On engine 10 amp circuit breaker life

[Gene Prather]

The 10 amp engine mounted circuit breaker tripped this week. We had been underway for about 10 minutes, still just above idle as we stowed fenders, when we got a low voltage alarm on the engine panel, gauge showed less than 10v. Increased RPM to 1,000 and the alarm went away only to return about 30 seconds later and then the engine shut down completely and all power to the control panel was lost.

Thinking back to our last outing I now remember that we got the same alarm at low RPM but with a slight increase it went away and there were no issues.

The engine is a 6BTA5.9-M3 circa 1999. We are the 3rd owner of the boat but the breaker looks like it still had the original paint on the mounting screws. I’ve gone through connections, cleaning, tightening and applying Corrosion Block.

On Tuesday I will order a replacement breaker but is there anything else that I should check? Continuity in the wiring harness to the panel was good.

After 20 years could it be as simple as a failing circuit breaker?

Thanks,

Gene

Topic

[Rob Schepis]

Single engine, right? So no swapping for testing. Switch out the CB to an inline fuse holder like this with a 10amp fuse installed. If she blows it’s not the CB…..

[Gene Prather]

The dedicated engine start battery is ~1 year old, have not load tested it but it fires the engine immediately.

House batteries are performing normally so I don’t think the charger is a problem. But, the alternator certainly could be.

Thanks,

Gene

[Philip]

Could be even simpler……

Have you load tested the battery? How old is the battery?

Also verify dock charger and alternator are working correctly.

Phil

[Author]

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