spannerman
Well-Known Member
Got called out to a Nimbus Nova 30 which was totally dead, we charged up the batteries and found there was no life in the EVC system and the Vodia wouldn't communicate with it. I sent the HCU,PCU and ECU in to Volvo for testing and they came back saying they were completely fried from a lightening strike.
Feeling this was a job that wouldn't be simple we towed the boat back to the workshop, I got the 3 new modules from Volvo and still no life, the power at the ignition switch went from 12.5v down to 0v about 5 seconds after switch on. After lengthy searching I found that the accessory relay was the problem shorting the power to earth, fitted a new relay and the power supply was stable, but then found all 8 instruments were dead, so ordered new ones.
In the mean time all the new batteries we'd fitted died again despite being on shorepower, then that the Mastervolt charger was also a casualty of the strike, knowing I was going to be in the boat all day I thought I'd put the radio on, but that was dead too and warm, I pulled the radio/cd out and the case was too hot to touch! that's where our battery juice was going a massive internal short.
I then went through the boats systems and found the Chart plotter worked but the GPS and radar scanner were dead so have to fix those before knowing for sure the plotter has full functionality.
The bowprop control relay, the stern anchor winch control module were also dead.
We have to get the motor running before we know if the alternator is working or there is any other hidden damage.
Each time we get a bit further several new faults appear, obviously the lightening has gone through the negative circuit which is common to all equipment and toasted anything that has a circuit board.
The only things that work are the wipers and demister and pumps.
I hope his insurance covers damage by lightening strikes as the bill is going to be well over £20,000.
Feeling this was a job that wouldn't be simple we towed the boat back to the workshop, I got the 3 new modules from Volvo and still no life, the power at the ignition switch went from 12.5v down to 0v about 5 seconds after switch on. After lengthy searching I found that the accessory relay was the problem shorting the power to earth, fitted a new relay and the power supply was stable, but then found all 8 instruments were dead, so ordered new ones.
In the mean time all the new batteries we'd fitted died again despite being on shorepower, then that the Mastervolt charger was also a casualty of the strike, knowing I was going to be in the boat all day I thought I'd put the radio on, but that was dead too and warm, I pulled the radio/cd out and the case was too hot to touch! that's where our battery juice was going a massive internal short.
I then went through the boats systems and found the Chart plotter worked but the GPS and radar scanner were dead so have to fix those before knowing for sure the plotter has full functionality.
The bowprop control relay, the stern anchor winch control module were also dead.
We have to get the motor running before we know if the alternator is working or there is any other hidden damage.
Each time we get a bit further several new faults appear, obviously the lightening has gone through the negative circuit which is common to all equipment and toasted anything that has a circuit board.
The only things that work are the wipers and demister and pumps.
I hope his insurance covers damage by lightening strikes as the bill is going to be well over £20,000.
