Help Needed: 03 SAN upgrade to Ballast Pupies

[mnwakerider]

Hey Guys hoping you can help me out as I am out of ideas/knowledge at this point.

I am upgrading the aerator pumps to Jabsco ballast puppies. I have these schematics from Nautique on how to wire the system via relays. Here is my problem: on only the starboard fill when I hook up the leads from the PME box I always blows the 30 AMP inline fuse. It blows before I hit the switch on the keypad. It actually blows when I connect the battery. Trying to isolate the issue I added the power from the batter, the ground, the lead to the pump, positive from PME (white/yellow) and then when I added the negative lead from the PME and only then it blows the fuse. The oddest thing is it only happens with Starboard fill. Everything else works perfectly (port and belly fill and drain). I have tried everything I can logically think of, but I am not an electrician.

Any help or ideas? I finally have the boat with easy access so I can get to it daily to try other things.

Thanks!!

[mnwakerider]

Anybody? It is killing me that only one of these doesnt work...

[Chexi]

Sounds like a bad ground to me... possibly in the pump itself? Have you tried switching the pumps to see if the problem is with the pump or the wiring?

[ski4evr]

I agree with Chexi, you should check the wiring and or the relay. You are creating a short to ground when you connect it up.

[mnwakerider]

I agree with Chexi, you should check the wiring and or the relay. You are creating a short to ground when you connect it up.

So I bought a new relay and that didn't change a thing... Same with changing the pumps.

I just picked up a multimeter. How can I check the quality of the ground with one? Or other ways of verifying the quality of the ground? It would be odd as I have all of the grounds going through a distro block but it has to be something!

Thanks for the help!!

[RideButter]

You should be able to check for continuity between ground and power with the power disconnected, if you have continuity, i suspect a short over a bad ground. You are blowing the fuse on the pump side of the circuit before you press the button? I would also suspect the the possibility that the relay is closed as soon as you energize.

[mnwakerider]

You should be able to check for continuity between ground and power with the power disconnected, if you have continuity, i suspect a short over a bad ground. You are blowing the fuse on the pump side of the circuit before you press the button? I would also suspect the the possibility that the relay is closed as soon as you energize.

You are correct. The fuse blows as soon as the ground is connected without any "communication" from the switch to engage the relay.

I tested the ground from the block by going straight to the ground terminal on the battery with a test lead. The same thing happened. Does this help prove or disprove anything?

[RideButter]

All you have done is added another ground lead from the battery to the engine block. I would look at your wiring from the pump to the relay. If that relay is closed, and the wires from the pump to the relay are shorted, that would cause that breaker to open.

[thedude]

MN, did you get this all figured out?

[mnwakerider]

Nope, taking it to the marine electronic tech my dad uses this week. I will post up what he says is the issue and how to get around it for future reference.

[mnwakerider]

The marine electronic tech was able to figure it out... NAPA gave me a bad relay. They gave me a single throw and not a double throw relay. Meaning no ground when the relay is open. Switched it out and everything works just fine! Knew it was something stupid I couldnt see... Just wish I would have know that was the issue.
Thanks for the help and thoughts guys! Now off to the lake to fill the extra ballast off my sweet key pad.

[thedude]

Great news glad you got it figured out! Do your relays have an internal diode? When I did my install the original relays I used didn't, with the motor running if I went to turn off a pump it would cause a voltage spike and cut power to the dash and perfect pass for a split second (perfect pass would surge then regain speed control). It was kind of annoying, so changed all the relays to one with an internal diode. They were about $5 each.

[mnwakerider]

Not sure on the internal diodes. How would I check that?

[mnwakerider]

Great news glad you got it figured out! Do your relays have an internal diode? When I did my install the original relays I used didn't, with the motor running if I went to turn off a pump it would cause a voltage spike and cut power to the dash and perfect pass for a split second (perfect pass would surge then regain speed control). It was kind of annoying, so changed all the relays to one with an internal diode. They were about $5 each.

Mine does this now! Bummer... How did you find relays with the internal diode?

Got the boat out this weekend to play with the system. Couple of little tweaks left (seats getting pushed up, extra hose etc). But fill and drains all worked great.