2008 Ranger Tug R-21 Electrical Problems Any Suggestions?

[TugNutinNorthTexas]

Hi All, 'Tug Nut in North Texas' needing suggestions... Recently acquired a new to me one owner, garage kept under 260 hours 2008 Ranger Tug R-21 EC in tip top shape. Did a lake trail a month ago, purchased it and have been enjoying the heck of of it since with zero issues. Every system on the boat worked perfectly as it should. That is until I decided to have my local marina on Lake Texoma haul the boat to compound and wax the hull. It was sitting in their shop on a boat dolly from Wednesday, July 22 until Thursday, July 30th while they worked on her. When they set her in the water with their travel lift, I boarded her, I turned both battery switches on, turned on the ignition, the idiot lights lit up the buzzer went off. The motor fired right up. Backed her straight out between two long narrow rows of slips using the bow thruster. As I turned to make the long trek out to the main part of the lake noticed that none of the D C electrical switches worked? The accessory switch that powers up the GPS/depth gauge/VHF radio, the separate running light/anchor lights/deck lights/bilge & water pumps, wipers, stereo, horn. None of the D C items worked? Friday I spoke with Ranger Customer Service and they recommend: 1.) Double check that the main battery switch is actually on? 2.) Check the Red reset button on the back of the motor hasn't tripped? 3.) Check that the batteries have at least 10.5 volts? Otherwise nothing will work. That possibly the battery switch was left on by the marina staff for the 7-8 days and wore them down? After being specifically requested via email at the offset of the project to be sure they turned the battery switches off after hauling the boat. So I checked the battery switches: ON The Red re-set button doesn't seem tripped? Really not able to discern any noticeable difference when pushing the Red re-set button in? No click or anything? These batteries were judged to be 3 years old or older so just replaced both rather than have any doubt. Checked inside up under the the D C panel, didn't see any lose or dangling wires.... At a loss as what to do next? Wondering if there is a main D C breaker or fuse somewhere that might need attention? Any one else run into this or have any suggestions? Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[bob daily]

TugNutten, I would start at the source (battery) with a voltage tester and work my way forward to the power distribution panel, sounds like a loose wire some where, be sure to check ground wires as they can be a big problem. There is a R-21 wire diagram but very basic. Good luck on the fix! Bob

 

[Newf]

I had one occasion where I launched the boat and fired up the engine with no issues but no power to anything in the cabin. I had a set of jumpers on board so connected the two batteries together and everything fired up. Ran with cables in place for 10-15mins and took them off. Something must have drained the house battery. Have not had the same issue since. You noted that you replaced the batteries. Have you confirmed that your house battery is OK,,,fully charged, and connections are OK?

 

[Thatguy]

Did you check the resettable breaker on the house battery? Another thought is that the ACR (automatic charge guard) had isolated the house battery. Jumper cables to balance the voltage while underway, or external battery charger on the house battery may bring voltage up enough to work. Did the problem continue after changing the batteries, or were the batteries changed before the incident?
J.P.

 

[TugNutinNorthTexas]

Thank you for your input. Previous owner also suggested that since I was able to operate the boat, there is power to the tach, bow thruster & fuel gauge and that the main power distribution to the ignition switches is good and they are doing their basic functions so the problem seems to be in the power distribution to the GPS, Depth, lights, horn, manual bilge switches, etc which says to him that I should look at the distribution panel in the cabinet where the main battery switch is located?

 

[TugNutinNorthTexas]

TugNutten, I would start at the source (battery) with a voltage tester and work my way forward to the power distribution panel, sounds like a loose wire some where, be sure to check ground wires as they can be a big problem. There is a R-21 wire diagram but very basic. Good luck on the fix! Bob

Thank you Bob, I actually do have the R-21 wire diagrams and will try your recommendation next weekend.

 

[TugNutinNorthTexas]

I had one occasion where I launched the boat and fired up the engine with no issues but no power to anything in the cabin. I had a set of jumpers on board so connected the two batteries together and everything fired up. Ran with cables in place for 10-15 mins and took them off. Something must have drained the house battery. Have not had the same issue since. You noted that you replaced the batteries. Have you confirmed that your house battery is OK,,,fully charged, and connections are OK?

Thank you Newf. Yes, I can confirm both batteries are currently brand new, fully charged and correctly connected. removed and replaced both batteries Saturday afternoon because they were estimated to be 3 years old or older and was willing to err on the safe side and completely eliminate any possibility it was the batteries not holding a charge. My experience is they usually don't last too much longer than that anyway. Newf, I really do appreciate you sharing your experience and am going to try your battery cable suggestion next weekend when I go up to the boat. Its located approx 60 miles away. My guess is the mechanic that brought the boat around to the travel lift either forgot or ignored my request to turn the battery switch off when departing the boat for the week or so it sat in the shop. But to me that still doesn't explain why none of the D C electrical items work now and they did going in?

 

[TugNutinNorthTexas]

Thank you for your insight. Sorry for the delayed response, having too much fun with the R-21. Your recommendations were spot on! It was indeed the main breaker, located above the back of the motor by the batteries. Unbeknownst to me when the breaker trips there is a little button that pop's out on the bottom of the breaker that is not easily seen. A new replacement breaker was ordered from West Marine and installed the next weekend. Everything's working perfectly again.
Cheers...