voltage drop from perfect pass????

[BP22]

I believe the red wire you mentioned is "always hot" Connecting your Perfect Pass power wire to it may make is difficult to turn the Perfect Pass off, and that could cause your battery to go dead before you would expect it to.
Does your boat have a "switch box" and touch pads to run the electrical system, or does it have a normal key, and switches for the accessories?

My boat has a keyed ignition and switches. On the Perfect Pass 9 pin connector that runs to the CC wire harness the red wire is the 12v power wire. PP recommended that I connect it to the purple wire on the switched ignition power and run a new ground to the fuse box.

???

[BP22]

Last week I re-wired my PP as suggested by my dealer and PP's tech support. From the 9 pin wiring harness I cut the red (12v) and ran it to the back of the keyed ignition to the purple wire (key on power) and ran the ground to my fuse box.

The system powered up, beeped and the display was backlit but nothing was displayed. I ran the boat for a bit and the PP was controlling the speed but still no display. I started and stopped the boat a few times and reset the PP and the display then started working. It worked fine for a day and then the display stopped working again. Did another reset and it worked for a couple of pulls, then the display went blank and I got the solid beep. I then tried the reset routine again with no success. The whole time when I would check the PP voltage using the "Menu" and the "Up" arrow it would display .7V with no fluctuation.

I re-ran the power and ground wires directly to the battery to see if maybe there was a voltage issue at my dash and the PP kept doing the same thing...work for a bit and then the display would go blank and I would get the constant beep.

This is the warrantied "new" unit from CC and I am assuming it is bad. :evil:

Now I have to drag the boat back to the dealer.

[BP22]

Pictures...

[BP22]

Update:

In addition to the other issues, when the PP was engaged and holding speed, if I turned on any dash accessory, ballast bump, bilge, blower, horn – the PP would surge the speed 1-2mph and hold. As soon as I turned off the accessory, the speed would settle back in to the set speed.

I took the boat to the dealer who was “baffled” by the boat’s behavior and they ordered me a new PP module. Flash forward to Friday (yesterday). I spoke with the dealer’s head mechanic and we talked about what the boat was doing and what I had done to trouble shoot it before he connected the new module.

He called me back later that day and said the new module and display worked but anytime he turned on any dash accessory the amperage would spike. He disconnected my second battery and combiner because it was the only “aftermarket” system on my boat and continued to trouble shoot the problem. He came to the conclusion that whatever controls the amperage in the alternator was shot and that the alternator was bad. When he was running the boat the alternator output was 40ish, but as soon as he turned on any dash accessory the output would spike to over 100. He figures this is why I have gone through two PP modules.

He started asking me questions about my stereo system, second battery (Kinetic HC2400) and the Yandina combiner and how it was wired. I explained how the entire system is wired independent of the boat’s factory wiring and that I had done this intentionally because I did not want issues with it effecting the boat’s systems and that I did not want an issue like this to arise where the dealer was using this as a cause for other problems. The mechanic is a straight shooter and admitted that he is not an electrical engineer and that he did not fully understand how the system works. He ordered me a new alternator and wants to keep the second battery and combiner disconnected until he gets everything running properly. He then said at that point it would be up to me to re-connect the second battery and combiner.

Question: Is it possible for the combiner and/or the battery to cause an increased draw and/or output on the alternator? Could this be responsible for the spikes?

Thanks!

[dan1166]

Let me tell you a story about perfect Pass. Last year, my ski partner installed Perfect Pass cruise on his boat. The system would not work properly. He talked with the people at perfect pass, and they told him he would need a higher output alternator.

So he spent a lot of money on a new alternator, and still no change. He then contacted perfact pass again, and they said it must be a faulty head unit. So they sent him a new head/control unit. Still no change. One day by accident, he left the key on, for 3-4 days, and the battery went dead. So instead of charging the battery, he installed a different battery that was laying around the garage. He used this battery to jump start cars. Well guess what. The Perfect Pass Cruise started working for the first time. The replacement battery was fairly new. We could only figure that the old battery could not maintain voltage, or the battery was shorting out when a load was placed on it. Sounds crazy, but it works.

Nevertheless, one year later, we are still skiing with the perfect pass. Try changing your battery. It may help

Dan, the STS Man

[BP22]

Thanks Dan. I am thinking about replacing the battery. What's weird is the huge output spikes out of the alternator.

[BP22]

I think we have reached the conclusion. Dealer replaced the Perfect Pass module (this is the third one) and my alternator under warranty. The tech found two issues. #1 - bad ground on the Perfect Pass which was causing the voltage issues. #2 - bad alternator which spiking over 100 amps and burning out the modules.

I ran the boat this weekend and all appears well.

[EchoLodge]

Read the entire thread. 01 Air with PP Wakepro. Second brain. First was replaced beacuse water had rusted leads to the paddle wheel plug. Still worked great in RPM mode. Spent 250 to buy a new brain. All worked well for a few months. Now my voltage meter reads just over 12 volts (both PP and guage) Newer batts. Alternator shows 13.5 at the post and the batts the same. Last weekend my wife said all the guages went off when she went in idle to pick me up. She restarted the boat and everything came back to life. The PP display now shows dark spots at times. I had voltage problems with my PP install on my 90 sport and replaced the alternator with a 95 amp and ran new 10 guage (both hot and cold) to fuse box. Fixed all my power issues. I will run new lines on the 01 and see if it solves the problem. Will report back!

[EchoLodge]

On the 2001 Air Nautique keyless ignition... Anyone have a picture or description of which wires I need to replace. The boat is 300 miles away from me right now. Does it have a purple running to it like the key ignition? Was thinking of running the hot from the purple to the fuse block.

[jroyal]

I have a 2001 SAN with the keypad. I would like to know this answer as well. Thanks.

[eshowcase]

I have a 92 SNOB that is also exhibiting this voltage drop behavior with PP.

For those of you that have upgraded the + and - primary wires to the dash..... I could use some help and more specifics.

It seems the original primary + and - wires originate from the back of the engine, main breaker, mounted under the Pro-Tec module, goes through a wiring harness connector, then run up the hull into the dash.

When you say you are improving these connections, are you connecting new, say 8 gauge + and - wires from back of the engine, bypassing the wiring harness connector up to the dash?

Or are you simply just adding a new additional 8 gauge + and - wires from the batter directly into the dash?

I guess I'm wondering what folks did with the original wires that are part of the wiring harness.

Thanks.