Battery/ignition problem

Check the tilt switch on the engine itself and see if the tilt motor works. The one one the shifter is powered through a fuse on the engine, which may be blown. There are two fuses, assuming this is a carburated 90 not fuel injected....you did not say. You should have a 30 amp and a 15 amp. Check them both.

Do not hook up the engine cables until you get the battery wiring straightened out.

If you want to check the motor....only connect it to one battery with nothing else attached.

As for the short circuit. You said the batteries are in parallel? Or do you mean that with the battery switch, you can parallel the batteries. I would not wire them directly in parallel all the time.

I would recheck the wiring of your batteries again. Maybe the ground wire that connects both battery negative posts was not connected correctly. If you mistakingly connected it from the ground of one battery to the positive of the other...then turned on the switch...things would start melting.

Depending on how you had the motor connected, it may have gotten a residual of the high current thrown its way....with the current seeking the lowest resistance to ground....it may have happened after the terminal burned off. It really is impossible to tell without seeing how everything is connected.

If you do not find something obvious, I would take it to someone, who can determine the problem. As you have noticed, this kind of problem can cause a lot of damage and possibly hurt someone.

Mike

Mike, thanks for your advice. I will follow through on all suggestions. When the tilt switch on the motor is activated the response is also negative. Ron.

Most likely, if you motor battery cables have not been fried, you popped the 30 amp fuse on the motor.

Hope you find something obvious.

Mike

You have a direct short from B+ to B- most likely...
...and, it is, most likely, due to not getting the cables routed correctly.

If you could post some clear pics of the connections, we may be able to tell you where you went wrong. Otherwise, like Mike said, you may need to take it to someone to avoid any more disaster.

Thanks Mike and Jgmo. Blown 30 amp fuse in main fuse box. Everything working as they should be. And thanks to all others for your expertise and advice to us mechanically challenged Honda owners. Ron.

Glad things worked out.

Did you ever figure out why the battery post melted?

Mike

No, Mike, I have not. The battery post was OK. It was the attachment with the wing nut that melted. Nothing else damaged. The pos cable has a red coating so I know connection was proper. Thanks again for your advice. Ron.

Hmmmmmm. Velly intellesting. Things made of metal don't melt and 30A fuses don't blow without some fairly high current running. It's the physics behind welding. I would think you have not identified your real problem as yet. I hope it doesn't show up again when you're out on the water.

Jgmo, my battery posts are a single unit composed of two parts. One part is the battery post and the other a SS bolt and SS wing nut. Both parts are lead and lead melts. The post did not suffer damage. The section with the bolt melted. The solder holding the copper tab of the pos cable melted. There was no further damage anywhere. The system is presently working correctly and hope that continues. The basic cause of the meltdown remains unanswered. Once again, thanks for your replies. Ron.