STV92

Got 2 electric actuators to open my back hatches "engine bay".
Started having trouble with them last year.
This year, they are both not working. Jumping direct, they will work.
Either wiring problem or switches.

Boat has 3 outboard motors so i have enough wiring to feed a small city.
Anybody have this problem before?? Any ideas where to start?

Boat is a 1996 and was built for 3 outboards.
My 3 battery switches are under the back hatch

jbbeard

you need a good mechanic with electrical experience to track the problem. No other solutions!

Port Monster

iTrader: (1)

Come on - need a mechanic? When you hot wire the actuator are you doing positive and negative wires? Us so check the ground. If the ground is good go to the switch and hot wire it there. If it works the switch is bad. If it doesn't the wire running from the switch to the actuator is bad.

phragle

iTrader: (3)

it might be a little more difficult then that, the actuator may reverse polarity to change direction. so it would be an on-off-on dual pole switch. In this diagram, pushing the switch one way sends pos + to the left wire and neg - to the right wire, push the switch the other way and neg- goes to the left wire and pos + to the right wire. Actual power + and ground - go into the center of the switch. The FIRST thing to trouble shot is the power and ground at the switch input. If those check out check power and ground on the outputs as you change the switch position.

If all this checks out, the check for power and ground at the actuator as the swith is positioned.

This is how I wired my Lenco electric trim tab circuit,

TIP: make sure your test light is good first, I recently spent 45 minutes trying to trouble shoot why I had lost all power to the dash, once I figure out the test light was bad it took me 45 seconds to find the bad switch..... DOH!!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]503273[/ATTACH]

STV92

Thanks for the diagram
Only has 2 wires,
I also think its a ground wire some where,.?

I have 2, 1 per hatch.
Neither of them are working and each has a switch.
I dont think both switches would die at the same time.
Trying to find out where they are getting grounded.

Would they be on a fused link?
The wiring under the dash is crazy, 3 motors and full of gauges.

Going to play with it later today with a test light.
May be easier to run all new wires then trying to figure out the bad wire.

Its a pain because my 3 battery switches are under the hatch.
Going to change that around,,
Keep you all posted

phragle

iTrader: (3)

If there are only 2 wires from the actuator it most likely reverses polarity to change the direction of the motor. Do you know what brand they are?

STV92

Dont know what kind, will look this week,
Thanks for the diagram, now i understand the wiring pattern

I think im going to run a jump "negative" wire from the battery,
Directly to the switch and see if i get power back.
If that doesnt work, i will try the same with the positive.
Keep you all posted.
If i find which fuse the line runs in, i can try that also.
Lets hope this goes well
Thanks to all

STV92

Starts getting funny
Finally stopped raining so back to work.

Checked power (working with first one only)
No power going to the switch,, no pos, no neg power.
Checked all the wiring and all looked good.
Tried it again and they both worked !!
Made a cup of coffee, came back and it did not work again.
Thought maybe a relay/fuse in the line.

Ran -\+ directly from battery to switch.
Now tester shows power to switch, up and down lights up.

Still not working on the acuator and thought i solved the problem.
Today going to jump 2 wires to the back and basicaly jump all the wiring.

Does anyone know if the acuator is a fuse/relay link ??

Note: i have 2 acuators, one for each side.
Seems one worked, they both worked.
One does not work, the other one doesnt either.

I jumped both acuators and they both work,,
Last summer they worked, stopped working and would work again
the next day.
But if one worked, they both worked. If not neither worked.
Keep you all posted as its not raining today and not working

Again: thanks for the diagram, it helped me understand the system.
Yes, the acuators only have two wires.