lost all power

[AKRISONER]

Hi Guys,
In one of my not so finest moments, I had just finished winterizing the boat, pulled the batteries out and realized...I forgot to put the motor back up so that I could move it into its parking spot for the winter. I am in a rush as daylight was fading today and I did something very stupid.
I went to reconnect to the battery to put the motor up so that I could move the boat and of course in my haste and stupidity i put the damn wires on the wrong polarity...spark flash and woop dee doo I blew something...


Went to my breaker panel, its all nicely labeled but all of the fuses there were great. My boat literally has no power at all now. turn the ignition key and nothing happens, the console doesn't turn on, just straight dead. My guess??? is that there is a mainline fuse on the way to the breaker panel, however when i looked at the wires i couldnt see one.


Boat is a 98 skeeter 140SS, 98 TLRW 130 yamaha engine, so the wiring is nothing fancy, is it typical to have a fuse before the breaker panel? If so would i expect it to be at the console at the breaker panel, or is it in the back (i tried to follow the line in the engine bay but it eventually went into some loom that i expect just heads up to the ignition and breaker panel at the front. Perhaps theres a fuse at the actual ignition?
Wouldnt be a huge issue but now my boat is dang sitting in the middle of the damn driveway and of course winter has decided to start way too early up north forcing me into winterizing way earlier than expected...what a crap show.
Any insight anyone can give is greatly appreciated.

[Jonestrollingmotor]

There is probably a fuse under the cowl that will control the ignition. May or may not control the trim, but I would look under the cowl, starboard side and look under the cover that all the wires are going to.
John

[Lowerider58]

Get your motor manual and look up how to manually tilt the motor up and hold it in place with your motor support or the motors mechanical latch. This should at least let you get it out of the driveway. There is usually a screw on the side of the trim unit that can be loosened to raise the motor manually.

[Bill Reynolds]

My friend has a 2010 Skeeter and he lost power to the dash panel. After a long search, he discovered an in line fuse in the main cable going to the console. It was wrapped up in excess cable, folded up and shoved out of sight. You may want to check this.
That being said, even if the trim power is missing on the boat, the cowl buttons should trim the motor. There must be a main fuse under the cowl that is blown.
One other thing to be cautious about: my ProXS has a 100 amp fuse in the cable that connects the alternator to the main positive connector block on motor. It is there to protect the diodes in the alternator from accidental reversal of the battery wires. Don’t know if Yahama’s have such a fuse but need to be aware that it could exist.
If you can’t find the problem, you can always make up a couple jumper wires and bring power to the two wires going to the trim motor. There is a connector in the cable but it may be easier to connect by removing the wires from the trim relay. You probably know this but the blue wire is up and the green one is down, so connect the positive jump wire to the blue wire and the negative jump wire to the green wire to raise the motor.
My reference is to a two wire plug, if it happens to be a 3 wire connect the negative jumper to the black wire.

[Jonestrollingmotor]

Bill, Yamaha's aren't set up like a Mercury. They have a single contactor for all the trim wires to attach to instead of relays. Trying to bypass the contactor without first disconnecting all the wires will cause "sparks" -- don't ask me how I know . I'm guessing he has an "accessory" fuse under the cowl that he blew.

[Bill Reynolds]

I found this wiring diagram for a 130 TLRW Yamaha and marked the location of the inline fuses. Hope it is helpful.

[AKRISONER]

guys this is all some great info. Im a first time boat owner and unfortunately I am learning the hard way here lol.

Bill a member of the Ontario Fishing Community flipped me that diagram, and luckily it even included reference to what the fuses are...30 and 31...even gives their rating.

I guess just for my sanitys sake, does it make sense to you guys that an inline fuse in the motor would have any effect on the power to the console?

Can anyone confirm for my own sanity that a typical order of wiring would be as follows?

battery-fuses-motor-fuse panel-ignition-accessories

it just seems weird to me that a fuse on the motor would have any effect on the console...but maybe the boats are wired so that the console relies on the readings from the motor therefore everything is wired through the motor first?

I guess the other part being that the motor is first in line for power from the battery as it requires the most energy to crank...from there the power then gets split off to the various accessories.

[Bill Reynolds]

The one place that the motor and boat share common connections is at the battery and that is where you reversed the polarity. My best guess is that you blew fuses on both the boat and motor. If it were me, I would solve the motor part of the puzzle first, move it out of the weather and work on the boat wiring.
Be sure and check for the hidden fuse i mentioned in the previous post.

[Jonestrollingmotor]

You stated "Went to my breaker panel, its all nicely labeled but all of the fuses there were great. My boat literally has no power at all now. turn the ignition key and nothing happens, the console doesn't turn on, just straight dead."

The fuse in the outboard controls the ignition as well as the accessories such as the trim functions. On the dash, the only electrically controlled gauges are the tach, voltmeter, trim, gas -- which all comes off the outboard harness. The switches such as bilge, lights, pumps, accessories, etc. all come off the battery through a breaker or fuse going to the console.
This is why you should check the outboard fuses first.

[AKRISONER]

You stated "Went to my breaker panel, its all nicely labeled but all of the fuses there were great. My boat literally has no power at all now. turn the ignition key and nothing happens, the console doesn't turn on, just straight dead."

The fuse in the outboard controls the ignition as well as the accessories such as the trim functions. On the dash, the only electrically controlled gauges are the tach, voltmeter, trim, gas -- which all comes off the outboard harness. The switches such as bilge, lights, pumps, accessories, etc. all come off the battery through a breaker or fuse going to the console.
This is why you should check the outboard fuses first.

you have just put my mind at ease...

I think I saw a couple of fuses and the whole thing is fixed...if only my boat wasnt 3 hours away!

Does anyone know if the fuses typically would be standard fuses that you could find at a supply store or would they be an akward size that I will have to order directly from yamaha

Bill I will definitely go for a dig if the simple fuse under cowling solution doesnt work. I looked on the weekend quickly, but it definitely looked like the power was just heading straight to the outboard.