electrical question

gradywhiteman

GreatGrady Captain
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I have a Garmin gps/chartplotter/depth finder.Sometimes when I use the trim tabs the gps will turn off. Is this due to a voltage drop when the trim tab pump starts? The boat is an 82 223 Tournament and everything electrical on the boat works. What would be a fix for this?
 
Most likely yes.
If this problem always happened, you probably have undersized cable or too much load on the feed. If it is more recent, you probably have a bad connection somewhere.

Make sure at a minimum that your electronics and the trim motor are on different breakers/fuses and check the integrity of all grounds.
 
I do have the feed for the gps off of the same terminal strip as the trim tabs, so maybe if I move the feed to an auxillary terminal strip that is on the port side it might fix the problem. I also had the batteries tested and they were good.
 
gradywhiteman said:
I do have the feed for the gps off of the same terminal strip as the trim tabs, so maybe if I move the feed to an auxillary terminal strip that is on the port side it might fix the problem. I also had the batteries tested and they were good.
Good idea. If both feeds share the same ground and same common battery feed), this approach may or may not work.
In general it is a good practice to separate electronics from mechanicals for several reasons. The design voltage drops for electronics is 5% but is 10% for mechanicals.
Coupling of electrical noise is more likely and electrical spikes are more prevalent on feeds that have inductive loads such as motors and solenoids.
 
It is a good idea to separate the feed for the Trim Tabs and the GPS as well as making sure that the correct gauge wire is used. The Trim Tabs are fused for twenty amps and it is always a good idea to separate higher amp devices from electronics.

Tom McGow
Bennett Marine
 
Damn, Tom, 8 posts in 5 years. I guess GW owners don't have many problems with their Bennett tabs...which is a GOOD thing... :goodjob
 
Has the Garmin been there a while and just recently the problems has occurred, or has it always occurred from Day 1 with Garmin?

When the NAV lights are on in darkness, and you hit trim tabs, how do they look?
Is there a difference if motor is running vs off? How much a difference? With respect to lights

Do you have a multimeter and know how to use it safely?
Even a cheap 10 buck one from Sears.
 
Thanks for your replys, I will separate the feeds and ground. I never tried the nav lights and the trim tabs at the same time, but I will to see if there is a difference. There is no difference in the lights with the motor running or not, are you leaning towards the alternator?