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Wiring troubleshooting

T

the_smackdown

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Hi all,

My inlaws have a early 200s Bennington pontoon that has problems with most of the electrical system in the dash. It is uses push button breakers and three position switches to control most stuff like lights, horn, etc.

I have not done a lot of DC troubleshooting so wanted to get some advice on how to start. The breakers seem to have three terminals. I assume it's hot in and hot out plus a ground. Switches are a different story, and I get quickly confused.

I have added a pic of the back of the panel.

Thanks for any guidance,

E
 

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Ideally, the dashboard has two separate branches - engine instrumentation and control (instruments and key switch) and the other switches (lights, pumps,etc)..

Hopefully, the engine portion is fine so you only have to worry about the switched accessories.

Given the broad question, i wud make a drawing of the switches and work one circuit at a time...and use a test lamp that will draw at least an amp of current...
 
Great advice from tmakar. Breaking it down into those two separate branches (engine vs. accessories) is definitely the way to go so you don't get overwhelmed. One thing that helps me when tracing stuff like this is to label both ends of every wire with a bit of masking tape and a Sharpie as you find them. It makes drawing that diagram 10x easier and prevents you from tracing the same wire twice!
 
Start by makiong sure the nuts holding all of the wires are snug.

There's no ground that isn't Black.

Specify the problems- what isn't working? If you have a multi-meter and know how to use it, check for voltage on the breakers, but by finding the part numbers, search for the assignments of the wires on the breakers- In/Through could be two adjacent tabs or one could be on the far end.

Go to the battery and make sure the accessory wire is on a stud or bolt- I have seen boats that worked all season and when I was Winterizing them, I found that wire laying on or barely pinched onto a battery terminal.
 
the_smackdown said:
I have not done a lot of DC troubleshooting so wanted to get some advice on how to start. The breakers seem to have three terminals. I assume it's hot in and hot out plus a ground. Switches are a different story, and I get quickly confused.
Click to expand...

Breakers are daisy chained, meaning the Red/Black is the main hot for all the switches and has 2 tabs. The other side has 1 tab and that is what goes to the appliance (lights, bilge pump, etc)

Use a voltmeter to see if the Red/Black as 12V on it
 
The breakers only need two terminals, the source and load connections...Highly likely that the source female uses a "piggyback" spade connection to enable the daisy chaining of the B+...Some breakers are lit and those typically require a ground,...

search "Carling CMB 32V breaker" to see a pic, if needed...
 
Wow, thanks for the great answers after so much time.

I figured out the problems. Between each breaker was a piggyback spade connector and one had broken. It was not super obvious to find because the wires were zip tied together. Turned out there was a bad breaker too. Replaced both and all is working again!
 
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