Breaker won't reset

[scott_farmer]

We took the toon out yesterday and once we were out found that the radio wouldn't come on. All of the other accessories are working fine and the radio had been working fine the day before. I found that one of the push button breakers on the helm was popped out. When I push it back in to reset, it will not catch or stay pushed in. It just immediately pops right back out. I looked under the helm as best I could at the back of the panel and confirmed that the wires going into this breaker were secure. I also completely unplugged the wiring harness that controls the radio unit that's installed in the helm hoping that this help, but the breaker situation remains the same.

I'm don't have much 12v electrical knowledge. Can anyone give me some pointers on how to isolate/troubleshoot this issue? I don't want to drag a 25' boat 30 miles to the dealer if this is something simple I can track down myself.

[NonHyphenAmerican]

Is it possible the radio got wet?

Does it have a removable face plate?

The first possibility to consider is that there is a short circuit, thus the breaker throws.

If the radio got wet or the face plate got wet, that could be your issue.

If it's the face plate, dry it in a container of rice over a 24-48 hour period.

Try unplugging the radio power cable on the back of the radio, then reset the breaker. If it resets, it's a short in the radio.



The 2nd possibility is that the breaker itself is bad.

If you hook power to the radio with a fused power line and it works fine without blowing the fuse, then it's a bad breaker. Replace it and go from there.

[Bryden24shp]

My first Manitou did that. When I cranked it up. It popped the circuit breaker, in the dash one tme and would not re-set when I pushed it in. I replaced it, and it worked fine until I sold it.

[sunedog]

Is it possible the radio got wet?

Does it have a removable face plate?

The first possibility to consider is that there is a short circuit, thus the breaker throws.

If the radio got wet or the face plate got wet, that could be your issue.

If it's the face plate, dry it in a container of rice over a 24-48 hour period.

All good advice. Just want to add that I've recently dealt with two wet iPhones. Did some research and conclude the often suggested rice trick does virtually nothing to dry out electronics. More than one data backed article suggested hoarding those little desiccant packs that come in packaging to keep the contents dry during shipment. Every time you see one when you buy something, put it in a sealed zip lock. When you need to dry something out, you'll have a collection of those packets to use.

[scott_farmer]

The stereo is a clarion CMS. I'm unsure of the exact model but it's similar to http://www.clarion.com/us/en/products-p ... rine/CMS2/. The faceplate that is in the dash is supposedly waterproof with the actual unit installed in the helm. The faceplate definitely got a bit wet on Saturday because we got caught in a storm for about 30 minutes. However, the radio worked the whole rest of the day after the rain. Everything under the helm appears dry.

I boat in salt water so the boat gets rinsed down in the evenings after we're out. A buddy was doing the hosing down and even though I asked him to not spray the helm, he may have accidentally sprayed it.

I'll pull it out of storage later this week and check the breaker and run through the great suggestions above. I'm going to have to get something working. The daughter's 15th birthday party is on the boat this Saturday and a bunch of teens on the boat with no music would be pretty sad.

[Heatman]

Can you a pull wire off of one side of the breaker to see if it will reset with no load on it? If it won't reset then you know it's just the breaker.

[scott_farmer]

I did a bit more testing tonight and determined that it must be the breaker. I turned off all of the power to the boat at the battery bank and the breaker still wouldn't reset. Then I pulled the dash off so I could get to the wiring. I see that the horn (which also doesn't work) and the radio are wired in together off of this breaker. I pulled both wires off of the breaker and it still won't reset. I went and bought an inline fuse to wire between the hot wire I pulled off of the breaker and the radio power wire. I was going to install it and make 100% sure that the radio would come on, but the mosquitios came out in full force and threatened to carry me away. This will have to wait till the morning. Keep your fingers crossed that this works. I have my daughter's 15th birthday party on the boat tomorrow at 10am and there will be a bunch of unhappy teenagers if there's no music on the boat.

The boat goes into the dealer next week for the 20 hour service, it looks like they're going to be replacing a faulty breaker as well.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

[LittleRiver]

Some reason my pontoon eats stereos but glad you found the problem. Kenwood marina like most of us run and the second week I had the first one it went out. Sent it back guy sent me a new one. No problem. E bay. I'm a e bay nut. Love having things at the house when I get home ..

Went to take it out the first time this year, dead as a door nail. Have a jump box I use on the autos hauling cars, hooked it up, would not go out of protection mode. Disconnected all the speaker wires, still would not come out of protection mode. Yes I took the face off and pushed the rest .

Read this next part of you have Kenwood.

Sent it in to Va Beach to have Kenwood repair look at it,, DO NOT waist your time sending it back to them. By the time they added on, all the extra things and I'm NOT kidding. First time repair order. Shipping and handling back to me, Technical dept fee for looking at it. Installation of the new part, THE PART, NO KIDDING,, I went to bass pro and picked up another one cheaper than I could have them repair it.

Simple to check a stereo and see if its working. Just disconnect all the speaker wires, connect to another power source , if its still not coming on and showing you the stations, just dump it and get another one.

The 150 or less you spend to get a new one, and that year warranty is worth the peace of mind anyway..
Jam to XM all day, every day, and switch the XM unit out the truck to the pontoon like I do the lowrance 7 between the pontoon and the bass boat.
Got's to have our music or its just not the same without it. .