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I had an electrical problem on my boat, and even though I checked a bunch of things, the one thing that I overlooked was the problem. Check out this video to find out more. We have a big announcement. You can now become a YouTube member. You can join as a YouTube member right now here on screen for custom loyalty badges and emojis. Or, if you are looking for exclusive early access to our videos, live Q&As, and more direct support on your project, we also [music] launched our brand new Patreon page linked in the description below. Thank you so much for watching and being part of the Pacific Yacht Systems community. Now, let's [music] get back to the video. Hey everyone, Jeff Cote here with Pacific Yacht Systems with another installment of Tech Talk. This past summer I was out boating and I was talking to many boaters, and many of them asked, "Hey Jeff, did you get stumped this summer with an electrical project or uh troubleshooting some electrical on your boat, and is there any sort of lessons that you can share?" You know, the reality is that breakdowns, no matter how hard we try, happen to all of us, and it happened to me on a couple of occasions this summer. And there's one that really sticks out that I really want to bring out to all of you. So, this past summer, uh while underway, I noticed that my alternator stopped outputting, and I was like, "Why would my alternator stop outputting? I just had it uh refurbished, and I'm having on it a relatively new external regulator." I'm like, "That's odd. Why is it intermittently working, but most of the time not working?" So, I went down in the engine room, or, you know, lifted the engine cover, and one of the first things I started was like, "Okay, well, maybe the power to the device is the issue. Maybe the fuse blew or it's partially." So, I ended up checking the fuse, and uh the fuse was still intact, looked intact. I measured the fuse, and the fuse looked good. I put an ohms meter across it, and I'm all proud, and I'm like, "Oh, so the fuse is good." So, then I'm like, "Oh, maybe the ignition wire cuz uh alternators are excited with the ignition wire." I'm like, "Oh, maybe the ignition wire is the problem. Uh it's not turned on, right?" So, one thing is powering the device, and the other one is just like remotely, via the ignition switch, turning on the device. Look at the fuse in there. Fuse looks good. Measure the fuse. Put the fuse in. Still not working. And then I'm start scratching my head, and I'm like, "Well, it's powered cuz I measured the fuse, and I saw that it's good, and the ignition fuse is good." And I'm like, "How is this not powered?" And I'm like, "Oh, maybe the ring connector failed." And then I look at the ring connector, and I cut it off, and I put a new ring connector. Still doesn't work. And I'm like, "Now, this is odd." And I'm thinking, "Oh, maybe it's the butt connector between the fuse holder and the wire." Change the butt connector. Still doesn't work. So, now I'm really scratching my head, and I'm like, "What the hell is going on? Like, why is this device not being powered if it receives power?" You know, in my mind, right? Well, lo and behold, my fuse holder had actually failed open. I had yet ever to see that. But sure enough, I basically ended up cutting the fuse at both ends, putting a proper fuse in the fuse holder, and I had absolutely zero connectivity from one side of the fuse to the other fuse holder. And so, you know, sometimes when we're troubleshooting, things aren't on our boat, and it's a good reminder is to never assume that anything you see is actually working. And it was a good reminder for myself and for all of you that when you're troubleshooting electrical systems on your boat, and you see that the you've got no power to an equipment, just measuring the or checking the viability of the fuse itself is not good enough. You need to be able to actually see that you have connectivity from one side of the fuse holder to the other. And sure enough, I ended up changing the fuse holder using the old fuse, putting obviously a new ring connector, new butt connector, and suddenly, boom, the device was able to turn on just like that. So, here's a good reminder. And I learned it, and it's good even happens to me, too. Is make sure to never assume that what you have in front of you is working, and be curious. Right? If something doesn't make sense, it doesn't. And be inquisitive. And when troubleshooting electrical systems that have fuses that maybe are giving you grief, remember be curious more than just the fuse itself. And ask yourself, did potentially, and this is albeit rarely, did the fuse holder on my boat fail like it did on Jeff's boat this past summer? So, if you made it this far watching this video and you appreciate what we're doing, please subscribe on the channel. Also, don't forget to uh hit the notification bell so you can know when we've released our latest videos. If you're in our waters and have troubleshooting projects that you have in mind, reach out to Pacific Yacht Systems, and we're always glad to be of service. If you've got a refit in mind, we're also here to help. And lastly, uh if you're maybe thinking about doing a electrical redesign on your boat, and you'd like to have us help out even though you're remote, consider our discovery and design services. Thanks all for watching, and be safe on the water. Hey fellow boaters, we're going to be doing a lot more tech talk videos. If you've got any suggestions for future videos leave them in the comments below. Once again, thank you for watching.