3 boats in less than 2 years, and now finally a new one with some questions.

[Old Ironmaker]

An electrical question from a non electrical guy. If you wire the LEDs to a switch and forget to flip it off or flip it on by mistake during the day can the LED's drain the battery. I like my lights on my ignition because I know they are of when I shut the engine down. I can't see the lights are on during the day.

 

[H@ystack]

An electrical question from a non electrical guy. If you wire the LEDs to a switch and forget to flip it off or flip it on by mistake during the day can the LED's drain the battery. I like my lights on my ignition because I know they are of when I shut the engine down. I can't see the lights are on during the day.

That's true. Pros and cons to each, but I consider that the same concept for any switch. Just like headlights. I'm not really concerned about that personally. The real issue is figuring out where to plug in these LEDs on the switch.

 

[GA_Boater]

Do you have an unused accessory switch? I can't tell much from the pic of the wires and whatever is shown.

Also a battery switch takes care of Ironmakers's concern.

 

[H@ystack]

Do you have an unused accessory switch? I can't tell much from the pic of the wires and whatever is shown.

Also a battery switch takes care of Ironmakers's concern.

That's where I'm stuck. The 2 accessory switches are to the far left. They do nothing right now. They said they were open for use. That's my confusion...... Why is there a wire on the middle, 2nd pole.... I don't know where it lead to or what it does. I figured maybe a terminal strip somewhere easy to get to.... Nope. Nothing on the boat like that.. Leads me to believe i must tap directly in to the switch. But that wire already there is killing me. The top wire is definitely the power as that comes from the fuse box below.

I have a battery switch i will install too.

 

[H@ystack]

No Title

Let's see if this helps. The middle pole in pink is what I think is where my accessory light will attach.. Like I said though, the weird part is that wire already there, and I have no clue what it runs to.

 

[Patfromny]

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious here but there are a few things I'm not sure you've done yet. Have you attempted to find where the wire terminates? It has to go somewhere. Have you counted all your accessories and accounted for them on the switch board? Bilge pump, cig lighter, fish finder, trolling motor, courtesy lights, radio, ship to shore radio? Just throwing some out there. Do they all work? If each component has a switch and the switch is activating them then I would move on to checking for old components that have been removed. Maybe the wire is hanging loose in the back of the boat where a trolling motor used to be? Maybe there are a set of lights already in the boat that aren't working? Maybe the switch is bad, have you checked the switch? Maybe the switch is already wired through the ignition? Have you turn the ignition to on and then tried the switch? Bottom line is that if the switch has a wire coming from it, the wire has to end somewhere. Without physically being in your boat noone here can tell you why it is wired already or where it goes. It unfortunately will take some time on your back or crouched over following the wire. You might have to cut a few wire ties and maybe loosen some clamps but we need to know where it terminates before you can get any real advice. I wish you luck. My first car was a parts car for the guy I bought it from. Instead of getting up into the dash and pulling the plug, he just cut the dash out of the car. I had a bunch of fun rewiring the dash plug into the car. I'll tell you that it was super rewarding having it all work (I was 14). I have found some weird wiring in some cars in my day. I would check the switch for things that might seem redundant like maybe the switch turns the float on the bilge on and off. Hope I gave some ideas to chase down. Good luck

 

[H@ystack]

It's a brand new boat. I think I found it. There is an sw2 connection that I think are for my 2 accy switches. I ended up wiring directly to the switch already just to see and it did work. I think the sw2 terminal was just to make it easier so i put it back as it was and getting the right connector.

Anyway, that's why I ask. If someone bought the same boat this year and did the same thing, they would know where it went. Once I get this wired up like i want then I could answer the question in the future.

 

[Patfromny]

Sorry about that, I didn't realize it was new. My bad. I hope you found it.

 

[H@ystack]

Sorry about that, I didn't realize it was new. My bad. I hope you found it.

I think after this "search" if I ever go used again and need to do this I'd have to strip the panel bare first. I can't imagine taking over after someone else does this. Haha.

