Expect the unexpected

Graham R · **Posted:** Tue May 05, 2015 4:46 pm

Since I bought my 2009 278 Vista in 2014, a "left over* dealer boat, there have been odd electrical issues (excluding those with the EVC-C system; another topic).

Cockpit lights always on but not on full power.
Forward bilge pump always running, again not at full power/ speed.
Systems battery always becoming discharged after less than a week
Forward bilge pump wiring completely wrong.

Anyhow, this last winter I removed the batteries. The forward bilge area filled up with rainwater water. I found a multipin connector there, completely submerged ( but in any case below the water level that the float switch works at). A lot of corrosion.

Chopped it off, attached new cables to multipin connectors below the cabin steps and rewired the bilge pump. Now the cockpit lights are only on when switched on, the bilge pump works properly, the battery (now batteries) don't discharge.

What seems likely is that due to the original factory miswiring of the bilge pump, that multipin connector got wet over the years the boat was unused and stored outside.

FW had a nice trick with the freshwater pump wiring +12V supply: an orange/ black wire but connecting to a brown/ green wire behind the shore power panel The same brown/ green colour as the feed from the switch to the pump. If they'd kept the same orange/ black colour for the last 9" to the switch it'd have been a lot easier to diagnose that problem !

230 Mike · **Posted:** Tue May 05, 2015 6:33 pm

It would be interesting to see how they note that in the wiring diagram!

ric · **Posted:** Tue May 05, 2015 10:44 pm

Wiring issues with Four Winns is not unexpected.

JeffLW · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2015 7:11 am

Graham R wrote:

I found a multipin connector there, completely submerged ( but in any case below the water level that the float switch works at). A lot of corrosion.

I found the connector for my shower sump pump in the same condition. Any water in the forware bilge and it was submerged. Had to replace it and tie it up out of the way.
Luckly it had not started causing and issue like yours did.

Paul I. · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2015 7:43 am

I have said this before, FW undersizes and does not use mairne wire.

In the 258 I had, cabin lights. I changed over to LEDS and I was doing to do it one at a time. So the first one I did would not turn on. After using the meter, the wiring was too small that it caused a voltage drop and the LEDs would not work until I removed 4 out of the 7 (hope my #s are right) old bulds which brought the voltage back up.

Never mind other wiring problems!

Jdpber · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2015 8:54 am

the worst thing for anything electrical or mechanical is for it to sit..

Graham R · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2015 10:54 am

Paul I. wrote:

I have said this before, FW undersizes and does not use mairne wire.

Never mind other wiring problems!

Apart from battery/ charger. amplifier power cables, the rest of the wiring harness on mine has tinned wire. The terminals on the submerged multipin connector were tinned, but not designed for continuous immersion ( sometimes with an applied voltage !)

Graham R · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2015 10:59 am

230 Mike wrote:

It would be interesting to see how they note that in the wiring diagram!

No wiring diagram is made available for boats after ca 2008. The manual that came with mine dates from 2006. Numerous wiring changes were made even to the battery switch panel in ca 2008. The dealers seemingly are not supplied with updated schematics either. The wiring diagram I have does not indicate any orange/ black wire supplying the switch; just two brown/ green traced wires al the way.

230 Mike · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2015 11:31 pm

They stopped providing wiring diagrams?? That's just crazy.

ric · **Posted:** Thu May 07, 2015 7:41 am

230 Mike wrote:

They stopped providing wiring diagrams?? That's just crazy.

Yes, to both the end user and the factory producing the harnesses.

Graham R · **Posted:** Thu May 07, 2015 8:00 am

230 Mike wrote:

They stopped providing wiring diagrams?? That's just crazy.

Yes, crazy. I checked some of the later manuals on their website; none of the ones I checked seem to have wiring schematics.

........................as to the fresh water pump, words fail me; Once the wiring was sorted, it ran in the boat, but no water passed through it. The inlet filter was correctly fitted on the supply pipework from the tank. I removed the pump to check it over at home. It ran but sucked no water out of the bucket, but pumped out some air bubbles into the water. The pump was factory installed the wrong way around in the boat ! There's even a moulded in arrow on the pump indicating the flow direction ! Easily rectified, but there must have very slack QC checks when it was released for shipping and similar when it was at the dealer for pre -commissioning checks.

www.iFourWinns.com

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