Bilge switch wire hookup question

[jthor3277]

Good day -

I am in the process of rebuilding my entire dash panel on my '94 Sea Ray 230DA. I have replaced all wiring, connectors, switches and gauges. Sea Ray hooked me up with the wiring diagram for that year and I have come across a question. I have a Carling Technologies (648097) on/off switch for my bilge pump and the diagram does not show it going to the fuse panel? I have a brown and brn/red wire spliced to the switch. Where does the power source connect to? I have a water pump switch fuse but it's for my fresh water pump. Is there a fuse downstream or can i create a spot on my Blue Sea DC Fuse panel? Of course it would help if I had my boat but she's in storage. I have attached some pics for clarification.

The bilge switch is third in from right to left. The fresh water pump switch is second switch in from left to right.

As always thanks for looking into this!

 

[Don S]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Hook it up like this.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

That's what I pretty much figured Don. I was confused with the multiple wires to the switch. Just wondering why it's not fused on the diagram. I see that the pump has a inline 5 amp fuse and the ground is to the the transom ground buss. Then I'll just run a power and ground to light the switch to the fuse panel.

 

[Auger01]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

The schematic from sea ray shows a 5 amp fuse protecting the bilge pump. It is near the battery and the stereo memory fuse.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Yes i saw that. I wish I had my boat to go and investigate things. I was just curious as to why there's a brown and brown/red wire coming up to the helm via the boat system harness. I'll figure it out and thanks for looking into it.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Bubba I like that idea and gonna pull the trigger on the thermal fuse. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Auger01]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

The brown/red comes from the battery and fuse to the switch. The brown goes to the pump from the switch. I suppose it is this way so that it gets power 24/7/365 from the battery. It also looks like the switch at the helm is wired in parallel with a auto float switch. I hope that helps.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Does the switch get the power directly from the battery? So there is no need to connect it to the DC fuse panel? I think that's what I'm reading here.

 

[Don S]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

There is actually two power sources in my diagram. The bilge pump float switch is hooked directly to the battery. Then when you shut off the main battery switch, the auto bilge pump still works. The manual pump switch at the helm is powered from the fuse panel.

One note on fuse size, if you get a larger pump, you will need a bigger fuse.

 

[Auger01]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Does the switch get the power directly from the battery? So there is no need to connect it to the DC fuse panel? I think that's what I'm reading here.

If you are talking about the sea ray schematic, the answer is yes, that is how the factory wired it.

 

[Gradywhite3535]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Hey jthor I sent you a private message, check it out please

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Well I finally got my boat out of storage and was able to figure out the system. I hooked it up like Don suggested and all is well. I have just one question. Does it matter what gauge of wire you use to run off the battery to float switch? I have 16 with a 5 amp inline fuse running to the pump now. I think I might need a higher gauge wire as the original wiring off the battery is 12 gauge. The original wiring also ran other things and I just made an independent run to the bilge. Thanks for the help figuring this all out!

 

[Don S]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Depends on the size of your bilge pump. If you have a 10A bilge pump, every time the 5A float switch turn the pump on the fuse will blow because the pump draws 10.

The float switches have an amperage rating on them, you just need to know what your pump draws.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Now that you mention it, the pump says 14A max draw on it and I put a 10A fuse instead of the 5A inline earlier today. I didn't read the switch amp draw and I'll do that tomorrow.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Thanks for all the help! The system works perfect! It feels great to cross stuff off the list! Thanks again

 

[Don S]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Thanks for all the help! The system works perfect! It feels great to cross stuff off the list! Thanks again

You might want to start looking at the wiring and make sure the bilge pump wiring is 14 ga. or larger.
I also went to relays for my bigger pumps so the little wires on the float switch didn't have to deal with all the amperage. The standard rule switch is only rated for something like 7A.
The relay makes it less than 1 A draw through the float switch.

 

[jthor3277]

Re: Bilge switch wire hookup question

Don - I went through the entire harness from the stern to the helm and I was able to fix the auto function using the existing wiring. After cleaning up and replacing some connectors, the system runs as advertised. The previous owner couldn't figure it out and just spliced in a "home made" run that was a mess and was constantly powering the switch at the helm and killing the battery. I removed the hot wire from the helm fuse panel and I'm using the 10 amp fuse in transom instead of a 5. The gauge wiring in the boat now is 14 and I got rid of the 16 gauge wire that I ran separately to hook it up like you suggested. I like the relay idea and I am going to install that next. The less of a draw through the switch the merrier to me!