Mysterious DC System Problems - Tartan

[MikeRPSU]

I say the above tongue in cheek because I am obviously missing something stupid.

I am a new owner of a Tartan 372 and just took delivery. The boat was launched by my marina staff and my wife and I spent the weekend on it. Sometime during the first evening, after testing every single DC 12 volt circuit successfully, the entire DC system went dead.....NOTHING. I initially thought it was my batteries (despite being on a charger) but the diesel starts just fine. So there has to be a breaker or fuse somewhere that i am missing. The only "main" circuit breaker is the 120 volt.

The electrical system is more complex than what I have dealt with but I know I am missing something really simple here.

Any suggestions?

Mike

[chuckg5]

Check your ground wire to the breaker box
same thing happened to me

[Rockter]

Get out the olde multimeter, begin at the battery, and work toward the loads.
You will find it.

[JayCarver]

Check the battery selector switch. Some have an additional toggle switch for "DC Main". Perhaps it was accidently switched.

[sailingdog]

Check the fuse between the battery and the main DC panel. There is usually a fairly large fuse there to protect the panel. The suggestion of checking the DC ground bus is also a good one.

You've obviously got some batteries that are live, since you can start the engine.

[rheaton]

check your circuit panel. mine has switches for master, and a switch for each circuit. perhaps you have master or one of the others off.

[T34C]

I had a similar problem and found the battery selector switch needed to be replaced. You might also check behind the panel to make sure there isn't something shorting accross the circuits.

[MikeRPSU]

To all of you who responded, thank you. All suggestions were appreciated and frankly I was blown away by how quickly I got them.

I will be trying the suggestions this weekend....and will reply with the results.

Again, thanks!!

Mike

[djodenda]

Mike:

If you tell us where you are at, you might get someone "live" to help you out.

You will then, of course, owe them sailing and beer.

Oh, and probably this is a "doohh" kind of problem, easy and inexpensive to fix and a good way for you to get to know your new boat better.

Of course, it probably doesn't seem like that now.

David

[beej67]

If everything in the boat suddenly went dead, you lost ground somehow or another. That's pretty cut and dried.

Usually the batteries are wired to the engine block, and so is all the other grounds, via bus bars and etc. Check them.

I had this problem once, while out. The Previous Owner (my dad, so I shouldn't curse him as much as I'd like to) had taken all the grounds in the boat and used ring terminals to connect them all to a bolt with a wingnut, just hanging out in space, then had another wire that went from the wingnutted bolt to the engine block. The last ring connector had come loose, and the whole boat went dead.

We've since done our absolute best to gut and rewire all the crazy ghetto-wiring dad did, to pretty good overall effect. Bus bars are the way to go.