Home › Forums › Bass Cat Boats › Compartment lights, horn, and bilge not working on 2011 Puma FTD
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Looking for some assistance troubleshooting here late on Friday (of course) before a day on the water tomorrow. Right now all batteries are 100%, main breaker is working fine meaning when off I cannot activate the inline rocker master power switch below the shifter without the main breaker in the batt box being “on” and when it is “on” I can, and everything seems to work fine in the boat other than my not being able to turn the bilge on manually and my lights in the battery, rod, and other boxes are not coming on? Horn not working either. Nav lights are operational, ACC light is good (lighted rails), recirc works, aerator works, fuel sender works. Read up on the boards here and did the unplug the touch pad deal harness and no change. **Update** After fooling with this thing for an hour I had an idea to see if it was the bilge or wiring on it that was causing the problem as the touch pad will not illuminate on the bilge feature in manual or auto so I ran a hose in to the bilge area for a few minutes to see if the auto float would work and kick on (it did not) but the pad illuminated dimly then got brighter and I was able to get a “beep” out of it for the first time and as the float started to “bob” up and down I could switch back and forth with no problem and also get the horn to sound. So now it seems that everything is working other than the “auto” feature on the bilge which could be a bad pump but the manual feature works from the touch pad so I am ruling the pump out as the culprit. The leds on the touch pad for the bilge feature are dimmer than the others so I am wondering if this touch pad has gone out or is beginning to fail as it went from zero operation to intermittent to working (minus the auto bilge ).**Update 2** (this just gets weirder). Added water via a garden hose again (same amount; covered the pump completely) to see if the auto float would work and now it does…and the touchpad leds are burning bright as are the others, compartment lights are working, and the horn remains 100% operational. Troubleshooting the connection at the bilge pump Im looking for corrosion (none), loose wires (no),and it all seems very solid. I am not sure what else to gather other than this touch pad may be flaking out?? Auto bilges dont normally empty the bilge completely so after it kicked off I then switched to manual and it picked up and cleaned her out as it should.So after all of that, now the whole rig is 100% operational but leaves me scratching my head as to what the issue is; the bilge pump (not thinking so), the connection to the bilge pump (seems solid in appearance and feel), or the touchpad? My money is on the touch pad as the horn was not working either but if the ground on the pump is tied in to the same ground the horn circuit uses that would knock it offline too Id think. Either way, its all working now and I cant say why other than getting the pump to fire up seemed to do what was called for and Im going fishing in the morning which is what matters until Monday when I turn my attention back to the “why and what” that caused this ordeal.Going to give BCB a call on Monday to run through this whole ordeal with tech support and see if they have any advice or suggest replacing the touch pad, pump, or both? I think its all under warranty so if I need parts Im sure theyll take care of me as Ive heard so much about their service or at least sell me what I need if its not.-Chuck Daymude 2011 Basscat Puma FTDLast edited by cdaymude on June 22nd, 2013, 3:53 am, edited 5 times in total.
They should handle this through Warranty on Monday. Sorry for the issue and there are thousands of these touch pad assembles in operation functioning properly. Apparently yours may have failed as can any electronic part.
Update ** Monday AM and Im back to square one.Heres what we know and what BCB is working to help me understand as they do the same:Horn – Not workingBilge Pump – Not workingCompartment Lights – Not workingCranking battery is good – 12.7 VDC on the multimeter directly from the battery terminalsBilge pump connections & pump seat are solid – double checked with torx head screw driver to be sure nothing was “wiggling” and its all solidHarness in back of A-10 Touchpad is solidHave not run water in to bilge again and am waiting to hear back from BCB on what might be the issue while everything is dry.Seems we have a connection issue or a bad ground possibly inside of the A-10 touchpad but were still diagnosing that now. Hope this is or will be of some help to folks as we work through whats going on. Searching for a needle in a haystack right now but well get it figured out.Re: the Touchpad, it happens… I experienced the same with one of my Rangers. Thanks for replying; much appreciated.Last edited by cdaymude on June 24th, 2013, 2:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
**Update – Monday late AMJust got of the phone with BCB and the consensus is a bad A-10 touchpad. Steven in support let me know that I have one on the way later this week when BCB gets theirs in and Ill send mine back for them to RTV along with an LED on the trailer thats out. Pretty straight forward stuff and very much appreciate the help from BCB. Hope this helps others as they troubleshoot their own issues.
**Update – Monday July 1. Got the new A-10 touchpad (thanks BCB) and have it installed. Im sad to report that there was no change to the situation. Will reach out to BCB in the AM for more ideas/help. Will keep this thread updated with findings.
Unfortunately, you wont be able to call BassCat this week. They are closed. http://basscatowners.yuku.com/topic/254 … h-July-8th It says, “no telephones will be answered.” Jim EbarbMany, LA (Toledo Bend Lake)2004 Cougar/ 225 OptimaxHumminbird Helix 12 Chirp SI on BalzOut Mount at bowLowrance HDS 7 at bowHumminbird Helix 12 Mega SI on Ram Mount at ConsoleLowrance HDS 8 in dash at console
With the help of a JEH here on the BCB owners board I was able to find the issue and solve it. Had to do with the terminal block and 2 issues that I found. Found 2 issues with the terminal block. While all connections felt solid upon loosening each (after disconnecting the positive lead on the cranking battery) I found that one terminal had significant corrosion on it and so I cleaned it with fine file to get a good “shiny metal to metal” connection upon reconnecting it. Second thing was that the jumper pointed out by JEH was not seated within the crimp real good and had a little “wiggle” in it which was only noticeable when the terminal screw was loosened. Went ahead and cleaned each terminal post, replaced the terminal block “loops” on both ends of the jumper and also the corroded ground terminal post I found and reconnected everything and IT WORKS!Last edited by cdaymude on July 2nd, 2013, 3:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
Always, always, always start with the terminal block. No matter how many times we state this everyone checks it in desperation. It is the most frequent point of corrosion and broken wires.
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