'74 E27 Fuse Panel Issue - No DC

[MCJP36]

Bought this Ericson about 4 months ago. The DC has been strangely off and on for the cabin lights. Except for the Aft Port light in the galley. I decided to take a look at the wiring/fuse panel and notice that at the base of the panel there was a blue wire running aft that was barely hanging on. I removed the panel and cleaned/reattached the wire to the post(which also had a lead going to my stereo btw). Put the panel back and now nothing works. Radio would work all the time before. Nada. The aft kitchen light doesn't come on at all. Am I missing something more obvious? Is there another fuse hidden somewhere that I might have tripped? Obviously I'm an electrician but I'm keen to learn! More info...before the spreader spotlights worked. Now not so much. Thanks!

 

[Loren Beach]

This might be coincidence that is not causation. In lifting up the panel to look for one missing attachment, another more important one was loosened. Is your panel mounted on a vertical surface beside the companionway? About 6 or 8 fuses total?

While planning for an upgrade to a breaker panel with new wiring someday, it would be good to remove the present wires from the fuses, one at a time, clean up contacts, and restore them.
Follow the leads from the house battery bank, pos and neg, and also loosen, clean, and tighten every wire junction. Take pictures as you go along, and sketch up a diagram of what leads to what, and does what.

When "nothing works" I look at the main DC supply wiring, first, and check the old master switch for function
Good luck!

 

[bsangs]

Bought this Ericson about 4 months ago. The DC has been strangely off and on for the cabin lights. Except for the Aft Port light in the galley. I decided to take a look at the wiring/fuse panel and notice that at the base of the panel there was a blue wire running aft that was barely hanging on. I removed the panel and cleaned/reattached the wire to the post(which also had a lead going to my stereo btw). Put the panel back and now nothing works. Radio would work all the time before. Nada. The aft kitchen light doesn't come on at all. Am I missing something more obvious? Is there another fuse hidden somewhere that I might have tripped? Obviously I'm an electrician but I'm keen to learn! More info...before the spreader spotlights worked. Now not so much. Thanks!

Am inclined to side with @Loren Beach on this one, as what he describes has happened to me. Removed the panel to fix one thing, inadvertently disconnecting something else in that rat's nest of wires. Went back into the panel and it was readily apparent.

 

[Christian Williams]

"Off and on" suggests a loose ground, or a ground ring connector damaged at the wire.

Some of my 32-3 experience might apply, especially the negative bus bar.

 

[G Kiba]

50 year old boat, multiple owners with different skills and skill levels, plus different electrical needs, desires, and ideas = a mess of wires, splices, corrosion, all attached to electrical components that are obsolete, antiquated, and sometimes dangerous. For example, my E27 AC system had house component from thee 70's. Lots if fun and learning. Welcome to boat ownership!

 

[MCJP36]

This might be coincidence that is not causation. In lifting up the panel to look for one missing attachment, another more important one was loosened. Is your panel mounted on a vertical surface beside the companionway? About 6 or 8 fuses total?

While planning for an upgrade to a breaker panel with new wiring someday, it would be good to remove the present wires from the fuses, one at a time, clean up contacts, and restore them.
Follow the leads from the house battery bank, pos and neg, and also loosen, clean, and tighten every wire junction. Take pictures as you go along, and sketch up a diagram of what leads to what, and does what.

When "nothing works" I look at the main DC supply wiring, first, and check the old master switch for function
Good luck!

6 fuses. Vertical companion way mounted. Going to trace from the battery bank tomorrow. Thanks for the advice! Learning as I go. -JP

 

[Frank Langer]

To help with your learning....the book Boatowners Illustrated Electrical Handbook, author Charlie Wing is one of the best at describing components of both DC and AC electrical systems and issues on boats. I refer to it often, and recommend it for those of us who have little technical background but want to solve our own problems on our boats.
Good luck in getting your system operational again!
Frank

 

[Cutbait61]

At times like these a good digital multi-meter (volts / amps / ohms) improves your diagnostic capability.
Lowes sells an Ideal brand dmm that is not too expensive and is of good quality. It could eliminate alot of guess work and "some" tracing work....but on the other hand you always discover new and exciting things when you crawl into the belly of the beast.

 

[southofvictor]

www.boathowto.com has a basic and advanced electrical course online. I’ve done the basic and I’m in the advanced course now. The basic course increased my knowledge 1000% (which may be dangerous of course - a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and I started at zero) and I’d highly recommend it. There’s also a bonus module on troubleshooting and multimeter use.

That said, have you tried disconnecting the questionable wire you re-attached originally? What happened? Did you trace it to see what it’s connected to? A lot of good thoughts above but I didn’t see that one. While it could be coincidence that crashed the whole system it’s worth a look.

 

[sailing42]

I'm a bit late here but if you look up the resources section of this website and look at specific documents for a 27 Ericson you will find the original electric schematic. No doubt as others have mentioned there may be lots of changes to your system but the schematic will at least give you some idea of how the wiring was run, colors and location of terminal blocks, etc. When troubleshooting the electrical system pay attention to both the wires supplying current as well as the return path, bad corroded ground wires can cause all sorts of trouble. Make up a test light using a 12 volt bulb with two pigtails so you can have an indication of strength of current as well as a good ground. A multimeter can lead you easily down a rabbit hole if all you measure is the voltage.