Beta Marine control panel problem

[Jen-in-Wellies]

23 hours ago, Chewbacka said:

As an aside, I have found on old cars (pre lots of electronics), that when a number of lights etc start working strangely it’s a bad earth, possibly in the multiple connector.  You could try running a temp wire from a good earth (such as the battery negative, or engine block, and then finding a negative wire on your control panel to see if that fixes it.  If it does it will help to narrow the search for the dodgy connection, which may not be in the multi connector.

Old Ford cars were notorious for this. Brake lights blinking with the indicators and so on. Less of a risk of this with boats, as we shouldn't be using the hull as an earth return and it will fail the BSS exam if caught. However, when fault finding, I find I have to remember to investigate the black wires with the same degree of scrutiny as the red ones!

Jen

[WYVERN]

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Old Ford cars were notorious for this. Brake lights blinking with the indicators and so on. Less of a risk of this with boats, as we shouldn't be using the hull as an earth return and it will fail the BSS exam if caught. However, when fault finding, I find I have to remember to investigate the black wires with the same degree of scrutiny as the red ones!

Jen

Indeed Jen - old electrics and circuit diagrams that don't seem to match reality 🥴

[Tony Brooks]

2 minutes ago, WYVERN said:

circuit diagrams that don't seem to match reality

 

Been into some RCD manuals I assume 🙂

[1st ade]

2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Less of a risk of this with boats, as we shouldn't be using the hull as an earth return and it will fail the BSS exam if caught

But (for the OP) we're not talking about the hull. A dodgy earth wire twixt engine and instruments could cause all sorts of fun and games...

 

[The other 'non obvious' commonality is there seem to be a lot of diodes who's sole purpose in life is to 'test' the bulbs that don't come on very often (overtemperature?) by tying them to one that does (Ignition)]

[Tracy D'arth]

6 minutes ago, 1st ade said:

But (for the OP) we're not talking about the hull. A dodgy earth wire twixt engine and instruments could cause all sorts of fun and games...

 

[The other 'non obvious' commonality is there seem to be a lot of diodes who's sole purpose in life is to 'test' the bulbs that don't come on very often (overtemperature?) by tying them to one that does (Ignition)]

Diode logic, usually on boats its used to operate the warning buzzer from multiple sensors, oil pressure, ignition and temperature.

[WYVERN]

I'm still waiting for the new cutoff switches to arrive (today) so not put it all back together again.

Speaking with the engineer at my local boatyard (who installed the engine a few years ago) he reckons it could be something as simple as damp in the control panel after the winter layup—says happens all the time to their hire fleet 🤔

I've taken a hair dryer to the back of the panel (looked dry) and cleaned the spade contacts (no obvious corrosion).

I'll defer disassembling the 13 way multiconnector (😱) until I've hooked the batteries back up but have cleaned the 2 pin sub loom connector.

The buzzer does work as do all the warning lights so it can't be a component failure.

 

🤞🤞🤞

 

 

Edited March 10, 2022 by WYVERN
Additional text

[ditchcrawler]

35 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Diode logic, usually on boats its used to operate the warning buzzer from multiple sensors, oil pressure, ignition and temperature.

I lost the buzzer on the oil pressure alarm like that, light worked buzzer didn't

[Jen-in-Wellies]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I lost the buzzer on the oil pressure alarm like that, light worked buzzer didn't

Had a similar thing on my Beta panel. I replaced the buzzers with separate ones for each alarm, rather than rely on the diodes.

[Tony Brooks]

22 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Had a similar thing on my Beta panel. I replaced the buzzers with separate ones for each alarm, rather than rely on the diodes.

 

Very sensible, that was my plan for the Bukh when the connectors on the diode assembly started to corrode but soldered them as a temp. measure and then sold the boat before I could get around to it. As  the buzzers only cost a few quid each it seems like a no brainer for boaters. for marinisers those few quid add up so diodes are cheaper.

[WYVERN]

ALL SORTED 😃

Looks like it was a dodgy master battery isolation switch and/or poor connections.

Fitted new isolated, cleaned all fittings etc and all now working fine.

Very glad I didn't take the multiconnector apart