Need help...all graphs will not power up

[digirolad]

I have a 2023 Skeeter ZXR19 that I bought last June. In the late fall I took the batteries out and brought all three depth finders in the house for the winter. I just reintalled the batteries and hooked everything up and none of the graphs will power up. I have Helix's on the console and bow and a Garmin on the bow.

Here's what I did/found so far:
1. Battery is fully charged
2. All other boat accessories work (bilge, livewell, etc)
3. All wires are hooked up correctly (I rechecked)
4. Both fuses on the breaker box are good
5. Inline fuse on the console Helix is good (I didn't check the front since I'll have to take off the whole front panel to get to them.)
6. Oh yes, the power switch was turned on.

Any ideas?

[Squire]

you are not getting power, so point 3 somehow is wrong. I have done this in the past and discovered I did not reconnect all the wires to the battery when I reinstalled. I now have a count to make sure one is not left off. So, check to see you have power at the Unit, if not, pull the battery and look count the reds and the blacks, make sure they match up (my count is 9).

[digirolad]

I don't know when Skeeter started doing this but I've had six Skeeters and this is the first one that has the wiring setup as it is now in this 2024 boat.
All of the red wires go to a shut-off switch and then to a bus, ending up with only two large wires that go to the positive terminal. Likewise, all the black electronics wires go into a bus and from there only one negative wire comes out to go to the negative terminal of the battery. So, there are just three wires to connect to the battery. It's a much simpler set up, and that's part of what perplexes me.

[okskeetertzx190]

When you say “power switch is on” are you talking about the large perko style switch at the battery compartment or the power switch by the driver seat? The one by the driver seat has gotten me before.

[woppercatcher]

I have a 2024 ZXR20 and I have 5 batteries. 1 for the motor cranking, 1 for the "house" battery and 3 trolling motor. Two perko switches, one of which is used for the "house" battery and the other for the "cranking" battery. There is also a power switch at my console. I have to turn on the perko switch for the "house" battery to power everything in the boat. I leave the other perko switch on all the time. I really have no idea what the toggle switch at the console does. I have 4 negative wires to the house battery and two positive wires to house battery, 2 of which are for the charger and just the 2 main positive and negative wires for the motor to the cranking battery plus the 2 for the charger.

When the dealer was prepping my boat they had to change a bunch of wiring they said was wrong from the factory in order to get my graphs working as well. My gas gauge was also not working correctly and that was also a wiring issue they fixed. I HATE that the bus is mounted way back in the bilge and very hard to get access too!

[digirolad]

I have one Perko switch that controls the cranking battery and all my electonics. But I don't have all those negative wires like you...just one from the bus the the neg battery pole.
Still can't get a suggestion fir my fix...frustrated since all was well before I winterized the boat.

[Verkeith]

Do you have the 2 breakers with the red trip buttons? There's a red indicator that pops out when tripped. Maybe you accidently hit the trip button when removing the starting battery...in my 2023 ZXR19 they are located extra close to the starting battery.

[digirolad]

Yes, I have two breakers. I reset both of them after I first discovered the graphs wouldn't turn on.
Can I ask you about your boat's hookup? Do you have just two red cables coming from the dual breakers to the positive battery terminal and one small black wire coming from the bus to the negative battery?

[digirolad]

What confuses me is that all three depth finders will not power up. Each graph has a positive and negative power wire so I'm thinking that since none of the graphs power up there has to be something that is controlling all three of them at once. Since it's not the individual wires (positive & negative) for each graph that can be the issue, there's got to be some singular wire that controls all three. The only wire or wires that I know that control all three graphs are the wires coming from the two Breakers and the bus that go to the battery. Again, I reset the breakers and I checked the fuses on those two breakers and they are fine, and I also checked the fuse underneath the console to my Helix unit...all three are fine.

[Crappie Bob]

Did you wire any of them straight to a battery to see if they come on? Might be dust or corrosion in the cradle form sitting so long.

[digirolad]

Holy Cow! Full disclosure here: last fall my onboard charger went bad and I had to replace it under warranty. When I was installing the new one I tucked two of the negative electronics
wires out of the way under the back of the other wires. You guessed it...they were the graph ground wires.

Boy, do I feel stupid! I've had six Skeeters and this one is wired differently with the buss so I was unfamiliar with how many wires I had to connect. That's no longer going to be the case.

Thanks to everyone for your advice. Now I can go get my colonoscopy tomorrow in peace...sort of.��

[Verkeith]

Yes, I have two breakers. I reset both of them after I first discovered the graphs wouldn't turn on.
Can I ask you about your boat's hookup? Do you have just two red cables coming from the dual breakers to the positive battery terminal and one small black wire coming from the bus to the negative battery?

Glad you figured it out....yeah the 2 black wires zipped tied together are the negatives for your electronics, with the single black wire being the negative for your boat accessories

[Bogeypro]

Holy Cow! Full disclosure here: last fall my onboard charger went bad and I had to replace it under warranty. When I was installing the new one I tucked two of the negative electronics
wires out of the way under the back of the other wires. You guessed it...they were the graph ground wires.

Boy, do I feel stupid! I've had six Skeeters and this one is wired differently with the buss so I was unfamiliar with how many wires I had to connect. That's no longer going to be the case.

Thanks to everyone for your advice. Now I can go get my colonoscopy tomorrow in peace...sort of.��

I'll be honest... i'd really find out what your dealer was doing when they rewired. I'd start tracing wires and making a diagram. Odds are that the dealer knows less than the people that do it every single day, day in and day out...