 

[Patfromny]

I think after this "search" if I ever go used again and need to do this I'd have to strip the panel bare first. I can't imagine taking over after someone else does this. Haha.

Through high school and college I worked for a guy who restored Old firebirds, camaros, gtos, etc. Mostly Firebirds though. I must have torn apart 400 old parts cars in my time there. The things some people would do to these cars boggled my mind. We called them mad scientists. The one car that sticks out in my mind was the insulated car. Some previous owner had decided that if the newer cars ran at a higher temp so he was going to get his 67 Firebird to do the same. He used home insulation to stuff the engine everywhere he could. He also wired in a shut off valve on the upper rad hose after the thermostat. I guess he didn't realize that the older motors didn't like heat so much. The motor was toast of course and it was one of the worst sludged motors I have ever seen. It always amazed me how these wiring harnesses were hacked apart and changed. At least with a car, the wires are all color coded. Most times there is no need to trace the wire the whole run. You look at the color, let's say brown with a red stripe, and then go forward or back to the fuse box and look for it. I say most times because if someone had been there before, the color would change. We had a bunch of spare harnesses and would change the wire to the right color if we had to fix it. Lots of fun going on under the dash of an old firebird. Lol

 

[wrvond]

I think after this "search" if I ever go used again and need to do this I'd have to strip the panel bare first. I can't imagine taking over after someone else does this. Haha.

So you are that "previous owner" I've heard so much about!

 

[bruceb58]

An electrical question from a non electrical guy. If you wire the LEDs to a switch and forget to flip it off or flip it on by mistake during the day can the LED's drain the battery. I like my lights on my ignition because I know they are of when I shut the engine down. I can't see the lights are on during the day.

I rarely run my LED lights while my engine is running

The only thing that should be on the ignition lead is the ignition itself and gauges. There is another reason you don't want other things on your ignition, if something shorts in your lights, you blow your ignition fuse and your motor stops. Bad news if its at night.

To keep from draining your battery, install a battery switch and turn it off at the end of the day.

 

[H@ystack]

Through high school and college I worked for a guy who restored Old firebirds, camaros, gtos, etc. Mostly Firebirds though. I must have torn apart 400 old parts cars in my time there. The things some people would do to these cars boggled my mind. We called them mad scientists. The one car that sticks out in my mind was the insulated car. Some previous owner had decided that if the newer cars ran at a higher temp so he was going to get his 67 Firebird to do the same. He used home insulation to stuff the engine everywhere he could. He also wired in a shut off valve on the upper rad hose after the thermostat. I guess he didn't realize that the older motors didn't like heat so much. The motor was toast of course and it was one of the worst sludged motors I have ever seen. It always amazed me how these wiring harnesses were hacked apart and changed. At least with a car, the wires are all color coded. Most times there is no need to trace the wire the whole run. You look at the color, let's say brown with a red stripe, and then go forward or back to the fuse box and look for it. I say most times because if someone had been there before, the color would change. We had a bunch of spare harnesses and would change the wire to the right color if we had to fix it. Lots of fun going on under the dash of an old firebird. Lol

Yeah that's true. My pops is about to retire after being an electrician over 40 years. He's helped me a lot around the house and that is easy and similar to what you're saying. Oh well, I'll have my best answer soon..... The boat is 3 weeks old aand getting gel coat cracks here and there. It's back at the dealer to replace some decks and he said he'd just show me where to plug in so I can be 100% sure.

 

[H@ystack]

I just wanted to come back and give the answer. I had my boat in the shop for other issues they were repairing for me. When I picked it up, they showed me what to do, and it was one of the theories we had. The service rep showed me that it was definitely the middle pole on the switch. He also said we simply unplug the middle orange wire and plug in the accessory we want. he said those wires run to the back of the boat, but are hard to find and are there in case you want to tap in back there. He said it's impossible to deal with though and better just tap right in...especially since my lights are going under the console anyway. Then just ground to a ground strip in the console.