[Rhodes22-list] The magic of electricity

[R Orkin]

Get a meter.. Cheap and simple to use. FIrst see if there is power at the
battery, Then check for corrosion at the terminals. Next under " Moron
Factor" be sure batteries are turned on if you have a battery switch.
If so which ever battery has a charge should run the breaker panel. If
Batteries are good and switched on, then check for continuity at the panel
(you probably have to remove it)paying particular attention to the 
ground. It is really a simple system. If no power at the panel and power at
the battery which is switched on, then there is a break in the cables
feeding the panel or at some junction point leading to the battery.
It is unlikely that there is a break in that wire though unless something
has chewed through it..

Jim Connolly wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Disclaimer:  I have the old panel in the location just above the cabin
> step.  I also have one battery and no shore power.  My wiring runs from
> the battery forward of the water tank under the vee berth starboard and
> aft under/behind the counter. 
> 
> 
> 
> My panel has lighted switches.  Does yours?  Do the switches light, but
> the equipment doesn't power up?   If so, check for blown fuses at the
> panel.  If the switches don't lite, check for a blown master fuse entering
> the panel or near the battery. 
> 
> 
> 
> An inexpensive digital volt-ohm-amp meter is probably the indispensible
> item in an electrical toolbox.  with it, you can follow the voltage (or
> lack of it) back to the battery/batteries. 
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck 
> 
> 
> 
> Jim Connolly 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "BenCittadino" <bencittadino at gmail.com> 
> To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org 
> Sent: Monday, September 7, 2009 10:12:15 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
> Subject: [Rhodes22-list]  The magic of electricity 
> 
> 
> Two great days of sailing this past week. Hit 5.6 knots over the ground
> and 
> buried the rail once (a little scary, are you sure this thing won't 
> capsize???). 
> 
> Anyhow, the engine starts like a dream (I have electric start and motor 
> lift) and purrs like a kitten. HOWEVER, nothing else electrical works on
> the 
> boat all of a sudden. I have a '93, recycled '08 and it has two batteries.
> I 
> have the electrical panel high on the starboard bulkhead inside the cabin.
> I 
> also have two factory installed solar panels. Last summer, and up until 
> today the switches on the panel could be switched to energize the depth 
> finder, cabin lights, macerator (test only), radio, etc. 
> 
> Now to be frank I know nothing else about the electrical system on this 
> boat. I have no electrical test gear and will undoubtedly have a marine 
> electrician look at it. However I would like to give the tech some 
> information about how this boat is wired. Is there an electrical diagram 
> somewhere? Which battery energizes which stuff? Where do the wires go when 
> they leave the battery compartments? Which battery or batteries are
> charged 
> by the solar panels? I let her sit idle more than a week or two sometimes 
> and never have a problem with the lift or electric start, but the dinky 
> little items on the other circuit seem to drain that battery pretty
> readily. 
> Are there known issues I should alert the tech to with this set-up? 
> 
> I recall now the boatyard where I put my boat up last winter had to
> replace 
> a battery (I don't even know for sure which one) upon launching this
> summer 
> and I think it was the one that has failed now (forward?). 
> 
> I guess what I am asking is whether there is an archive entry or another 
> document that will start me on the road to undstanding the electrical
> system 
> on this boat. 
> 
> Thanks; 
> 
> Ben C 
> SV Susan Kay   
> -- 
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-----
Rory Orkin
Tilghman, Md
2000 Recycled  Rhodes 22
Duet ll
-- 
View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/The-magic-of-electricity-tp25338936p25355727.html
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