Once we find the short on the boat circuit we have to address the motor. I can’t imagine how the problem on the boat has anything to do with the loss of power on the motor.Originally Posted by BurntEndz
That being said, I Don”t believe in coincidences so there must be a relationship.
You did not say what motor we are dealing with but I suspect it is a 150 Black Max. This pic shows the location of a 1995 Merc V6
M
I try to drive as if my 16 year old Grandson is following me
Speak as if he is listening and act as if he is watching
Bill- you are awesome. I appreciate your help. Thank you SO MUCH.
Any updates on your problem??
Boat is kept at my dad's barn. I have been traveling for work and my oldest boy plays high school baseball and they are in state tourney...plan is to stop by tomorrow afternoon to check the short, I know for a "fact" that the problem with the bow switch is the ground- when I was replacing the terminal strip on a newly fabricated bow panel I got a spark and I think that switch had been fried already and I just didn't know it. So I will confirm that and check the fuse under the cowling tomorrow.
I just came back from the barn and boat. @Bill Reynolds....you were spot on with the diagnostic and fuse location.
Bow Trim Switch first- removed the red wire, placed a new fuse in, no blow, immediately the trim motor fired up (no movement but could hear it). Turned switch to off position re-attached the red wire (there are three wires to the switch, blue, green, red). Then moved to the terminal strip where the grounds are attached.... there are two black wires, I removed both, re-activated the fuse block no blow. Put the first black wire on, no blow. As soon as I got the second black wire close to the prong, arc and blown fuse. That's my huckleberry. For now, I left it unattached. Switch is only working in one direction, is it possible that my "bad" black is actually a hot wire and needs to be on the switch instead of the terminal strip?
Motor- identified the fuse location, unclipped it from the holder, opened the rubber piece, started to remove the fuse to check it and the metal top "left the glass" ....fuse was blown and glue was no longer holding the metal connector to the glass. Carefully removed the bottom portion so as not to shatter the glass. So, I am now off to the races to find a Bussman 32V SFE20 glass fuse. I am presuming that when I replace that fuse I will have power again.
yes...the company I work for (sales) sell them as well. I just need to put in a "no-charge" sample order to get them.
So, you had BurntEndz on your fuse.........
I did/do indeed
The trim motor should not have come on when you re-attached the red wire. These are single pole single throw normally open switches. They should also spring return to the open position so when you release it the circuit is broken.
what switch did you turn to the off position?
There should not be a ground wire (black) on either of the trim switches. They go to ground in the motor circuit (at the trim relays under the cowl) not the boat circuit.
There should only be one black wire hooked to the terminal strip and it goes to the bow light socket.
Check the back of the trim switches to be sure they are connected like the diagram shows. I.e. a power wire (hopefully red) from the terminal strip to the down switch and then a jumper wire (probably on a piggy back spade connector) from the down switch to the up switch.
Please note the Accessory switch on the schematic: someone may have wired up the accessory switch on the panel. As you can see in the diagram, it is not connected to anything and is intended for the owner to add power for accessories such as depth finders. If that is the case, it should only have a hot wire going to it, no ground. It is intended to bring 12 volts to one side of the switch and hook the other side to the red power wire of the accessory (depth finder) to supply power to it. It also occurs to me that this switch will be maintained contact so it would remain closed after releasing it. Is this the switch you turned to the off position?
Have to sort this out and get it hooked up like the schematic shows before moving to the motor. Be sure to have all this straightened out before replacing the fuse in the motor.
I try to drive as if my 16 year old Grandson is following me
Speak as if he is listening and act as if he is watching
This is a link to your owners manual on the Ranger website. You should be able to view it here or download to your computer.
https://www.rangerboats.com/content/...s%20Manual.pdf
I try to drive as if my 16 year old Grandson is following me
Speak as if he is listening and act as if he is watching
thanks...will double check tonight
so that is one thing....i swapped out the single pole switch with a dual pole, on off on switch last year....quickly figuring out that the fuse and power problem at the bow trim switch might have been an issue for over a year and we just never use that switch so I didn't notice it. I did have to replace the actuator for one of the trim directions (up I think) last year when it mysteriously started going off on its own and then stopped working. New actuator and no problems until now. I also quit using the bow light and replaced it with LED strip lighting and put it on its own switch with some interior lighting....so things are definitely not stock up there. If am reading that diagram correctly, I should have green to one on position and blue to the other on position....then a jumper to terminal block (what color would that be?). If I am not using the accessory switch, the red wire doesn't need to be connected to anything?
I took a picture of the back of the terminal block before rebuilding the bow panel....two black wires on the bottom and a red/black wire on the top....I need to confirm that is how it is currently wired- my gut tells me that I put all three on the bottom of the terminal strip and that is causing the issue.
Let’s keep it simple. I’d replace both the up and down trim switch with the original configuration and wire them like the schematic shows.
Red/Black wire from fuse goes to one of the two top connectors on the terminal strip. A red wire from the other top connector on the terminal strip to the up switch.
A jumper wire from the red wire on the up switch to a connector on the down switch.
Nothing else from the terminal strip is connected to these two switches. No ground.
connect the blue wire to the other connection on the up switch and the green wire to the other connection on the down switch.
That’s all it takes.
FYI: The wire colors in the trim circuit are standardized across the industry - Blue (like the sky) for up and Green (like the water) for down. These wires appear in the motor wiring harness around the relays and down to the motor and this wire color standard is maintained. The two wires you are connecting at the bow enter the motor wiring harness via bullet connectors at the shifter.
Actually all the boat wiring colors are standardized across the industry.
I try to drive as if my 16 year old Grandson is following me
Speak as if he is listening and act as if he is watching
Bill, again I can't thank you enough for your help. I am 100% up and running. I kept the three-position switch and put green and blue on different poles. I had the green in the off position which is why it wasn't working. Disconnected everything from the terminal block and started over with my original picture from before I started refurbishing. Red jumper from top row to the three-position switch. All my aux and nav lights on a different three position switch, nav lights in the up position aux dome light in the down position. Bow trim works as designed and all console power works.
Then I put a replacement 20a glass fuse in that holder and ignition and throttle trim and motor trim switches worked.
We are up and running....couldn't have done it without you, gave me the confidence that if I could break it, I could fix it. Being the third owner, no owners manual made it difficult too.
I vote for Bill for President! LOL
I am glad that I could help.
I started my Engineering career (over 50 years ago) as Plant Engineer in a facility with dozens of high speed automatic grinding machines. I was fortunate to have a group of patient machine mechanics that taught me to troubleshoot electrical, electronic, hydraulic and pneumatic systems. They were great to share their knowledge and it served me well in my vocation and avocation.
There is a lot I don’t know but I am always glad to help when I can.
I try to drive as if my 16 year old Grandson is following me
Speak as if he is listening and act as if he is watching
It was nice to get my son (17yo jr) to come and help too. aspiring engineer, although he doesn't know what "flavor" yet.
Reply With Quote