Kill switch installation didnt work

Nelson C

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Sep 3, 2015
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i attempted to install a universal kill switch on my 16 ft bayliner capri 1988, the switch comes with a white wire and black wire. Where can i connect them and the switch itself? I tried to connect the black to the green and the white to the red the switch worked for a while but later i noticed the wires heated up and the switch stopped working. I then noticed couldn't start the boat at all nothing would work and about 5 minutes later everything was working again. Does anyone know what happened and how to prevent it from happening again when attempting to install a kill switch? Thanks in advance for all the help :)
 
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alldodge

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i attempted to install a universal kill switch on my 16 ft bayliner capri 1988, the switch comes with a white wire and black wire. Where can i connect them and the switch itself? I tried to connect the black to the green and the white to the red the switch worked for a while but later i noticed the wires heated up and the switch stopped working. I then noticed couldn't start the boat at all nothing would work and about 5 minutes later everything was working again. Does anyone know what happened and how to prevent it from happening again when attempting to install a kill switch? Thanks in advance for all the help :)

Howdy

What engine and year do you have?
 

Nelson C

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Sep 3, 2015
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Hey thanks for replying, i have a mercury force 85 hp im not too sure on the year but im thinking its 1988.
 

alldodge

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Hey thanks for replying, i have a mercury force 85 hp im not too sure on the year but im thinking its 1988.

An outboard works different then an inboard motor. It uses a magneto to run the motor and grounds the magneto to stop the motor. The kill switch you want may have a Normally Open (NO) side and a Normally Closed (NC) side. You need to put the switch tied into the wire going to your magneto and the other side of the switch goes to engine ground.

Here is the key switch for electric start with choke
OutboardIgnitionSwitch.jpg

Now one side of your key switch on the Magneto terminal already goes to ground, the other goes to the magneto. Find the wire going to the mag and attach the white wire of the switch to the mag wire, ground the black wire on the other side.

There are two ways to install the kill lanyard, the NO side and the NC side. Install your lanyard on the NO side, this way if the lanyard is pulled (or hope you don't fall overboard) it will ground the mag and stop the engine
 

Nelson C

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Sep 3, 2015
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ahhh okay thanks so much for the help i think my problem was that i connected the white wire to the red one and the black one to the green one which i assume is my ground as it falls in place with the chart. Ill give it a try tomorrow and see what happens thanks again.
 

NYBo

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Welcome to iboats!:welcome:

You may have fried the kill switch. That could explain why you were able to get things going after a while.
 

Nelson C

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Sep 3, 2015
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Welcome to iboats!:welcome:

You may have fried the kill switch. That could explain why you were able to get things going after a while.
Hey thanks for the welcome. Yeah i think that the switch is a goner now but i have a spare i can try out tomorrow morning to see what happens.
 

Silvertip

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Sep 22, 2003
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You apparently connected a "closed" switch across +12 volt and ground. That is a direct short and it likely welded the switch contacts so they can no longer open to allow the engine to run. Just so you know, kill switches for outboards short the magneto to ground to kill the engine and the switch must be open for the engine to run. Battery ignition systems such as an I/O power plant require the switch to be closed which applies power to the ignition system so the engine can run. The switch opens to kill power and thus stop the engine.
 
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