Power Pole Woes

[ZethKinnettFishing]

First, yes I will contact PowerPole in the morning. They always take care of things right away.

Got to the lake today.
Flipped the breaker on.
Poles didn't come on.
Checked the fuses.
One fuse fried.
Replaced.
PowerPole green lights came on flickering and dull on both.
After a couple minutes the lights got bright like normal but still flickering. Not flashing but flickering.
No start-up chime like usual as well.
Opened the C-Monster app.
Both poles connect.
Then every few seconds one disconnects and re-connects and they both just do this over and over.
I gave up trying to fix.
Because I am impatient and can't wait until tomorrow I am here seeing if anyone else has had similar issue and what the fix was.

P.S. I love my PowerPoles. They are beasts. Can't wait for that supposed trolling motor so I can ditch the POS Ultrex.

[Hydrilla Gear]

What generation C-Monster pumps?

When you say breaker. Do you have a single breaker supplying power to both pumps? If so what size breaker and what gauge wire?

[jrfuda]

Sounds like an electrical issue - did you double-check connection to battery and breaker and as much wire as you can. Sounds like something is either loose or something gnawed or otherwise damaged your wires which blew the fuse and now causes a faulty connection.

[ZethKinnettFishing]

put the volt meter on both reads 006

[jrfuda]

put the volt meter on both reads 006

6 volts? or is there a decimal missing? Where did you place the voltmeter exactly? Can you check at battery, breaker input, breaker output, fuse input, fuse output (probe both ends of fuse holder with fuse in place and cover open and/or the little terminals on top of the fuse if your fuses have them), and where it connected to each pump? Also check continuity of negatives.

[ZethKinnettFishing]

been dealing with this all day. looks like the wire harness on both pumps went bad somehow. Or at least in theory until PowerPole send the new ones and I try again. Thats what they think it is after having me run a bunch of tests.

[ZethKinnettFishing]

FIXED!!! Tyler sent me two new wiring harnesses. Removed the old. Put in the new. Good to go.

So what happened is anyones guess.

At one point the PowerPoles were on their own switch. Installed by BassCat when I got the boat.
That switch went bad.
The shop took it out and put them on my main shutoff which is attached to the battery. Now I wonder if this shutoff is having issues... If it happens again maybe it is.
I did notice that rather than running both negatives they had cut one off and spliced it to the one going to the battery. I don't know enough to know if that matters.
About a week and a half ago I went out and poles worked fine.
Next day I went out and poles didn't work. A fuse was blown. Not sure how. However that night the boat was plugged in and there was a power surge at the house. Maybe that fried something. Who knows... Just trying to think of possible reasons why both wire harnesses could have gone bad.
Anyways, the new ones are in and the poles are working great.
Now if I could only get my truck out of the shop.... California + busted fuel pump (or busted anything) = long wait time. Shoot my boat is supposed to go in for warranty work and I made an appointment to take it in to the local BassCat dealer a month ago. They wont take it until mid December!

[Hydrilla Gear]

FIXED!!! Tyler sent me two new wiring harnesses. Removed the old. Put in the new. Good to go.

So what happened is anyones guess.

At one point the PowerPoles were on their own switch. Installed by BassCat when I got the boat.
That switch went bad.
The shop took it out and put them on my main shutoff which is attached to the battery. Now I wonder if this shutoff is having issues... If it happens again maybe it is.
I did notice that rather than running both negatives they had cut one off and spliced it to the one going to the battery. I don't know enough to know if that matters.
About a week and a half ago I went out and poles worked fine.
Next day I went out and poles didn't work. A fuse was blown. Not sure how. However that night the boat was plugged in and there was a power surge at the house. Maybe that fried something. Who knows... Just trying to think of possible reasons why both wire harnesses could have gone bad.
Anyways, the new ones are in and the poles are working great.
Now if I could only get my truck out of the shop.... California + busted fuel pump (or busted anything) = long wait time. Shoot my boat is supposed to go in for warranty work and I made an appointment to take it in to the local BassCat dealer a month ago. They wont take it until mid December!

Happy to see your back up and running.

I have had conversations on BBC and other forums regarding using a rocker switch or toggle etc. to cut power to the pumps in place of a proper master on/off battery switch.

I hate to say it and I mean no knock on BC boats or installers. It seems very common (based off of hands on service work) for them to use a rocker switch to supply power to Power Poles. This is problematic... The rocker switch may carry the load for some time however it will eventually fail. Simply put amperage issues wreck havoc on the circuit boards. The commonly used rocker or toggle switch is not rated to carry the load.

In addition to the incorrect switch, I have noticed on multiple occasions the joining of both pump positive wires into a single inline fuse. I have also seen that same single wire go from the inline fuse to an inline small inexpensive 50amp breaker then continue to the battery... Wiring them in this fashion will simply become problematic over time.

It also depends on how much demand is put on the system. Meaning someone who fishes open water, hard bottom, cooler temps etc may not experience the same issues as quickly as someone who fishes soft muck, mud, thick grass, warmer temps etc. Mud, muck etc puts more demand on the system getting that spike to pull from the mud or up through grass etc while being stowed.