ballast pumps not working all the sudden...

[jixxxer]

Hope u guys dont hate me for all the questions, (but with my new to me boat), you want everything right and working properly.
So we go riding sunday, and fill the ballast bags, empty them some, fill a lil more, just seeing how it works. Bout 10-15mins after filling the rear bag we go to empty them to leave, but nothing happens! This is a homemade system, It runs on 3 pumps using the acc. swith on the right side of the wheel. You turn some valves to empty and or some to fill. One other thing I noticed is when I engage the switch it makes perfectpass flicker and or cut off. Wierd thing is it was working perfectly sat. and sun. until it went out. I know the pumps cant be bad cause none of them work.
Heres a description of the previous owners installation:
If there is an electrical problem.... There is a pair of heavy gauge wires running from the battery to near where the drain pumps are. The positive lead of these wires is switched on and off through a 50A automotive relay that is dangling down by the pumps. When you hit the switch on the dash it actually just provides 12V to the relay coil and the motor current is switched on through the relay. If you are hitting the right switch and you are not hearing these pumps come on then you might have some sort of electrical issue. I suppose there is a possibility that I disturbed the connections into the battery terminals when I pulled my amps, but I don’t think so because the pumps were working fine when we did the test drive. There is a circuit breaker push button located right below the switch on the dash that could have tripped. It has never tripped in the past and this cannot be the problem if your fill pump is working.
If u have questions plz ask, I know its hard to diagnose over the net. but couldnt hurt to ask.

[jixxxer]

Could it be something to do with the battery, or alternator? I think the reason pp would shut off was because I did that with the just acc not the motor running, but the motor was running when the pumps would not work. Maybe a loose wire?

[east tx skier]

If you pulled a bunch of amps and such, I'd double check all of your connections to the ballast to be sure you didn't pull a wire loose.

BUMP for your question.

[Sodar]

I know that MC recommends that their ballast pumps be used while the engine is idling around 1000 rpms to take the electrical load of the pumps....

[jixxxer]

yea, gonna do that, actually I did, but I'll double check; wierd thing was it worked all day, then stopped and this was after the system was pulled.

[jixxxer]

electrical gurus??? I went out just now, and tried it again, the boat wasnt running but i put a battery charger on it. Still doing the same thing as it did when the engine was running sunday. Coulld it be the relay? What type of person could i bring it to, to check it out? A general electrician or a audio shop?????