Lost my instrument panel lighting while instruments still working

[SST]

I was looking forward to boating yesterday and catch a nice sunset. The wind was decreasing and therefore the waves were coming down too. Throw the anchor and enjoy. BUT....

The first problem was the trim. I've been operating my boat since 2008 with the trim gauge working and sometimes not. I can also feel if I trim to much as the prop begins to cavitate. I just hit the trim switch a little bit and readjust. No biggy....ever. For the past two years the trim gauge has been out of service. All by feel. Today, as I'm accelerating and trimming as I come on plane, without any warning of feel, the prop/ rpm jumps from 3000 rpm to 4000 rpm. I tried to trim it back but it wouldn't work. I had to retard the throttle back to neutral and retrim. Repeated this several times. Finally, after several attempts, I got the rpm to 3200 and slowly trimmed until the speedometer reached 30mph which was also in agreement with the GPS. It held. Don't have an explanation.

Next problem: Earlier in the season I thought I was having an alternator problem. But everything seemed ok. I've been putting a battery charger on the battery at the end of a run and it continuously says "100%." It must be charging to get that. So, last night, after getting it trimmed I'm outside the breakwall and watching the gauges. It was still a little bumpy and as I lightly bounced, the needles in the gauges would jiggle at the same time the instrument lights flickered. I turned around and headed back in. After a few minutes I noticed that all the instruments went dark. I immediately took the short cut back inside the breakwall and directly to my slip hoping the battery doesn't die on me before I get there. I was surprised to see that all the instruments were still working. The voltage gauge went from 13.1 to 14.1 when the lights went out. When I got back to the slip, I hooked up the battery charger expecting it to be nearly dead........again 100%.

I have noticed in the past that sometimes when shifting, the lights and the needles go nuts until the shifter is in position.

So, do I have a loose wire somewhere? Or is it bigger than that? I hate to take it to a mechanic because he is so far behind that I will likely miss more than a month of boating. I suppose that's better than being swept over the Falls.

Thoughts?

 

[Iggy]

If it was me? I would go over all the wiring under the helm. The boat is now 16 yrs old. With that said, something could be loose and and you might have some corrosion building up on the connections and the wires.

My own boat is 23yrs old. At times I had to cut the wire back due to the corrosion traveling down the wire for in inch or two. You might even change the trim switch out too. Corrosion could be causing that problem too. Plus its a good place to start.

 

[Denny]

Dan you and I basically have the same outfit. Many years ago I had a the same situation with my trim gauges. First mark (take a photo) of the settings on the trim gauges, then take them apart and clean them, get all the old grease out, you may even see a little water in them, if so this may be your problem, (it was mine) if not then it is the wiring and time for new gauges. Repack them with fresh grease, put them back together to the original settings. Then hook up your grease gun and pump them until the grease comes out the little weep holes.

Like Iggy says look for corrosion. I posted earlier this season of my battery issues. How old is your battery? The first thing that I would do is see if your battery's sides are getting fat, then take a hydrometer reading, so you can see if all cells are all up. Then wiring and fuses.
My issue was a bad battery charger, It cooked my batteries. My batteries read full charge also, but I was reading the output of the charger, which was not cycling and charged all the time. None of this may pertain to your issues, but it is a process of elimination.

 

[Iggy]

Keep in mind that the op might have a no maintenance and other wise known as a sealed battery. You can always do a load test. A load tester range from $25 to $200. I bought a in the range of $60 off amazon with good reviews.

At the start of every season, I would do a load test. After I blew two chargers after one of my batteries went bad.

 

[SST]

I assumed that this electrical problem was narrowed down to a single wire....somewhere. All other lights are working. Instruments are working but only the instrument lights are not. After returning to my slip, I did take a look behind the panel and poked around for loose nuts or wires. Nothing obvious but it was only a superficial look. I ran my hands down the starboard side where all the wiring goes and again nothing obvious. With Dennys boat being identical, I was hoping he could tell me where or which wire is for the lights. Each instrument has its own bundle which then disappears into other bundles. The other question is, are the instrument lights in series or parallel?

The battery is unsealed and 4 years old. Over the winter and currently while in the slip, a trickle charger is being used. The battery charger I've been using to check the battery, I assume, shows the percentage of battery life remaining before "charge" is selected. With no chargers hooked up, the percentage will drop 15 percent over a week of non-usage. I assume the 37 year old clock is the cause. So when I return to the slip after an hours use and hook up the battery charger [not trickle charger] it shows 100 percent. I do recall checking the water levels in the battery before putting it in the boat at the beginning of the season, I haven't checked the level since.....one more thing to check.

Thanks for the input. After the storm front passes this afternoon, I'll head down and poke around again.

 

[Denny]

I assumed that this electrical problem was narrowed down to a single wire....somewhere. All other lights are working. Instruments are working but only the instrument lights are not. After returning to my slip, I did take a look behind the panel and poked around for loose nuts or wires. Nothing obvious but it was only a superficial look. I ran my hands down the starboard side where all the wiring goes and again nothing obvious. With Dennys boat being identical, I was hoping he could tell me where or which wire is for the lights. Each instrument has its own bundle which then disappears into other bundles. The other question is, are the instrument lights in series or parallel?

The battery is unsealed and 4 years old. Over the winter and currently while in the slip, a trickle charger is being used. The battery charger I've been using to check the battery, I assume, shows the percentage of battery life remaining before "charge" is selected. With no chargers hooked up, the percentage will drop 15 percent over a week of non-usage. I assume the 37 year old clock is the cause. So when I return to the slip after an hours use and hook up the battery charger [not trickle charger] it shows 100 percent. I do recall checking the water levels in the battery before putting it in the boat at the beginning of the season, I haven't checked the level since.....one more thing to check.

