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Thread: Continuity through boat hull

  1. #11
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    I’m taking the readings from a small bare spot on the boat to the negative post of the battery. The entire deck, floor and gunwales of the boat have a factory sprayed bed liner applied and painted over. There is a BB sized spot close to the rear compartment that’s skinned down to bare aluminum. That’s the point where I’m touching the boat. I unhooked every ground wire from the battery and tested each one individually from the ring terminal on the wire to the negative post. Not one of them, including the main wire to the motor and ignition has continuity to the negative terminal on the boat. The boat has hydraulic steering so no steep cables there to supply continuity

  2. #12
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    None of the ring terminals will show continuity as you explained. The circuit is bridged by connecting those wires to the battery. Specifically the engine ground. To test for continuity between the hull and battery, connect all wires back to ground lug and then test between ground lug and hull.
    I'd rather be fishing.

  3. #13
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    I also have zero continuity between the battery ground and the hull.
    In fact, that's a main reason I installed my main battery disconnects in the negative battery cables.
    When I've got 'em off - I want 'em all off. When the boat comes out of the water, OFF. Boat in the water - ON. If I ever encounter an electrical problem, QUICK OFF.
    Not meaning to beat this to death, but when everything is going well, it would probably not be an issue. If you stop to think about it, you could come up with a host of scenarios where something "Not Good" could come from it. Reminds me of something an old electrician taught me years ago when a 7200 volt cable grounded out and did not trip out anything as it welded the blades in a power center, He said "Always remember, electricity does not always do what it is supposed to do".
    An extra measure of safety is always in order.

  4. #14
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    Is your battery switch off during testing?
    I'd rather be fishing.

  5. #15
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    Furflyin, please do explain to me , what black box and what case ground?

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by sliderman View Post
    None of the ring terminals will show continuity as you explained. The circuit is bridged by connecting those wires to the battery. Specifically the engine ground. To test for continuity between the hull and battery, connect all wires back to ground lug and then test between ground lug and hull.
    I did that. I checked it with them on the battery. The last wire on that stack of ring terminals is the LS black box ground wire. I only have continuity when that wire is hooked to the negative post on the battery. I don't have a main battery disconnect. There is no continuity with the key switch for the motor in the on position. I have not tested it with the motor running, but can't imagine why that would matter.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mbsbeek View Post
    Furflyin, please do explain to me , what black box and what case ground?
    With a livescope system, there's a main power box that the LS ducer hooks to. It also powers the head unit. It's generically called "the black box." It's black and it's a box. LOL

    In addition to the main hot and ground wire that runs to the box from the battery, there is an additional ring terminal to ground the case back to the battery. I assume it's for static electricity but I'm not completely certain that I remember it's function from when I originally installed the unit in my old boat when I first got it. I use to know, but now I'm not sure I remember.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheGrandPoohBah View Post
    I also have zero continuity between the battery ground and the hull.
    In fact, that's a main reason I installed my main battery disconnects in the negative battery cables.
    When I've got 'em off - I want 'em all off. When the boat comes out of the water, OFF. Boat in the water - ON. If I ever encounter an electrical problem, QUICK OFF.
    Not meaning to beat this to death, but when everything is going well, it would probably not be an issue. If you stop to think about it, you could come up with a host of scenarios where something "Not Good" could come from it. Reminds me of something an old electrician taught me years ago when a 7200 volt cable grounded out and did not trip out anything as it welded the blades in a power center, He said "Always remember, electricity does not always do what it is supposed to do".
    An extra measure of safety is always in order.
    Thank you for replying. I was beginning to think that I had the only boat in the world without continuity from the battery to the hull. LOL I will be installing disconnect switches.

    Thanks for all the replies and helping me struggle through this. The whole reason that I started testing this is because in all my wire pulling for electronics and such, I have somehow lost my running lights and gauge lights. I was checking each wire for continuity to the hull to see if I had scraped the coating off one and it had shorted out. This wouldn't be necessary if the "brilliant" engineers at G3 had put the fuse panel in a place where it could be easily accessible. It's directly behind the steering wheel. The only place they could have put it where it would have been less accessible would be to put it under the gas tank. Seriously, that's the dumbest thing I've seen in a long time on a boat brand that's pretty well respected. I will have to take the steering wheel off, and pull the dash, to access the fuse panel to be able to use a test light to check fuses and such to find the cause of my loss of running light, etc... Next summer when it's hot, and I'm not fishing, I will be redoing the fuse panel and putting it in a place where I can get to it.
    Likes Slabprowler LIKED above post

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