Electrics Question (Curly one!)

TheGreatestGoat
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Electrics Question (Curly one!)

Post by TheGreatestGoat » Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:05 pm

Hey All,
So I recently got a Mark Fish, for those not familiar a nifty little Melbourne invention that connects a Furuno sounder up to a different brand of chartplotter (http://www.mark.fish/). Anyway, wired it up as per the instructions and she’s working perfectly. Solid red power light. Tested it a few times at home and it’s all working sending waypoints from sounder to chartplotter. Waterproof all the connections.

Get out on the water and no dice.

I check the little red power light and it has gone from a solid red to an intermittent blinking as if to indicate it’s not getting enough power.
Go home re-wire it all and triple check the connections. Solid red light, powers up. Test it - all working.

Get out on the water and no dice. Same thing with the intermittent blinking light rather than solid red. Get it back home – working again!

Anyway so back at home, this time I turn on the engine, power up all the electronics on the boat – essentially try and replicate on-water conditions. Still working totally fine.

So I’m a bit stumped. I can’t seem to replicate the issue as it only seems to happen on the water.
I know it’s a bit difficult without knowledge of the specific device, but Is there anything that changes out on water that I’m missing here that would be causing this?

Any suggestions would be awesome!

Cheers,
Goat

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Fish-cador
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Re: Electrics Question (Curly one!)

Post by Fish-cador » Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:17 pm

Classic grounded connection. Dont get your boat wet. :-)

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Sinsemilla
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Re: Electrics Question (Curly one!)

Post by Sinsemilla » Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:23 pm

Fish-cador wrote:Classic grounded connection. Dont get your boat wet. :-)
hahahha

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Re: Electrics Question (Curly one!)

Post by Sinsemilla » Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:24 pm

Did you put into gear when you had it at home and running? Did you put all the electrics on that are on when you're out on the water?

Anth

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hornet
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Re: Electrics Question (Curly one!)

Post by hornet » Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:51 pm

But more importantly will it play Crysis on ultra high settings ?
He who has the most fishing rods WINS ! :ts:

TheGreatestGoat
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Re: Electrics Question (Curly one!)

Post by TheGreatestGoat » Tue Oct 31, 2017 7:47 pm

Fish-cador wrote:Classic grounded connection. Dont get your boat wet. :-)
Haha. Assuming the boat is wet, what am I missing? How is this affecting the circuit?

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Re: Electrics Question (Curly one!)

Post by TheGreatestGoat » Tue Oct 31, 2017 7:49 pm

Sinsemilla wrote:Did you put into gear when you had it at home and running? Did you put all the electrics on that are on when you're out on the water?

Anth
Yep and tested under full throttle with all electrics powered up. No issue. Only seems when boat is in contact with water. Doing my head in

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Sinsemilla
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Re: Electrics Question (Curly one!)

Post by Sinsemilla » Tue Oct 31, 2017 8:18 pm

How about.. get it going on the trailer just before you launch and check as the boat is going in. maybe the water is actually causing a problem by getting something wet that isnt supposed to be

Anth

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Fish-cador
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Re: Electrics Question (Curly one!)

Post by Fish-cador » Tue Oct 31, 2017 10:02 pm

TheGreatestGoat wrote:
Fish-cador wrote:Classic grounded connection. Dont get your boat wet. :-)
Haha. Assuming the boat is wet, what am I missing? How is this affecting the circuit?
Hard to write it down here. I dont know how you wired it.

You are correct to say that the intermittent red light is a possible indicator of lack of electrical power.....current to be exact. Water, due to the minerals and impurities on it conducts electricity. It is possible that your power supply is getting electrical connection with the hull or engine when in water causing current to drain to the water which is grounded depriving your unit of current.

Check your + and - power leads. Look around and make sure there is nothing that can cause your "live" power lead to be in contact with water, directly or indirectly.

There are other things you can check. As i said, it's too much to write them all here.

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Re: Electrics Question (Curly one!)

Post by ducky » Wed Nov 01, 2017 4:51 am

Do you have dedicated earth posts? Or earthed to the hull?

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