Rear motor battery was dead, and I swapped the front battery to the rear. I connected the cables on the WRONG battery terminals and saw steam/smoke coming out of the motor. Got everything disconnected and re-connected correctly and no power to engine to raise or lower the motor. What did I burn up???? New boat owner if you can't tell. Need assistance. It is still dark and I have not put a meter on the battery yet.
OOPS I have a battery motor problem
- Thread starter Jacko
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Jack M
Moderator
Check your fuses and breakers.
Jack M
Moderator
Do you have a power distribution panel ?
The boat is a 2016 SF20 and I have not seen any panel, short of the small one in the console for instruments. I will take a meter down and then the fuses on the left side of the engine. Thanks for the help..
What bothered me was when it was hooked up backwards, I saw steam/smoke coming from the top of the motor, then I disconnected the battery. Will check the 90amp fuse and the rest.
What bothered me was when it was hooked up backwards, I saw steam/smoke coming from the top of the motor, then I disconnected the battery. Will check the 90amp fuse and the rest.
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PartyBarge
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The folks at the local dealer where we bought our pontoon had done that. The rectifier/regulator in the motor was toasted (REALLY toasted). Doesn't look like much, but it is expensive
PS modules that look like what was replaced in our motor are much less expensive online than what the shop charged itself to fix the problem...good luck. Note that the module can look OK until viewing the back side.
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gotnitro
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A quick search on this problem yielded:
You could have smoked the suppression diode harness connecting the start wire going to the start solenoid. Without getting that fixed every time you go to start it, it will pop a fuse.
You could have smoked the suppression diode harness connecting the start wire going to the start solenoid. Without getting that fixed every time you go to start it, it will pop a fuse.
Vikingstaff
Moderator
Could end up being an insurance claim. My electrical/battery issue from spring fried most of my electrical system (you can read about it in my May 2021 post if you wish).
Since a definitive cause could not be found (most of my electrical system melted away and nearly caught on fire), the dealership and Bennington declared it “must have been owner error on trying to charge the batteries”. I am certain that wasn’t the case, and I had absolutely not crossed my wires when hooking up the battery charger, but no way to ”prove” it. Thus, warranty claim denied, and I had to file an insurance claim. Insurance agent said this is typical in electrical problems on boats, as the cause is often melted/damaged and indeterminable for warranty coverage. Ugh.
Anyway, it became an insurance claim. It is about $6k in damages to most of the boats electrical wiring and electrical systems. They still are unsure on any damage to the actual motor because they ”cannot determine that until they replace the electrical system and run power through it“ to test all systems - including the motor. Thus, the current claim amount does not include any potential damage to the motor. Fingers crossed on that one.
Going on 5 months next week on waiting for repairs. Still have some electrical components on back order from Bennington. Just spoke to dealer today, and we still don’t have any ETA’s on the few remaining back ordered components they are waiting on. Sigh…
I wish you the best of luck with it, and sincerely hope you don’t end up in my situation - deductible and deprecation insurance costs (about $1300) mixed with unknown and extremely long part replacement timeframes that are still open-ended.
Since a definitive cause could not be found (most of my electrical system melted away and nearly caught on fire), the dealership and Bennington declared it “must have been owner error on trying to charge the batteries”. I am certain that wasn’t the case, and I had absolutely not crossed my wires when hooking up the battery charger, but no way to ”prove” it. Thus, warranty claim denied, and I had to file an insurance claim. Insurance agent said this is typical in electrical problems on boats, as the cause is often melted/damaged and indeterminable for warranty coverage. Ugh.
Anyway, it became an insurance claim. It is about $6k in damages to most of the boats electrical wiring and electrical systems. They still are unsure on any damage to the actual motor because they ”cannot determine that until they replace the electrical system and run power through it“ to test all systems - including the motor. Thus, the current claim amount does not include any potential damage to the motor. Fingers crossed on that one.
Going on 5 months next week on waiting for repairs. Still have some electrical components on back order from Bennington. Just spoke to dealer today, and we still don’t have any ETA’s on the few remaining back ordered components they are waiting on. Sigh…
I wish you the best of luck with it, and sincerely hope you don’t end up in my situation - deductible and deprecation insurance costs (about $1300) mixed with unknown and extremely long part replacement timeframes that are still open-ended.
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PartyBarge
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Wow, what a horror story! Sure hope your SeaDoo 170 has taken some of the edge off the disappointment.
Vikingstaff
Moderator
That it has! Thank goodness for that this past summer.