Graph wiring HELP!

Here is the situation.

Last night I took the boat out for the 8th time since I bought it. I replaced the 998si with a helix 12si gen 1. And below that i have an 1198di. Both of these I’m running to my control panel (board) right underneath the drives counsel (2014 ranger 620). I noticed that there is one 4amp fuse that is tied plugged into the control panel (board).

So the issue is when I took my boat out last night after my batteries were fully charged (new batteries this year) the graphs would not turn on at all. Have not had this issue with this boat before. It appears that the 1- 4amp fuse underneath my counsel is blown. I tried replacing it with a larger fuse but nothing. I followed it back to the cranking battery and checked all the fuses and noticed that the other larger 4amp was blown. I made sure that my break and everything on my boat was shut off. I went to plug in another 4amp fuse by my cranking battery and that blew right away, tried larger amp fuses but still would blow. Does this mean I have a short somewhere? Are my graphs damaged from this?

It means something(not necessarily a short) is drawing more current than your 4 amp fuses are designed for. It is highly suggested that you never replace a fuse with a larger one, that size fuse was there for a reason. You start bumping up the size you are increasing your risk of damaging your equipment or possibly starting a fire. And in all honesty, who actually goes back and remembers to put that smaller one back in?

Now with that said get yourself a multimeter (highly suggest one with audible continuity) and check your circuits. Disconnect both posts on the battery and see if you have any continuity from positive to negative or positive to ground(metal boat in this case). It may require disconnecting various legs and components (graphs, light bulbs, pumps, motors, etc) on the circuit to pinpoint the exact cause but you should find it. And if you check and everything is good but you don’t have any components connected it means one of them is likely your issue and you can start connecting them until you blow that fuse again and you likely found the culprit.

Graphs worked after you did the wiring but not when you put the boat on the water?

You might also try simply removing the last added unit wiring and see if it works, there by isolating which unit / wiring might be causing the problem.

More information needed, but if both graphs are on the same circuit, have you checked the device manuals for the stated amperage draw for the two units combined? Is it greater than 4 amps? If yes, then there’s your problem right there.

Electronics these days are increasingly power hungry due to bigger screens and more powerful sonar signals. You could well be drawing more current with these 2 units than the circuit is sized to handle.

Also, keep in mind, you must factor in the resistance due to the wire size and length of wire run and the resistance/amperage drop over that run. This is not insignificant in today’s boats and this is even more critical with DC current.

Fishblood is right, don’t just keep upsizing the fuse. Bad, bad things happen doing that. Figure out what the real problem is.

I can tell you that this SOUNDS to me like a short due to a chaffed or broken wire, but before chasing that, check the obvious and make sure the circuit can handle the amperage you’re trying to draw.

Bypass the control panel and wire direct to battery with a single fuse. You’ll have less interference also.

Joel VandeKrol wrote:

Bypass the control panel and wire direct to battery with a single fuse. You’ll have less interference also.

x2 on that all the graphs that I’ve put in have there own fuse disconnect and just run some wire direct to battery and check. Were the old graphs run to that same fuse?