[Rhodes22-list] Major Electrical Problems
Shawn Boles
shawn.sustain at gmail.com
Mon Jul 2 12:44:08 EDT 2012
Hi:
One of the disappointments in getting Sweet Baboo was the lack of a wiring
diagram. I have requested one from Stan but have not heard anything.
Cheers,
Shawn
s/v Sweet Baboo
On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 7:15 AM, Lowe, Rob <rlowe at vt.edu> wrote:
> Peter,
> I'm no electrician, but I can do basic wiring.
>
> If you've got burned insulation (7.) you've got a short in something
> somewhere. And you're batteries were being dragged down as you worked
> which indicates an ongoing power drain. I'd suggest marking all the cables
> that go to your batteries so that you know which reconnects to which
> terminal and then isolating the batteries by removing all the cables. Make
> sure you have marked which cable goes where as, while it appears that Stan
> followed basic coloring schemes, it's not consistent throughout.
>
> Now that the batteries are isolated, check the charge on both. If they
> were previously connected together and had the same charge and they are
> different after you isolate them, the battery with the lower voltage is
> probably damaged. When they are tied together they will balance and
> average together.
>
> Now that the charger is isolated, check it. First check the shore power.
> Check the voltage between the hot and neutral sides and check the hot
> between ground and neutral to ground. You should have 15vac (assuming a
> 115vac circuit) between the hot and neutral and the hot and ground and
> nothing between the neutral and ground. I've had an experience at my house
> there the hot and neutral were OK but the ground was gone which can cause
> havoc. If you have anything other than this the wiring to your shore power
> may be damaged.
>
> If the shore power connection is OK you can move on to the charger. It
> sounds like your existing one is toast so we'll skip that for now. Using
> your portable one you can charge up each battery individually. I suggest
> leaving them isolated until you finish tracking down the problems. Once
> your batteries are charged check them periodically with your meter to see
> if they maintain charge. Start reconnecting one device at a time and check
> to see if the device works and if not. If the device does not work and if
> it sparks when you try to connect up the wires, there is probably a short
> it the device or it's wiring. I'm assuming your boat is wired similarly to
> Chris's with a positive and a negative bus bar with the positive lead going
> to the circuit breaker panel and some devices wired directly to the bus
> bar. Those directly wired should have their own fuses in the wiring to the
> device (typically the radio and bilge pump).
>
> If you have solar panels, they will continue to produce a charge, so keep
> that in mind. Do not short the leads coming from the solar panels or you
> might damage them.
>
> If does sound like you got a surge of power somehow. If you were not
> connected to shore power, I'm not sure where it came from.
>
> The thicker cables will be from your battery to your charger. The charger
> then connects to your shore power connection.
>
> Good luck with this mess and let us know what you find. - rob
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org [mailto:
> rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of peter klappert
> Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 2:17 AM
> To: The Rhodes 22
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Major Electrical Problems
>
>
>
> I hope everyone is having a great time sailing this weekend–it’s
> beautiful here in Apollo Beach. I hope you’re NOT reading the list, or only
> reading it instead of counting sheep.
>
> Aeolia has MAJOR ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS and I’m afraid I’m going to
> need some help to solve them.
>
> Here’s the current mess:
>
> 1.The stern light is blown.
>
> 2. The circuit breaker panel lights up but the LED for the “Instruments”
> breaker has blown We replaced it with the “Running Lights” LED (since the
> blown stern light was tripping that breaker anyhow) and “Instruments” now
> lights.
>
> 3. The Xantrex voltage meter is completely gone; the fuses in the wires
> from it to the batteries are ok.
>
> 4. The fuse to the Garmin chart plotter is blown but the line itself has
> power. The Garmin was not onboard when all this damage happened. I don’t
> have the required 3-amp fuse at hand but when I get one I expect the Garmin
> to work.
>
> 5. There’s no power to the VHF–no power at the fuse. The fuse itself is ok.
>
> 6. The Sony CD/Radio (which is not powered through the breaker panel)
> receives power but will not turn on. We found no fuse and none is mentioned
> in the owners manual.
