugs into. Graph works with wires hooked to battery. How do you know if front trim switch is bad? Cannot figure out why graph will not power up. Stumped. Any RT owners have a similar problem?

[Bill Reynolds]

Are you checking for presence of voltage with a digital volt meter? If so try testing with a test light.
if there is a poor connection in the circuit, a DVM may show voltage because it does not provide enough load to show up the poor connection. A test light will load the circuit and cause any poor connection to fail and not light up.

[jml]

Used digital, shows voltage . Will check with test light tomorrow. Thanks. Lights right up with jumper battery. Also bow trim switch has 12 volts going to it, so it must be the switch.

[quikcarl61]

Depth finder should have a 3amp online fuse, that might be bad.

[jml]

Has 12 volts on terminal it plugs into, does not work, Hook to jumper battery works. Back out to garage today. Thanks for responding.

[Mechanic Bob]

Like Bill said, can show voltage, but not have the amps. I have been hood winked by that a few time!

[Bill Reynolds]

I modified my test light by adding a replaceable ring terminal to the lead. To check for presence of voltage, I attach the ring terminal to the negative battery post to insure I have a good ground path. I can now walk around the boat to check for voltage without pulling the alligator clip loose.
In your example, I would stretch the light probe to the front of the boat and touch it to the wire that brings voltage to the connection block. If it lights up, we know for sure voltage is there and the other terminals on the + buss bar will have voltage.
If voltage is there and items connected to the connection block will not power up I become suspicious of the ground side of the circuit. To test it, I change the ring terminal on the battery to the positive terminal and touch the probe to the black (negative) wire on the connection block. The probe will light up if there is a good ground path back to the battery.

This method accurately verifies presence of voltage (or not) and circuit integrity.
(Ignore the round jumper set, they are not part of this discussion)

[jml]

Works when hooked under dash, probably just run 2 wires and call it a day. thanks.

[jml]

Are you checking for presence of voltage with a digital volt meter? If so try testing with a test light.
if there is a poor connection in the circuit, a DVM may show voltage because it does not provide enough load to show up the poor connection. A test light will load the circuit and cause any poor connection to fail and not light up.

Tried this and it lights up, still does not work.

[jml]

Anybody run wires back to dash or battery on a rt188? Advice?

[Pilgrim]

I ran some wiring from bow to console by pulling the fuse block out (remove two screws and pull it forward) under the console and running a snake through there up to the bow. Once I got the wires pulled back to console, I finagled them through the wiring harness boot under dash/console.

[jml]

Will give it a try, picking up a steel fish tape tomorrow. Thanks.

[Pilgrim]

Pull the cupholder out above shifter and you will see the steering cable and stuff down in there and will help you getting wiring back to battery.

[jml]

Thanks, will try later today.

[Bill Reynolds]

There is a 6 gauge wire that brings power from the load side of the main breaker to the fuse block. Attaching at the connector block shown will save you pulling wire from the bilge.
There is a negative buss attached to the top under side of the console to which you could attach a new negative wire.
BTW: There are several reported instances of the nut inside the connection block being loose from the factory causing all sorts of intermittent power loses.

[jml]

I ran some wiring from bow to console by pulling the fuse block out (remove two screws and pull it forward) under the console and running a snake through there up to the bow. Once I got the wires pulled back to console, I finagled them through the wiring harness boot under dash/console.

Back in business, used steel tape to run wires all the way to battery. This is exactly how I ran the tape. Thanks to all who responded, was a big help.

[Lorico]

Been running two graphs on front of my last two boats ... On my 188 had both hooked to the power bar under bow and got to watching the voltage read out on my Garmin was only showing 9+ volts with my Hummingbird running at the same time . Talked to a buddy of mine who works for Basscat and is a wiz at everything marine Electronics and He told me that most everyone ( specially the big time bass guys ) run dedicated wires ( 10 gage ) to their front electronics anymore! SO when I had dealer rig my last boat I had them do just that. Now the voltage read out on my Garmin is pretty steady in the high 11s and no noticeable draw down when both units are running .

[jml]

Not sure why my power bar quit running my graph, had voltage. Now hooked straight to battery.

[Ranger 95]

Thank You for this I have a 198 and experiencing the same problems I have the new wire just need to cool of a little bit before I run the wire ��