DJE
Well-Known Member
In the middle of Poole bay on Saturday the gps keep dropping out, and when I had re-started it a few times the autohelm started setting itself to standby. Also the vhf screen went blank whenever I tried to transmit at 25W and nobody seemed to be able to hear me. Then the instruments went crazy with a mass of bleeps and the ST60 voltmeter swinging up and down between 12V and 15V. Suspected the voltage regulator as the engine was running, but when I checked the voltage at the battery terminals it was a steady 14.5V. So shut down all the electronics and carried on with handheld gps, handheld vhf and handheld tiller.
Next morning in Weymouth I found that the negative cable from the main panel to the earth on the back of the engine was broken. It had been sharing a large crimped terminal with the main battery negative cable and had broken where the two cables met. Easily fixed but it gave me pause for thought; all those modern electronic aids let down by a 23-year-old bit of copper about 4mm across. Just glad it didn't happen in the middle of the night in the middle of the channel!
Next morning in Weymouth I found that the negative cable from the main panel to the earth on the back of the engine was broken. It had been sharing a large crimped terminal with the main battery negative cable and had broken where the two cables met. Easily fixed but it gave me pause for thought; all those modern electronic aids let down by a 23-year-old bit of copper about 4mm across. Just glad it didn't happen in the middle of the night in the middle of the channel!
