Need to install a float switch...

[dhoylman]

Greetings,

I need to install an automatic float switch to my boat, a 95 Chapparal 180 SLC, 3.0L Mercruiser Alpha 1, Gen II. There is a switch at the helm that is simply On/Off, and from the specs I've found it is an electric float switch, not automatic. I ordered a float switch w/ cover (Attwood Marine) to arrive tomorrow, and I need to install it so that it will turn on and off automatically when the boat is docked. I have it at a slip for the summer and the first big storm hit, so I had to go and run the bilge pump for a while so my boat didn't sink. I'd rather not have to do that every time it rains. If I want to work while the switch is set to off, I'm assuming I'll need to wire it directly to the battery. Any advice or wiring diagrams that you all could show me so I can get this in nice and easy? I'd really appreciate your help.

Thanks!

 

[Don S]

Re: Need to install a float switch...

Here is one way to do it.

 

[littlebookworm]

Re: Need to install a float switch...

Just remember to wire it before your battery master switch so that it stays live even when the master switch is off. When we had our 2000Chaparral Signature 240, the live feed was part of the main engine bay wiring harness. Take a look at your wiring harness to see if the wiring exists. If it does, you'll just need to connect it to the pump and put a fuse in the fuse panel slot for it. Remember to keep the electrical connections high enough so that they never sit in the water at the bottom of the bilge. Hy

 

[dhoylman]

Re: Need to install a float switch...

Don, I used the diagram above that you suggested, I spliced one wire into the brown wire going to the bilge pump, and the other I ran directly into the positive terminal of the batter. I installed a fuse (not a glass fuse, but a regular auto fuse, with a 15 fuse), into the wire going to battery, as depicted in the diagram, however, when I tested the float switch, which I glued to the bottom of the hull in the bilge using a piece of wood, then screwed the switch into the wood, it didn't work. I don't know what I did wrong? Any suggestions?