Console, nothing working, no power???

[Bassky]

I checked all fuses visually. How do you check them with a meter after you pull em?
I am not an electrician, I am pretty green here.
Thanks,
Bassky

[FlyLie]

I checked all fuses visually. How do you check them with a meter after you pull em?
I am not an electrician, I am pretty green here.
Thanks,
Bassky

IMO, thinking you should consider taking it to a professional for repairs? We are not all gifted with mechanical/electrical skills.

[onemorecast56]

if you want i`m pretty good at the electrics on boats...I got diagrams of the wiring,,shouldn`t be too hard to run down,,,

[R19]

I checked all fuses visually. How do you check them with a meter after you pull em?
I am not an electrician, I am pretty green here.
Thanks,
Bassky

First remove the fuse from the terminal block. Then set your meter to the ohms setting. Then put the + on one end of the fuse and the - lead on the other end of the fuse. It will not matter which end of the fuse you put the + or - on just as long as they are on the opposite ends where the fuse plugs in. You are looking for continuity (continuous flow) If your fuse is good you will have a small amount of resistance ohms reading. If you have an analog screen and get a reading of 0 (zero) or a digital screen and get a reading of OL (out of limit) your fuse is bad. O Zero or OL out of limit means the path for current can not flow all the way through. This normally means a broken wire or internal part pending what type of fuse your checking. If your meter has a small number reading that means current can flow all the way through the fuse.

If you have a known working fuse that is the exact same size as the fuse in question check the ohms on it. I have seen a bad fuse give a false reading indicating that it is good. If the fuse in question gives an ohms reading of 5 ohms (which would indicate a good fuse)and the known good fuse has a reading of 15 ohms it is possible that the resistance reading was a false reading. If your hands were touching both ends of the fuse and the leads from the meter at the same time the path of flow was actually coming through your body.This does not happen often but it is possible.

Most boat and automotive fuse's do not cost very much. Sometimes I want even bother checking them with a meter because I can change them all for a new fuse and only spend less than $1-2. Which is cheap in my opinion.

If you do decide to check a fuse it is VERY important to remember that the ONLY time you check ohms is when there is no power/voltage/current present. If you try to check ohms on something that has voltage it will fry a cheap meter or blow an internal fuse if you have a more expensive meter.

[R19]

Just thought of something else that I wanted to add.

The directions I gave on how to check a fuse also applies to checking for a broke wire. Without knowing your wiring setup I can not give an exact example but I will try to give an example that you can understand.

ALWAYS unhook power. I am going to assume you have a hot and ground wire that goes straight from the battery to the console master switch. If you check from one end to the other with only the battery end and master switch end undone you can determine if that line is good or bad. Sometime this is impossible to do because the length of the wire is farther apart that the length of the test leads on the meter. To find exactly where a bad/broken wire is you will need to check one section at a time to find the exact location of the broken flow of current. There should be an inline fuse in the circuit (normally) within 12-18" from the battery on the hot side. Unhook the wire from battery and unhook it from the inline fuse. Then check for a broken wire with you ohm meter. 0 or OL means no path of flow/broken wire. A small ohms reading means you have continuity/good path of flow. Then check the fuse itself. Then unhook the wire from the master switch check section of wire from the fuse holder to the end that plugs into the master switch. To find exactly where in wiring is bad you will have to check each section one at time to determine which section is bad. Check both the positive and negative wiring.

Hopefully I explained it well enough for you to figure out your problem. I sometimes get too deep when typing information and tend to give too many details. I seldom get to work on a 12V DC system I mainly work with 480 V motors or 277 V lights with AC current, but the same electrical applies. If you have any questions please feel free to IM me and I will give you my phone number. I know that when something is explained to me by person rather than reading about it I absorb the information better.

[Embrey]

First remove the fuse from the terminal block. Then set your meter to the ohms setting. Then put the + on one end of the fuse and the - lead on the other end of the fuse. It will not matter which end of the fuse you put the + or - on just as long as they are on the opposite ends where the fuse plugs in. You are looking for continuity (continuous flow) If your fuse is good you will have a small amount of resistance ohms reading. If you have an analog screen and get a reading of 0 (zero) or a digital screen and get a reading of OL (out of limit) your fuse is bad. O Zero or OL out of limit means the path for current can not flow all the way through. This normally means a broken wire or internal part pending what type of fuse your checking. If your meter has a small number reading that means current can flow all the way through the fuse.

If you have a known working fuse that is the exact same size as the fuse in question check the ohms on it. I have seen a bad fuse give a false reading indicating that it is good. If the fuse in question gives an ohms reading of 5 ohms (which would indicate a good fuse)and the known good fuse has a reading of 15 ohms it is possible that the resistance reading was a false reading. If your hands were touching both ends of the fuse and the leads from the meter at the same time the path of flow was actually coming through your body.This does not happen often but it is possible.

Most boat and automotive fuse's do not cost very much. Sometimes I want even bother checking them with a meter because I can change them all for a new fuse and only spend less than $1-2. Which is cheap in my opinion.

If you do decide to check a fuse it is VERY important to remember that the ONLY time you check ohms is when there is no power/voltage/current present. If you try to check ohms on something that has voltage it will fry a cheap meter or blow an internal fuse if you have a more expensive meter.

youre gonna confuse him...a reading of '0',or very close to it is a GOOD fuse...the less resistance the better.