Electrical Fault Finding Solution

[Andrewcook]

As there is a lot more Electrical things being put on the Boats with shore power being added on the Newer and Midrange and some of the Private Boats should there be a Fault Finder point being installed like we have in Cars as this would cost less and quick to sort the problem with out spending the  time and Trouble of illuminating the problem and expense at the same time. 

[grendel]

just imagine all the extra wiring involved in that, most cars have an onboard computer monitoring all the systems, - the ECU, most boats dont have electronic engine management- or canbus control which is where the data can be fed back along the wiring to the computer. simply put, boat systems are a lot less like car systems, boat wiring is where car wiring was back in the '50's and 60's for the main part.

[NeilB]

57 minutes ago, grendel said:

just imagine all the extra wiring involved in that, most cars have an onboard computer monitoring all the systems, - the ECU, most boats dont have electronic engine management- or canbus control which is where the data can be fed back along the wiring to the computer. simply put, boat systems are a lot less like car systems, boat wiring is where car wiring was back in the '50's and 60's for the main part.

This is true for most inland and small sailboats.  We’ve been Canbus since 2003, back then the ECU’s were nearly as big as a breeze block.  Now they are about the size of a Cadburys chocolate orange, but not as tasty!

[Andrewcook]

Hi Grendel as to the 21st Century Technology is getting things Smaller would that make things any easier to all the Electronic components that is installed from Fridge to Starter Motor  Alternators  to Batteries and Shore Power now to be installed in Boats?  I notice Griff was having a hard time sorting out Broad Ambition Electrical problems now all's well thank goodness 

[Vaughan]

7 hours ago, grendel said:

boat wiring is where car wiring was back in the '50's and 60's for the main part.

And I wish cars were still like that as well. In those days you could mend the things!

[ChrisB]

3 hours ago, Vaughan said:

And I wish cars were still like that as well. In those days you could mend the things!

Which is why when it really matters Land Rover have lost their old markets. In the "Red Centre" you never see a defender these days it is all Toyota 40s and it's successor the 70.

[NeilB]

5 hours ago, Vaughan said:

And I wish cars were still like that as well. In those days you could mend the things!

My car has not even got a dipstick, well, apart from the one behind the wheel !

[Vaughan]

15 minutes ago, NeilB said:

My car has not even got a dipstick, well, apart from the one behind the wheel !

In Broads sailing, we call that a nautical embolism.

A clot between the tiller and the mainsheet!

[Vaughan]

On 27/12/2021 at 20:43, Andrewcook said:

As there is a lot more Electrical things being put on the Boats with shore power being added on the Newer and Midrange and some of the Private Boats should there be a Fault Finder point being installed like we have in Cars

As a more serious answer to Andrew's question, we always try to keep hire boats as simple as possible and not install gadgets which will just cause another breakdown call. I have done a lost of analysis of breakdowns over the years (it was my job) and there is no doubt that electrical failures are by far the worst problem these days. The second one is overheating of the engine.

Both of these, however, are caused much more often by hirers not doing what they were told (what I call finger trouble) than by an actual fault on the boat itself.

By far the most important thing is to calculate what battery capacity in amp/hours your boat's equipment is going to need and then making sure that you have alternator power to re-charge that capacity in a days cruising. If you get that basic calculation wrong then sure enough, you will get battery problems.

[grendel]

the other problem becomes that of interpreting the engine diagnostic codes you are getting, for example on my car recently I was  having a problem and the only error code it had was telling me that the turbo boost pressure was low, (after having a new turbo fitted) in the end that translated to the manifold air pressure sensor had a broken wire (meaning the sensor reading the turbo bost pressure was faulty) so if you add the complexity to the system to read the codes generated, then you also increase the complexity of the fault finding, its easy to juust plug a code reader in and then fire the parts cannon trying to fix the fault, but in this case it migh have lead to the expense of a new turbo, which would not have fixed the fault, all over the fact that one wire was broken.

a simpler electrical system does not have these complex sensors and wiring, so is much easier to diagnose and fix if you are a home mechanic (and lets face it, most of us born in the sixties had to learn how to keep our cars running by our own efforts, where nowadays unless you have the code scanner, you dont stand an earthly chance of even guessing what might be wrong. as cars have just got so complex. 

a boat diesel engine will pretty much run once you have it going, a modern car, if one tiny sensor fails, the whole thing decides its going to shut down right now- and right now could be on breydon on a falling tide.

[Andrewcook]

Hi, Grendel I see where all this points to a very complex situation indeed if you are Crossing Breydon god help us lol. I wish you a Happy New Year