Gauge Panels | Marine Ac/Dc

Archive for the ‘Gauge Panels’ Category

Marine electrical questions?

June 28th, 2010 by Kevin Hannula and Nick Kroes

Marine Ac/Dc attempts to answer your questions about boat wiring and marine electrical techniques, concepts, and products. We get lots of mail from folks in mid-project or who are just curious about their boat’s electrical setup.

There are loads of post already on the site which we hope you will browse through. If you’re trying to track down info about a more specific category, please use the search box in the upper right of this page or check out the list of various subjects farther down on this page.

If you aren’t able to find the info that you need to complete your particular boat wiring project, please send us an email at boatwiring@gmail.com.

Thank you for visiting. We look forward to hearing from you and hope that you will be able to come back often.

Posted in Battery Charger, Battery Switch, Boat Wiring, Bow Thruster, Circuit Protection, Corrosion, Cruisers, Gauge Panels, Harnesses, Marine Electrical, Navigation Lights, Pontoons, Runabouts, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels, Testing, Trolling Motors, Uncategorized, VSR, Wipers | Comments Off

Maxed Out

August 30th, 2010 by Kevin Hannula and Nick Kroes

Kevin,

I recently bought a used boat. It was improperly grounded and burned some of the boat wiring out. My mechanic repaired several problems, but one problem still remains.

When you switch on the ignition most gauges jump to their maximum. For example the trim is maxed out to the right no matter at what level the outboard really is. The oil pressure gauge does nothing. The tachometer goes clear to the right. The speedometer goes to about 10 miles an hour and stays no matter what speed the boat is moving.

Other electric things work correctly, such as the horn, the starter motor, the trim mechanism, bilge pump, bilge blower, and so forth. The stereo system, the marine radio, and GPS seem to be non-functional.

What is that it that can cause all gauges to fail like this? By the way, the boat is a 2002 Chaparral 180SE with a Mercruiser 3XL engine and outdrive. The boat has been badly mistreated, and has required a lot of work to get it functioning again.

Thanks for any suggestions you can give.

Steve

Hi Steve,

It sounds like you have a combination of marine electrical problems.

My guess is that you have more burned out wires.

You should start by checking for 12 volts at each gauge. + on purple and – on black

Then, using an ohm meter check the following

Trim position – brown/white – 60 ohms down 11 ohms up
Oil pressure – lt blue – over 240 ohms 0 psi 33 ohms 80 psi
Fuel – pink – over 240 ohms empty 33 ohms full
Tach – gray – test for continuity through harness to engine

As for the speedo, check for a plugged or melted pitot hose, if so, replace the hose. You should also clean up the pickup and check for a bent axle on paddle wheel

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Posted in Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Gauge Panels, Horn, Ignition Switch, Marine Electrical, Navigation Lights, Runabouts, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels, Testing, Trim | Comments Off

No down side to guessing

July 19th, 2010 by Kevin Hannula and Nick Kroes

Kevin,

I am replacing a Sea Ray 225 Weekender ignition switch 4 prong with a new 4 prong.

I understand the boat wiring color scheme however there are two red and purple wires that are exactly alike that could be the battery or the assessory wire. The only difference in the two wires is that one of them has a white tag on it that says I 03.

Any ideas which goes to battery and which goes to accessory?

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Unless the key switch breaks the connection between the ACC post and the BAT post when your are starting the engine, it really doesn’t matter.

You have two choices.

Use a meter and test to see which wire has constant 12v+. This wire goes to the BAT post.
Take a guess. You won’t hurt anything. If the ignition switch breaks the connection between the ACC post and BAT post during starting and your boat will not start, then you guessed wrong. Swap the wires and go boating.

Kevin

Posted in Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Gauge Panels, Ignition Switch, Marine Electrical, Pontoons, Runabouts, Switch Panels, Testing | Comments Off

BEP’s New Coutour Zone – State of the Art

April 14th, 2010 by Kevin Hannula and Nick Kroes

BEP Marines CZONE™ is a state-of-the-art networked power control and monitoring system it has been designed to integrate and simplify on board electrical and mechanical systems and improve the boating experience.

The system has significant benefits to the OEM
Compared to typical circuit breaker installations CZONE™ relocates the circuit control and protection devices closer to the loads thus shortening cable runs, this equates to a reduction in the cost, complexity and weight of the marine electrical/boat wiring.The CZONE™ system through its simple plug and play connection system provides savings in installation time.

CZONE™ offers an extremely high level of versatility and integration:

Control AC and DC loads with built in circuit protection
Monitor multiple Tanks
Monitor multiple AC and DC power systems
Programmable timers, dimmers, alarms, load shedding and more
All controllable from one of the intuative display interface

The CZONE™ system is made up of multiple input and output interfaces that are networked together on a CAN bus. CZONE™ can consist of a single interface or a multi bus control and monitoring system, CZONE™ is the only system on the market that, affordably, caters to the needs of vessels ranging in size from 25 to 100 feet in length

Configuration
The system can be modified or updated via the Display module or the extremely user friendly CZONE™ configuration program. If a module is damaged a replacement unit can simply be plugged in place of the old device the system will automatically configure the new module.

Designed to withstand the harsh physical nature of the marine environment
The design of CZONE™ was undertaken utilizing the highest quality, proven components and innovative protective circuitry providing a robust reliable on board power control and monitoring system.

CZONE™ is the only power control and monitoring system which can interface with a third party multifunction marine electronic navigational displays.

Posted in Boat Wiring, Circuit Protection, Cruisers, Gauge Panels, Harnesses, MarineAcDc Forum, New Products, Signaling Devices | Comments Off

New Gauge System From Faria Instruments

December 12th, 2009 by Kevin Hannula and Nick Kroes

The Faria Bus system is the next generation in marine electrical engine monitoring instrumentation. This system gives the boat builder a Digital Stepper Motor driven instruments with all of the accuracy that today’s engine ECUs provide. The Faria Bus system connects directly to a wide variety of engine protocol buses. Yet the boater sees only the simple to read, streamline gauges that they are accustomed to seeing.

Tachometer and Speedometer are available in 5-inch and 4-inch sizes, with and without Warning Lights. Discrete functions are displayed on 2-inch systems gauges or can be combined into a Multifunction gauge.

Features:

Single twisted pair wire connects all gauges
Serial Bus reliability
Connectorized cases
Waterproof connectors
Can digitally display information
Available in many Faria styles
Simplified boat wiring

Posted in Boat Wiring, Cruisers, Gauge Panels, Harnesses, Harnesses-Dash, New Products, Pontoons, Runabouts, Signaling Devices, Switch Panels | Comments Off

Boat wiring resource for boat owners

August 27th, 2008 by Kevin Hannula and Nick Kroes

Everyone at Marine Ac/Dc is very excited about the recent launch of EzAcDc. These guys could easily become the internet’s premier source for boat wiring systems and marine electrical components. Even with just their initial offering, they appear to be an excellent resource for boat owners.

EzAcDc offers engineered boat wiring solutions including:

We recommend their products and services without reservation.