Positive motor fuse row MD2030

[dralyagmas]

I seem to have a short in the motor system somewhere which is blowing the fuses in the row of 4 fuses on the starboard side. Firstly I need to find the short but I also am thinking about changing this row of 4 fuses into a circuit breaker. This will take away to potential incident on the weekend where I was rapidly blowing fuses without being able to start the motor in a 25-30 knot headwind. Fortunately I got it started on the last fuse in the row (and last fuse on the boat) so the idea of a reset-able circuit breaker is appealing. has anyone done this? what type did you use? The fuse is 15A but this seems pretty low for alternator type stuff

Now on to the reason for it blowing, I have the following ideas:
Alternator (hopefully loose connection)
loose wire on the start panel
loose cable within the motor electrics
loose cable within the motor battery

Boat is a Sunfast 37 and interestingly just dropped a large amount on money on the motor to clean it up after some poor maintenance by the old owner. This has only started to happen after that service. I will be approaching the mechanic for some input.

Any other ideas?

[rene460]

Hi dralyagmas,

It it would be worth checking the circuit diagram in your manual to see what the fuses are for - it would give you a few more clues on where to look for a fault.  Of course, you already know what stops working when you blow the fuses, but there are sometimes worthwhile clues to where the wires go in the diagrams.

My local electronics shop has resettable blade fuses which fit in place of the automotive style fuses in most locations of our boats.  They come in 5, 7.5, 10 and 20 A.  At about $6 ea, I have some in both the car and the boat.  If you can't find them more locally you can buy them on line from www.altronics.com.au.  Item S5540, - S5546 in their catalogue, they are quite reliable to deal with.  The fuses are very small and light to post.  They are a direct replacement for the standard throw away ones so no installation worries.

rene460