Lost all power to controls, gauges and switches

[mvandale]

I just connected a new wash down pump and replace the breaker for that, all seemed to work great so I turned the battery selector switch off to work on the 1 interior light. When I switched the power on, no power going to the panel now, nothing works.  The batteries are good and power goes up to some terminal with many connections that go into a black box, with a red button 40 and 2 fuses. One fuse cap doesn't even lock in and it was corroded in there.  I cleaned it up but still cant hold it in and I think it's for a bilge pump.  The other fuse I can't get out.  I have no idea if this is the cause of lost power to the controls.  I have no idea what to do now, any suggestions ?

[seabob4]

mv, when you say you have a "loss of power to the controls", what exactly do you mean?  Evidently, your switch panel doesn't work, but do your gauges work?  Does the key switch turn over the motor?  Does the trim and tilt switch work?

I'm asking these questions for a reason.  Your engines electrical system and your boat's electrical system are two separate entities.  The gauges and your binnacle (your shifter) get their power from the engine harness.  Your boat gets its power from the hull harness.  The 40A push button breaker is the main breaker and controls everything in the boat...except the engine stuff.

With your battery switch "ON", if the engine stuff works but the boat stuff doesn't then chances are either the main breaker is tripped or there may be a faulty connection down the line from the breaker.  If NOTHING, including the engine, works, then we would be looking at the battery switch.

So please elaborate...

[mvandale]

Hi Seabob4, the engine will turn over, the lights for the engine work and the tilt motor works too.

[seabob4]

Aha, so it's the breaker and beyond.  Have you pushed the red button on the 40A main breaker?  If it's tripped, you have to push it to reset it.  If that doesn't do the trick, then more in depth trouble shooting is called for.

So go on out and see if you can push that button, report back...

[mvandale]

I've tried to push that red button with the 40 on it, it does seem to out far and I can push it at all.

[mvandale]

Hi Seabob4,...  what a time for a server change !  Anyway while it was down,  I've made progress the hard way.  I was able to replace the fuse socket on the main breaker, for a bilge, 15 amp?  And looking under the cover I didn't see much other then the breaker but checking the hot leads everything seems to be live so I went back to the cabin and looked again underneath the controls.  Tracing the red wire I found an inline fuse where the radio is spliced in, rusted and not very good continuity, so I relpaced it.  It all works now !  It was torture for me but I got it.

My question now is, should that inline fuse be there on the main power, seems like a bad spot if it blows while I'm out ?  I'm wonder if that is really for the radio although I think there is another one for that.  Can you tell me anything about this fuse and if I need it can I move it somewhere easily accessed, or maybe put a higher fuse in it ?

[seabob4]

There should NOT be an additional fuse in the lead that feeds the helm.  The 40A pushbutton breaker aft protects the entire helm, with the individual breakers under the switches of course protecting the individual (branch) circuits.  Why that additional fuse is there I have no clue, but you can safely remove it and butt splice the leads back together...

[mvandale]

Thank you very much for your help.

[seabob4]

My pleasure!