Blower not working 2011 200

[tlwolf]

2011 SN 200 OB blower not working. Light on dash panel at blower button not coming on. How do I diagnosis the problem? Is it in the switch/panel or a bad blower motor. How do I interpret the light no coming on (bad switch element or bad motor). Don't see anyway to test the switch inside the switch panel. I am assuming the blower is behind the rear seat cushion. How do I get that off? Appreciate any help.

[bturner]

I don't know the boat layout so I can't help with where the blower is or things like how to get a seat out but I can make suggestions on general troubleshooting.

Start with stupid

• The low hanging fruit is always what we call the stupid stuff we know we should look at when these issues come up but for some reason overlook. Battery connections are high on the list. Go to the battery and make sure all the cables are hooked up. Check for corrosion, loose, dirty or damaged connections. If it look marginal now is the time to repair/replace it.
• Breakers are next. Since the light isn't coming on a tripped breaker or cable at the battery not being connected seems the most likely culprit.

Trace the circuit

• You're going to need a meter for this. Probably the best place to start is at the fuse panel. Under the dash find the fuse panel and determine how to get access to the back of the panel. Find the blower breaker and check again to make sure it's not tripped. If not find the wire that goes from the positive buss bar to the breaker. Check the power between the wire at the buss bar and ground. You should see something above 12v. If this is good go to the beaker side of the wire and try again. You should see something above 12v. If this is good try the other side of the breaker as in the other steps. If you have something above 12v here everything from the battery trough the fuse is good. If you lose voltage along the way that component is bad (i.e. connection, wire or breaker). From here you'll need a pin out of the key pad to check the output of the switch or to do a continuity check of the switch circuit.
• You can also do this from the opposite direction which I personally would do if you end up at a dead end at a PDM. Find the blower and check for voltage at the blower connector. If you have voltage do a continuity test on the motor or better yet run a jumper wire from the battery to the blower and see if it will run. If not replace it and test again.

Bad Breaker

• If the breaker won't reset or keeps tripping chances are the blower is shorted or frozen. If you seen this then go directly to the blower and troubleshoot as outlined above. I've also seen breakers that are not tripped but there is no current from one side of the breaker to the other. In this condition you can do a continuity check across the breaker to see if it's still functional but at this point I personally am changing out the breaker.

The big item I don't know on this boat is how power is controlled. In the old days each circuit would be breaker/fuse protected. The circuit then ran through a switch to either a relay on a high current device like a ballast pump or directly to a lower currently device like a blower or bilge pump. These days newer boats use Power Distribution Modules (PDM) to control power to individual components. When they work they're wonderful as they lend themselves to being modular which means wiring can be standardized and ran in a fairly generic wiring harness which really cleans up an installation. When they don't the cost to replace is off the charts compared to a traditional fix. A quick look on the Nautique parts site found these going for about $600.

With the basic information you've provided my money would be on a tripped breaker caused by a failed/failing blower motor. At least that's what I would be hoping for. Good luck and let us know what fixes the issue.

[tlwolf]

Update on the problem. I followed most of what bturner suggested. Thanks.
In the end I cut the power lead to the blower about 2 feet away and connected 12v. Blower worked. I did this because the access to the blower is next to impossible without moving gas tank.
That meant it had to be PDM or the push-button keyboard panel. No other problem with PDM. I bet on the key board which is expensive to replace and you can't get to the blower switch on the panel. I bypassed panel/blower switch and installed a separate toggle switch, indicator LED, a dedicated fuse and then tapped the wire going directly to the blower.
All works well. I think the keyboard switch for the blower just wore out as it used much more than other switches.

[Scooter G]

That's one way to get 'er done, nice work around!