Help!!! No electric power to motor

[IrishAyes]

I put the batteries in the boat today. Two fully charged one year old batteries. Turned on the battery switch and hit the button on the motor to tilt the motor up. Nothing! Went in the cabin and hit the tilt button on the shift control. Nothing!

Pressed the horn button. Horn sounded, very loudly (two horn system). Scared the hell out of the guy working on the boat next to mind. Got yelled at for doing so as he almost fell out of his boat and to the ground.  

Dash gauges work, all lights work. With the safety lanyard not installed I turned the key to the 'on' position. No alarm (usually sounds without the lanyard in). Turned the key to run. Nothing!

Had battery switch in 1, 2 and all positions. Did not make any difference (didn't really expect it to but wanted to take that off my list of maybes)

I'm thinking, fuse in the motor wiring harness. Didn't have time or equipment with me to check electric system any further and came home.

Anybody know where the fuse would be for the motor wiring harness? Or, if you don't think that is the problem, I am open to any and all suggestions on what it could be.

Oh yeah, Year class 2006 Yamaha F225 (4-stroke)

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Hotrod]

I'm not an electrician Joe.  But if it were me. I would be looking at what would have caused this.  I find it hard to believe you blew a fuse..

It worked fine when you put her into hibernation.  so.  what was done.. well.. the cowling was removed.. and then put back on after the winter maintenance.  I would look for a wire that got hung up... and unplugged

Been there had that

[Hotrod]

Or maybe on of your buckets got hung up on the wire harness under the gunnel when you were removing them

[PeggyLee]

 Joe, I'm sure you will take a good look at the battery switch,and all cables as part of your search. I just changed all terminals and replaced batteries.Keep us posted.

[Fishin Dude]

Joe,PM sent.   <'((((><

[Hotrod]

sounds like operator error to me...

 

[IrishAyes]

Both batteries are hooked up the same way they were when disconnected when I removed the batteries. And yes, two cables on one battery and one on the other. When I disconnected the wires I hooked them together so I knew they would be the ones that had to be together with the reinstallation. I don't believe I missed hooking up any wires but will check. Didn't really have the time or patience today to really get into troubleshooting. I am sure it is going to be a minor issue and yes, possibly operator error. I just don't know what error it would be at this time.

Will keep everyone informed as to the fix.

Thanks for the suggestions. 

I am still snickering from the tooting of the horn and the guy next door. hehehe 

[Luna Sea 5]

i changed my house battery.  I tried starting my starboard engine and it wouldn't crank.  When I looked a second and third time, I missed connecting the negative wire to the house battery.  I connected it and it worked.  In my boat, the house battery has to be on (ON) and the starboard battery has to be on (1) to start the starboard engine.  That engine will not start if my house battery isn't on.

Bottom line, sounds like you just missed a battery connection.

[IrishAyes]

That is possible. Although I did not see any cables left over when I was done the install. The very first thing I will do when I get back down to the boat is check to make sure all battery cables are hooked up and are in sound condition. 

[Luna Sea 5]

i had 5 cables that had to be on the battery post.. I swore I had them all.  I looked for 2 days to figure this out.  Sure enough, one was missing.  As soon as i hooked that one up, first crank and she started..

[Reckless]

Tilt motor, fuse or bad wire. You say everything else is working that narrows it down.

[L.T.]

Joe, Did you take the engine cowling off and inspect the main wiring harness plug and ground wire on motor? Worth a try

[IrishAyes]

The only thing I was able to do to check things was to look at all the connections and pull on some wires to make sure the connection was tight. I did not remove any connections (except for the battery cables) in my limited trouble shooting time.

I did check under the hood and everything looked ok.

I will try to get down tomorrow with some test equipment and a test light and hopefully find the problem. I will also do a better job of visually inspecting my wires to try to determine if there is any corrossion under the wire insulation, but it all looks good.

Thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming if there are any more. 

[CapBob]

Joe

I am sure you made sure the connections are real tight.

Are the terminals and connections clean?

Lanyard in the kill switch?

Might be a problem with the kill switch

In Line Fuse?

[ped579]

I bet you put the kifnin pin in backwards.  This probably set up an over tinkle that caused the framis to ratchet it self loose.  Clean and tighten the framis and I bet your problem will be just fine...Any other problems?

[Jeffish]

Joe.

Is it possible that maybe one battery is dead and the other is half dead? This could cause issues. I'm no expert but I'm just throwing this out on the table. When my truck battery dies, the horn works, but the engine won't turn over or click and make any noise.

How were the batteries stored in the winter?

Just my un-educated guess.

[Luna Sea 5]

Lanyard in the kill switch?

this can be a problem also.  Many years ago, same problem, and drove me nuts to find out that the lanyard wasn't in all the way, even though it looked like it was.

[IrishAyes]

Irish Ayes are smiling.  
But my azz can use a good swift kick.  

Went down to the boat today. First thing I did was check all of the wires. Everyone of them was connected and connected properly (almost properly anyway). I hooked up my test light to pretty much anything that I thought should be tested. Light came on every time, including when I tested the positive and negative cables at the motor. This made me go back and reevaluate the connections at the battery.

I took the cables off, on post at a time. I took a file to the terminal ends and the battery posts. Although the terminal ends 'looked' to be clean it is obvious that they were not clean enough for the motor's liking. After cleaning the cables and reinstalling all of the wires I hit the tilt/trim switch. That is what made Irish Ayes smile.   The motor did not hesitate in going up. I tried the ignition switch with the lanyard out. The motor turned over with the quick on and off of the key (didn't want it to start).

What is the lesson in this? NO MATTER HOW 'CLEAN' THE CABLES LOOK, CLEAN THEM ANYWAY. Really something that I knew but was just negligent in not doing it to begin with.

Now, where is my kick in the butt?

I want to thank everyone who gave suggestions on what it may be and everyone who offered to come to my boat and give assistance. It doesn't get any better than that!!! You are all a bunch of great guys.  

[CapBob]

Joe

Glad you are underway...alway, always ceck the simple hings first

[Fishin Dude]

  Gentelmen, Start Your Engines!    <'((((><