Completely confused by boat electrics

[Tony Brooks]

17 hours ago, OliveOyl said:

Any chance the elecs on my son's boat could have a dicky red switch Tony ?

No, because the batteries were flat and the charger is connected direct to the batteries. If it was the switch the symptoms inside the boat would be similar to what he had but the battery would have had a decent charge in it.

[Tony Brooks]

15 hours ago, OliveOyl said:

Thanks Wot, just wondered as my boat has a dicky red switch 

It may have. You said you had a meter of some sort. If you set it to 20V DC and connect it to the two big terminals on the master switch, make sure the switch is turned on and then try to start. If you get more than (say)  2V on the meter the switch has seen better days. A simple but less reliable test is to screw up a piece of paper and stuff it into the hole for the red plastic key in the master switch. Then fit the key and turn on. If the problem seem to be cured you need a new switch.

[OliveOyl]

9 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

It may have. You said you had a meter of some sort. If you set it to 20V DC and connect it to the two big terminals on the master switch, make sure the switch is turned on and then try to start. If you get more than (say)  2V on the meter the switch has seen better days. A simple but less reliable test is to screw up a piece of paper and stuff it into the hole for the red plastic key in the master switch. Then fit the key and turn on. If the problem seem to be cured you need a new switch.

Thanks again Tony