Hi all
I'm trying to help a buddy figure out an electrical issue on his boat and I feel like I have figured it out but it means his boat may not have been wired correctly and I want to confirm my findings. The boat is a 2013 tracker with a 115 optimax. Just to note I'm an electrician by trade and understand wiring but dont have experience with boats. His motor has a cable. 18-14awg from the motor to the control cluster. There is one wire #14 awg which is labeled as the ground which has melted in 2 harness connectors but never lost connection. A couple of points to clarify are there is a #4awg ground going to the motor and a #8awg ground going to the accessory fuse panel. The control ground which is #14 gets crimped under the steering wheel to a few grounds that go to the cluster instruments but also has a jumper to the fuse box accessory ground. I have found that the #6 accessory ground was loose. This makes me wonder if the accessories are actually using the control ground through the motor ground to complete there circuit. If so is this a design flaw because the control ground isnt sized to handle the 20amps of accessory as well as the motor loads and is a perfect reason as to why the wire has melted. And should the jumper to the fuse box have ever been installed, it appears that the original boat electrician had installed this when wiring in the motor harness wiring to the boats instruments.
I'm trying to help a buddy figure out an electrical issue on his boat and I feel like I have figured it out but it means his boat may not have been wired correctly and I want to confirm my findings. The boat is a 2013 tracker with a 115 optimax. Just to note I'm an electrician by trade and understand wiring but dont have experience with boats. His motor has a cable. 18-14awg from the motor to the control cluster. There is one wire #14 awg which is labeled as the ground which has melted in 2 harness connectors but never lost connection. A couple of points to clarify are there is a #4awg ground going to the motor and a #8awg ground going to the accessory fuse panel. The control ground which is #14 gets crimped under the steering wheel to a few grounds that go to the cluster instruments but also has a jumper to the fuse box accessory ground. I have found that the #6 accessory ground was loose. This makes me wonder if the accessories are actually using the control ground through the motor ground to complete there circuit. If so is this a design flaw because the control ground isnt sized to handle the 20amps of accessory as well as the motor loads and is a perfect reason as to why the wire has melted. And should the jumper to the fuse box have ever been installed, it appears that the original boat electrician had installed this when wiring in the motor harness wiring to the boats instruments.