No power to battery breaker panel

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philipm

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Was out in the boat today, came back to the berth and commenced the usual preparation before leaving the boat. This included turning off all six breaker switches as per usual and then turning off the on / off key in the breaker switch panel. (the six switches control domestic power, negative, 2 x engines, and bow thruster).

Then my daughter said she wanted to use the loo so we went to turn on the switches again and the whole panel was dead. No green or red LEDs. No change when the on / off key switch was turned.

What have I done??! Any ideas welcome.
 
Here is a photo of the panel. You can see the isolator key in the bottom left and the six switches below. Not sure how I could replace the key lock on its own if that is the problem.
 

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Ok, not familiar with that set up. I suspect the key energises some sort of solenoid somewhere between the battery bank and the breaker panel but thats just a guess.
Someone will know on this forum, whats the boat?
 
philipm said:
Here is a photo of the panel. You can see the isolator key in the bottom left and the six switches below. Not sure how I could replace the key lock on its own if that is the problem.
Click to expand...

assuming its the key switch, they should be straightforward to replace.
big nut on the front ? undo that and it will fall off back into the panel.
do you have a multimeter ? easy to check if it is indeed the key switch or relay.
 
I don’t know the boat but given none of it works you are looking for a single point of failure.

The likely candidates would probably be the key switch , the solenoid it operates or some other high current fuse/ breaker that protects the system.

Have you tried turning the charger on? The batteries could be dead ( not that likely but i have had it decades ago on a car) and it will also increase the voltage which may persuade an on the way out solenoid to operate.

Finally what do the manual say. You may not know the location of the protection fuse / breaker.
 
jrudge said:
I don’t know the boat but given none of it works you are looking for a single point of failure.

The likely candidates would probably be the key switch , the solenoid it operates or some other high current fuse/ breaker that protects the system.

Have you tried turning the charger on? The batteries could be dead ( not that likely but i have had it decades ago on a car) and it will also increase the voltage which may persuade an on the way out solenoid to operate.

Finally what do the manual say. You may not know the location of the protection fuse / breaker.
Click to expand...

Whilst looking at the fuse box at the back of the aft cabin I saw a switch which said something along the lines of "Battery Breaker" and was switched to "on". With hindsight I am wondering what the purpose of that switch was (there's already breaker switches on the panel photographed above?!) and whether in fact I should have switched it to "off"?
 
simonfraser said:
assuming its the key switch, they should be straightforward to replace.
big nut on the front ? undo that and it will fall off back into the panel.
do you have a multimeter ? easy to check if it is indeed the key switch or relay.
Click to expand...

I bought a multimeter recently because I have had occasional car battery issues over the years but admittedly I have not used it yet so wouldn't know what to attach to what and what setting on the multimeter dial to set. I might be able to teach myself though!
 
philipm said:
I bought a multimeter recently because I have had occasional car battery issues over the years but admittedly I have not used it yet so wouldn't know what to attach to what and what setting on the multimeter dial to set. I might be able to teach myself though!
Click to expand...

info on you tube
 
philipm said:
I bought a multimeter recently because I have had occasional car battery issues over the years but admittedly I have not used it yet so wouldn't know what to attach to what and what setting on the multimeter dial to set. I might be able to teach myself though!
Click to expand...

Jeanneau were in to electronic remote switching, so may be more complicated, have you a photo of the back of the panel or bulkhead ?

First job is what do you have?, what is the connection to the panel? and where does it go ? what does it connect to?

Brian
 
Thanks Brian.

I'm 75 mins from the boat unfortunately so I'll take a look when I am down there and report back.

We were packing up on Monday when the malfunction happened so I didn't have time to examine it in detail.
 
Okay made some progress on this yesterday.

I got the 12v circuit working easily by pressing the battery switches in the grandly named "technical room". According to the manual which is badly translated from French, these switches are there for use in an emergency in case there is an electrical problem.

This got the fridge , water pump, engines etc working so the only thing NOT working is the breaker panel. I then spotted a fuse on the 12V circuit which is not located with all the other fuses and have deduced that this could be the problem however if this is the problem then why am I able to get all fridge etc working?? Maybe this fuse is just for the battery breaker panel?

It is a large fuse screwed to the wall in an awkward position. At this point I got nervous about whether I would give myself an electric shock by trying to test it with the multimeter or by trying to remove it.

Any idea what I need to disconnect to safely work on the system - all four batteries? Does my theory sound correct that this fuse could be the problem or is the problem closer to the breaker panel itself eg the key which I turn to turn the breaker panel on / off? You can see the fuse here - it's the small black plastic box between and to the left of the two large black boxes

Battery breakers 2.jpg
 
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simonfraser said:
assuming its the key switch, they should be straightforward to replace.
big nut on the front ? undo that and it will fall off back into the panel.
do you have a multimeter ? easy to check if it is indeed the key switch or relay.
Click to expand...

I undid the panel yesterday and had a look. Yes there is a large nut on the key switch so it could be changed. I had my multimeter with me but couldn't see what to do to test the key switch - I am a multimeter novice and couldn't find anything relevant on YouTube. Any tips appreciated.

Based on my other investigations (see above) I think the problem is somewhere between this panel (eg the key switch) and the general fuse for the 12v circuit.
 
My honest suggestion would be to get someone to fix it.

You are very unlikely to get electrocuted but shorting high current batter leads can lead to arking which is hazardous , but more importantly damage to what you are trying to fix.

A multi meter measures volts, current ( amps ) and resistance ( ohms). To fault find you will need to understand at least volts and resistance / ohms. Don’t try and measure resistance on a live circuit as you will fry the multi meter or it’s fuse.

Re the key switch the resistance Will fall to zero if it is on and infinite if off. You will need to remove the connectors to get a reliable reading from the switch but as a minimum the circuit must be off.

Same with fuse / breaker you found.

As to how the emergency power works why not call a dealer and ask ?
 
testing the key switch you may be able to remove the wires from it, take a pic b4 you do that.
and then test the switch with the multimeter. as said b4 watch a youtube vid or two to see how to do that.
if you isolate the power from the circuit you are not going to kill yourself.
there should be a battery isolator switch which should stop any power from the batteries going to the boat / fuse board.
 
Thanks both.

There is a battery isolation switch which is switched to "on". Should it be on or off when the boat is in normal use? I would have thought it should be off...…."so why is it on?" I am asking myself.

I established there is continuity in the key switch yesterday because I disconnected the wires and attached my multimeter to the back of the key switch. However I didn't check resistance. I haven't found a YouTube vid for testing a switch unfortunately.

An engineer is looking at it today so we'll see what comes, other than an invoice.
 
Just to complete this thread, the engineer had a look at it and it turns out there was a corroded terminal (location not yet confirmed) and the main 12v fuse had indeed blown. Apparently all working now.

Thanks all.
 
Thanks for replying and, practice with your multi while it works start at batteries then follow wires and keep checking ,you could also take note for next time
 
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