95 Ski Nautique Battery Probs

[gitnmybelly]

95 nautique with a carb 351. the battery died on me and i installed a new optima blue top and i am not getting any power to anything.

i checked the connections and they seem tight.
i checked the fuse its still good.
i checked to see if the batt was dead and charger said it was charged.

still no accys work, NOTHING!!!! please help its a nice weekend out on clear lake...

[TRBenj]

RE: 95 Ski Nautique Battery Probs

Did you check both breakers? There is one on the back of the engine, and one in the dash.

[gitnmybelly]

one in the dash

hmmm havent checked that one? its not the regular breaker switches is it? do i pull off the instrument panel and its behind that??? i wouldnt imagine it killing the power for the whole boat. like even the radio? blower? cuz nothing works.

[TRBenj]

Re: one in the dash

hmmm havent checked that one? its not the regular breaker switches is it? do i pull off the instrument panel and its behind that??? i wouldnt imagine it killing the power for the whole boat. like even the radio? blower? cuz nothing works.

Yup, its the IGNITION breaker. Every single accessory (from the factory) goes through it- so if its off, nothing will turn on.

[gitnmybelly]

yup....

thats is working i belive... i even traded out that break switch. still no juice.

[gitnmybelly]

could this have tripped or fried anything...

... i originally left my roommate to do the battery install. he bought a marine battery too big for the batt box. so i had to return it. but he said in the process he may have switched pos for neg and vice versa. what would this have done? just tripped a breaker or something right? or what else could i check?

also is there only one batt ground? or is there more than one ground?

[SquamInboards]

RE: could this have tripped or fried anything...

Get a voltmeter / tester and trace where power gets to and where it stops. The best kind is one with a long sharp probe so you can stick in into wires without finding the end, necessarily. Not to sound like a salesman, but I bought one called a "power probe" look it up, it might be my single favorite tool. If the + and - are hooked up correctly at the battery, the first thing to check is that big red breaker on the stern side of the engine. If there's power there (there certainly should be) then press the breaker to be sure it's not tripped... then check for power at the dash, starting with the IGN breaker described above, if that's working fine, then you should have power to everything else, unless something is disconnected behind the dash...