Thanks for the input. After the storm front passes this afternoon, I'll head down and poke around again.

I believe the purple wire is for the lights. And they are pig tailed together. So there is only one wire that feeds all of them.

 

[SST]

Thanks Denny, I will start poking around today and maybe I’ll stumble across the problem. Truthfully though, I’m not a good mechanic with this stuff so I chickened out and spoke with the mechanic yesterday. He told me to bring it up Monday, so I’m in “the slot” at least.

Have a good weekend.

 

[Denny]

Thanks Denny, I will start poking around today and maybe I’ll stumble across the problem. Truthfully though, I’m not a good mechanic with this stuff so I chickened out and spoke with the mechanic yesterday. He told me to bring it up Monday, so I’m in “the slot” at least.

Have a good weekend.

You also, good luck, keep us posted.

 

[SST]

Mission accomplished.....sort of. Here is a view of my spaghetti behind the instrument panel.


Before poking around I disconnected the battery. Then I "climbed in" and start looking around. With Dennys comment about wires being pig tailed, they stuck out fairly quick. The bulb is powered by two wires. One blue and one black. They all got pig tailed in different places. I poked, lightly yanked and jiggles the wires to see if anything obvious sticks out. I found a rather large black wire that is hooked up to the clock and I thought that might be the main electrical feed. But the surrounding wiring didn't make sense. So, at this point, I hooked up the battery and turned the ignition on [no engine start yet] and sure enough, the lights came back on. I poked at the wiring some more thinking I would cause some flickering. Steady as she goes. Could not cause it to flicker or just go dark. I did find two loose wires attached to the instruments. I jiggled one wire, and it caused the light on that instrument to go out. But it did not affect the others in the bank. Same result with the second wire. It only effected that instrument.

I then started the engine and let it idle. Lights came on with no flickering. I then put it into forward gear, no flickering. Back to neutral and into reverse, no flickering. Back to neutral and shut it off. I went back into the cuddy and tried to tighten all the instrument posts. Then I took the boat for a ride. Entered Lake Erie with choppy waters and cruised around 30mph. Not a smooth ride but those lights and instruments remained on without a flicker. So apparently I must have done something to cause the connection to reconnect. I don't consider this fixed yet.

The other concern has been the alternator. While cruising around watching the instruments, the voltage meter seems to have maintained a steady 14.1v for most of this ride. It usually drops to 13.1v to 12.5v. Is this, ok?


After cruising around for nearly 40 minutes I shut off the engine and took a swim and to scrub some slime off the outdrive. No accessories were on except the blower prior to start and the clock of course. I ran the blower for maybe 5 minutes while I put everything away and started the engine. The voltmeter read 11.5v.

When I put it into gear, it went back up to its usual indications. Is this normal?

When I returned to my slip and shut down, I hooked up the battery charger and it showed 100%.

I've been debating whether to take it to the mechanic or not. It seems to be running well but the wire problem isn't really solved. I was kinda hoping the mechanic has the experience to say something like, "I've seen this before........."

 

[Denny]

Mission accomplished.....sort of. Here is a view of my spaghetti behind the instrument panel.
View attachment 2024

Before poking around I disconnected the battery. Then I "climbed in" and start looking around. With Dennys comment about wires being pig tailed, they stuck out fairly quick. The bulb is powered by two wires. One blue and one black. They all got pig tailed in different places. I poked, lightly yanked and jiggles the wires to see if anything obvious sticks out. I found a rather large black wire that is hooked up to the clock and I thought that might be the main electrical feed. But the surrounding wiring didn't make sense. So, at this point, I hooked up the battery and turned the ignition on [no engine start yet] and sure enough, the lights came back on. I poked at the wiring some more thinking I would cause some flickering. Steady as she goes. Could not cause it to flicker or just go dark. I did find two loose wires attached to the instruments. I jiggled one wire, and it caused the light on that instrument to go out. But it did not affect the others in the bank. Same result with the second wire. It only effected that instrument.

I then started the engine and let it idle. Lights came on with no flickering. I then put it into forward gear, no flickering. Back to neutral and into reverse, no flickering. Back to neutral and shut it off. I went back into the cuddy and tried to tighten all the instrument posts. Then I took the boat for a ride. Entered Lake Erie with choppy waters and cruised around 30mph. Not a smooth ride but those lights and instruments remained on without a flicker. So apparently I must have done something to cause the connection to reconnect. I don't consider this fixed yet.

The other concern has been the alternator. While cruising around watching the instruments, the voltage meter seems to have maintained a steady 14.1v for most of this ride. It usually drops to 13.1v to 12.5v. Is this, ok?
View attachment 2025

After cruising around for nearly 40 minutes I shut off the engine and took a swim and to scrub some slime off the outdrive. No accessories were on except the blower prior to start and the clock of course. I ran the blower for maybe 5 minutes while I put everything away and started the engine. The voltmeter read 11.5v.
View attachment 2026
When I put it into gear, it went back up to its usual indications. Is this normal?

When I returned to my slip and shut down, I hooked up the battery charger and it showed 100%.

I've been debating whether to take it to the mechanic or not. It seems to be running well but the wire problem isn't really solved. I was kinda hoping the mechanic has the experience to say something like, "I've seen this before........."

Sorry about the color choice, I knew it was either blue or purple. the black wire you seen was a ground wire. If wired to neg. ground, the wire will be black on cars and boats, at least this is what I have always found. Sounds like there is loose connection somewhere. maybe the fuse or a broken wire. Me, I would locate the that fuse and work back to the panel.

 

[SST]

I did check the wiring at the battery which had a couple of fuses. I opened them, still good and put them back. I wasn't paying attention as to whether these caused the outage or not. The boat comes out of the water tomorrow and I'll see if I can simulate the problem from those fuses.