>
> 7. The LED lights on the ProMariner ProSport battery charger come on but
> the charger doesn’t charge the batteries. We couldn’t determine how the 2
> cables from the charger run to the batteries, but we sort of assume the
> fatter wires/cables attached to the port side battery (red to +, white to
> -) are from the charger. In that case, the outer covering of the cable from
> the charger has been stripped, starting somewhere out of sight behind the
> companionway step. Why? Another possibility: the cable from the charger
> has been joined to these somewhere out of sight behind the companionway
> step.
> (I just realized we neglected to disconnect the batteries and
> check those fatter wires/cables for power.)
>
> 8. The charge on the batteries kept going down while we worked. The port
> side battery went from 12.03 to 11.92 & the battery before the V-berth had
> a similar drop. The only intentional drains on power were (1) the breaker
> panel (2) the fan in the cabin. (It was very hot today.) We didn’t try to
> run–and I forgot to check–the fan in the V-berth.
>
> 9. Around 5 PM, as we were quitting, I hooked up a portable charger to the
> port battery. When I check about 6.5-7 hours later, both batteries
> registered just under 13 volts.
>
> (I’ve only got an analog multimeter; it’s clear I need digital.)
>
> Solving this mess is made much more difficult by (1) not having a wiring
> diagram for Aeolia and (2) the absence of ID tags on almost all wiring.
> (The only tags are ones that came from various manufacturers–Xantrex, Sony,
> maybe Standard Horizon.)
>
> Did anyone get a wiring diagram from General Boats when they bought their
> boats?
> If so and if possible, please scan it and post it as an attachment–or send
> directly to me at peterklappert at comcast.net. Thanks!
>
> It seems certain I’ll need to hire a marine electrician; a wiring diagram
> will save him time and me $$$. I’m already facing a lot of expense to
> replace electronics on board.
>
> This message is a version of one I’m sending to Stan both by eeee-mail and
> fax. (The last time I tried to call the factory number I got a fax tone,
> and it’s still there, so I'll try a fax.)
>
> Additional History:
>
> A few weeks back we had a strong storm--heavy rain and winds
> gusting to over 50 mph. I had to power outage here at the house. Some time
> later I noticed that the VHF aerial atop the mast--the staff part of
> it--was gone. It was in the cockpit.
>
> A week or two before Debby we had a power surge that knocked out
> my FiOS. There was no other sign of a surge at my house. & there were no
> power interruptions during Debby--or maybe one very brief one.
>
> I'm reporting this because there is no sign of a lightning strike,
> on Aeolia or on land.
>
> Aeolia has not been connected to shore power except the two times
> I mention below.
>
> I didn’t take the cover off the boat immediately when I got here,
> and when I did it was mainly to see if everything was dry in the cabin.
> Couldn’t have been dryer.
>
> At that time the Xantrex volt meter indicated the batteries were
> low, so I ran shore power to the outlet outside cabin. (Apparently the
> clear panels in the boat cover did interfere with the solar panels) I think
> I got distracted and left the shore power connected for 24 hours or more.
> Unless there was a power surge, I don’t think that would have been
> detrimental: shorepower goes to an onboard Prosport20 Marine Battery
> Charger. When I disconnected shorepower, the meter said the batteries were
> charged.
>
> [Maybe the worst part of all this narrative is having to make the
> following admission: I haven’t used Aeolia at all since I’ve been back to
> FL, It’s a long, boring story--a series of long boring stories.]
>
> I went out yesterday to prepare for a sail today and found the
> voltage meter was completely dark (unpowered). Ran shorepower to the boat
> but it made no difference.
> I then discovered that all the lights and outlets on my dock were
> shorted out. The power to the lift motors, which doesn’t have a GFI, was
> fine.
> A friend & I identified the source of the short and disconnected
> that wiring. All the other dock lights and all outlets now have power.
>
> Nonetheless, when I ran shorepower to Aeolia it made no
> difference. The voltage meter was still dark. We spent the afternoon trying
> to figure out what was wrong. Steve’s a longtime boat owner and a home
> improvement contractor savvy about electricity issues. (I’m ignorant but
> trying to learn.)
>
> That’s when we discovered the various failures at the start of
> this long message. I apologize for its length!
>
>
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