Bennett Trim Tabs will not lower

[rcwiegand]

The tabs are fully retracted.  The pump runs when either bow up or retracting.  When bow down is depressed to lower the trim tabs the solenid clicks, but there is no power to the motor.  I have checked all connections at the motor and at the switches.  Anyone have this issue and any suggestions?  The boat is a 2004.

[jclark003]

At the pump see if the blue wire gets +vdc when hitting the bow down on either side. If so and the motor doesn't operate you may need to replace the pump assembly. Switch sends power down the harness on two wires depending on up/down and port/starboard. one for solenoid and one for pump. If you hit the starboard bow down switch, the blue (pump pressure) and green (starboard solenoid) wires are both energized. Yellow is for pump reverse and red is port solenoid.

You can also try jumping power direct to the blue terminal and see if the motor energizes. The pump has two windings so it's possible the reverse/retract (yellow) works and the pressure (blue) does not work.

Good luck

[rcwiegand]

This is a long story and I still need some help. There was no power at the blue wire so that eliminated the motor issue. There was also no power to the blue wire at either switch terminal when the switch was depressed. Both switches were getting power, plus the motor would run and on bow up and the solenoids were clicking when the switch was depressed either way. It was hard to believe both switches failed at the same time, so I pulled the wires off one switch and flipped it upside down. There was still no power to the blue wire at the switch when depressed so that seemed to eliminate the switch. I ran out of time and ideas. We left port and hit rough seas and after getting tired of being pounded I tried the tabs and they worked! They have been working everyday since. There must be or have been a poor connection at the switch. To check power, I only had a test light-not a volt meter-could that have been giving me a false diagnosis? I am worried this may become another intermittent issue and would like to resolve it.

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This is a long story and I still need some help.  There was no power at the blue wire so that eliminated the motor issue.  There was also no power to the blue wire at either switch terminal when the switch was depressed.  Both switches were getting power, plus the motor would run and on bow up and the solenoids were clicking when the switch was depressed either way.  It was hard to believe both switches failed at the same time, so I pulled the wires off one switch and flipped it upside down.  There was still no power to the blue wire at the switch when depressed so that seemed to eliminate the switch.  I ran out of time and ideas.  We left port and hit rough seas and after getting tired of being pounded I tried the tabs and they worked!  They have been working everyday since.  There must be or have been a poor connection at the switch.  To check power, I only had a test light-not a volt meter-could that have been giving me a false diagnosis?  I am worried this may become another intermittent issue and would like to resolve it.

One thing I missed.  When the switch was pulled and I jumped power to the blue wire at the switch, the motor ran, so there was not an issue with the wire between the switch and the pump.

[jclark003]

Sounds like you are on track to finding an intermittent wiring gremlin. The pump pulls around 18 amps @ 12v so any kind of bad connection is going to halt the motor. i would guess one of the wires that jumps +vdc across the switches has a bad connection. Hard to say Without seeing how it's wired. A volt meter will tell you voltage drop across the terminals when depressing the switches. From there you should be able to back into the connection issue. you can also throw a new switch array at it and see if that fixes he issue

[rcwiegand]

Sounds like you are on track to finding an intermittent wiring gremlin. The pump pulls around 18 amps @ 12v so any kind of bad connection is going to halt the motor. i would guess one of the wires that jumps +vdc across the switches has a bad connection. Hard to say Without seeing how it's wired. A volt meter will tell you voltage drop across the terminals when depressing the switches. From there you should be able to back into the connection issue. you can also throw a new switch array at it and see if that fixes he issue

This will be a winter project as I do not have a VOM on this trip.  I am hoping they continue to work for the last two weeks of this trip.  Thanks for your response and help!