Raymarine Ev tiller low battery alarm

[northoceanbeach]

The front, just in case it helps give perspective.

[Sardean]

Ok the second bar in has a yellow wires and black wires. It has a biggish bolt on end next to yellow wire, connect to this

[Sardean]

Just came out of doc's. Did you connect the wire up

[northoceanbeach]

Nope. Waiting to get back to the boat and then I will.

Can I start out with a smaller wire? Say a 12 gauge or maybe 3, 12 gauge wires? Connecting the bar directly to either one of the battery's negative terminals? Right?

What is the concept behind this. I dot doubt you. I just don't understand what it does.

[Sardean]

The thickness of the wire determines the votage drop and current . You would normally use 0/1 awg for the main negative.
If you run 1 x 12 awg wire for the main negative it can get so hot it will melt and catch on fire .
It woult be ok for a quick test though as sugested in first posts
The reason for running 4 to 6 12awg wires twisted together is to save you money and save you a trip to the shop and because you had that wire on board.( it would be equivalent to the thick cable and would be good as permanent wiring)
In one of your photos you showed a heavy black wire is it the missing main negative.


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[Sardean]

Originally Posted by northoceanbeach

I will put nuts and washers on instead of wing nuts right now.

I have this black cable pictured, let's see if it is long enough. Where can I attach it? The only place reasonable is the one two both switch.

This wire would be fine for the job , where is it from as it looks like the missing wire

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[northoceanbeach]

I'll be back at the boat soon to restart my project.

That black wire is new, it is one I had. I can't remember now why I got it.

The previous owner had a really nice professionally installed AC shore power system. 120 volts AC. He thought this little 28 foot boat is a house! He actually installed house style outlets everywhere. It must have cost a fortune to have someone run the wires the way he did, under floorboard and what not just to have plugs in the v berth.

But other than that, and hiring people to put in a prosport shore power charger and bilge pumps, he only had two medium sized lead acid batteries to power things.m the only electronics he had were a VHF, new, but very basic, and the original Raymarine speed and depth the boat had. Oh, and he had that panel put in.

The rest of the electronics I installed. Considering how little I knew to start I am surprised I did as good as I did. I hadn't even touched a saw before but I was out there drilling and cutting and running wires. We have it pretty close but it's not quite there.

I have to get this low battery problem solved, and then I have some stuff to go on the mast, but that is going to rough.

Today I would be thrilled to get the low battery problem solved and go out for a sail this afternoon, using the autopilot with no issue. It is windier today so it's a good day to test the system.

[Sardean]

Good on ya mate, I reckon youll have a good day, now go and connect the missing wire up and have a great sail . And have one last look around batteries to make sure the wire isnt already there and just not connected to battery

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[northoceanbeach]

I found this big greyish black wire connected to my bus bar and then coiled and unattached in there by the batteries. Dou you think this is my ground? How would things even be working if it wasn't hooked up? Some other smaller wire is grounded somewhere else? Think this is the culprit?

[Badsanta]

Is it connected to the + positive or the - negitive. I would not hook that wire to a battery its too small unless its for one item only and not the entire buss bar.

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[Sardean]

Awsome. Clean it up and wack it on go for a sail and relax . BUT MAKE SURE YOU replace it in the near future as it looks a bit small and corroded, you mstill get the odd low voltage alarms with this wire due to it being a bit on the small side.

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[Badsanta]

I have two large buss bars that I hook to my batteries. From the main + positive and the main - negitive from the buss bar i feed to the switch fuse panel the switch panel to devices. The only thing connected to the battery is the giant cables to the buss bars.

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[Sardean]

Originally Posted by Badsanta

Is it connected to the + positive or the - negitive. I would not hook that wire to a battery its too small unless its for one item only and not the entire buss bar.

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I agree with Badsanta , if you have the new cable replace this one , if not then hook it up and replace it later.

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[DeepFrz]

You have a ground wire on your bus bar. It is Yellow. The newer wire codes call for Yellow instead of Black for the DC ground wires. You can see them on your battery in a Red/Yellow cable and also at your bus bar. Perhaps the gray wire you found was replaced by the Yellow ground wire.

[northoceanbeach]

I hooked it up in the slip and turned everything on, just like last time, I hooked the autopilot up, two chartplotters, lights, VHF, ais. I made the autopilot think I want it to turn, so I changed the course, and at the same time pushed talk on the VHF. No low battery, no lights dimming, nothing!

I agree this wire looks like a fire hazard, so I will replace it with a new one, but I couldn't get a new one crammed up in there so I will have to drill a new hol in the fiberglass behind the circuit breaker to make room.

I've been meaning to do that anyways, there are too many wires getting crammed behind there, I need to clean it up.

But I think we fixed it, didn't we?