My 1 year old Beta 38 is using zincs completely up in about 1 month. That seems a touch excessive The only electrical connections to the engine are the positive and negative cables, put right where Bud Taplin told me to put them. I have a drive saver. Prop zinc usage is normal. Most of the past 8 months the boat has been at anchor (6 days out of 7) in the Caribbean. Engine switch in the off position. Any ideas? Thanks, Ken Schatz
If you are only losing zincs at the engine you probably have a small amount of voltage feeding back through the engine ground.
Questions:
Do you have a submerged ground plate (Dynaplate) installed?
Besides the engine and panel, do you have any devices on the vessel powered by the engine ignition switch?
Test:
To test if power is feeding back through the DC ground of the engine you will need to remove the battery ground wire at the engine block and connect a volt meter set at the lower DC setting between the battery ground wire and the engine block.
If you detect voltage between the battery ground and the engine block you have voltage leaking to ground through the engine. The source of the voltage is probably a defective appliance/wiring on board. If the appliance has a bad ground it may seek ground through the engine instead of through the designed ground system. Typically this problem is a ground circuit problem not a power problem.
Disconnect the power supply to each and every appliance on board until you see the voltage disappear. Once you have found the source of the voltage you will need to check the wiring and connections of the appliance to assure proper ground.
If you have a bad/faulty ground on an appliance or in the ground system the supply power will seek the path of least resistance to ground. This path can be through the engine.
You must assure that your ground circuit has good connections and that your ground wires are in good condition all the way through the system. This is just as important as the positive wires supplying the power.
Diagnosing bad ground circuits can be tougher and more aggravating then diagnosing bad supply circuits. A lot of hands on and visual inspection is required.
Almost forgot. Yes, there is a dynaplate tied into the antenna tuner with copper foil that is NOT connected to the engine. Should that affect anything on the engine? Thanks again, Ken
Usually all of your grounds are connected. Or should be. Having two grounds can create problems.
The best designs use a ground bus of an appropriate size and all appliances would be wired directly to this bus. The bus itself is wired to battery negative with a properly sized wire and with very good connections. The bus is also connected to a good dyna plate with proper size wire and good connections.
If the electrical path to the dyna plate ground is not as good as the ground to the engine block then the engine ground would become the path of least resistance. Particularly at low current levels.
Finding faulty grounds is not easy work. Strange things occur when grounds become faulty or non existent.
An interesting case.
I was once on a twin engine vessel with starting problems. The engines and panels powered up OK. The owner had put in a new battery but could not get the port engine to turn over well and/or consistently. I found that while he had plenty of power to the engine his engine ground wires were in such bad shape they were ineffective. In fact the port engine was grounding through the control cables to the stbd engine ground via the twin engine control head. Not the best of situations.
Many times the ground circuit wires are overlooked, poorly installed and under designed.
The only electrical connections to the engine are the positive and negative cables, put right where Bud Taplin told me to put them. I have a drive saver. Prop zinc usage is normal. Most of the past 8 months the boat has been at anchor (6 days out of 7) in the Caribbean. Engine switch in the off position. Any ideas? Thanks, Ken Schatz
