Bilge pump wiring question

[jbing81]

Hi guys!

My neighbor just gave me a Attwood Sahara S500 bilge pump. it didn't have instructions with it so I'm unclear as to which wire is which.

There is a Black which I assume is the ground. A solid brown. And a brown with a white stripe.

Does anyone know which color goes to what?

Thanks
Jeff

 

[ReefRaider]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Brown should be for auto, brown/white stripe for manual operation. Black is ground.

 

[seabob4]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Delete

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Both of the brown wires are power feeds. As was mentioned, one goes to the float switch and one goes to the helm switch for manual operation. It really doesn't matter which brown wire goes where as they both serve the same purpose.

 

[jbing81]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Thanks for the input so far guys! What I need to know is what wire goes to the fuse block and which one is for the ground.

It has the three wires and I'd like to to run in automatic mode when the toggle switch is turned on at the helm.

Thanks!

 

[jbing81]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Ok, I think I get it now. So one of the brown wires go directly to the battery and one goes to the switch at the helm for manual operation. And the black is the ground.

I've never installed one before and the boat didn't come with one when we got it

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

No. Maybe I can make this more clear.

Black wire from bilge pump goes to ground lug to battery or ground buss bar.
Run a separate power wire with a fuse to one side of toggle switch at helm (3-position switch should have OFF, MAN, AUTO). This should be labeled PWR or +

Brown/white wire from the MAN portion of the switch directly to the bilge pump. This will supply power to the pump when the switch is moved to MAN position thereby kicking it on regardless of any water in the bilge or not.

Run a wire from the AUTO position of the switch to one side of the float switch. The other wire from the float switch goes to the brown wire from the bilge pump. This allows power to run the pump whenever water enters the bilge and lifts up the float (thereby closing the circuit from the AUTO position on the helm switch).

If you don't have a float switch, get one. Seeing water spilling out of your bilge is too late to try to remedy the situation.

 

[seabob4]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

jbing,
Here's your install instructions...http://www.attwoodmarine.com/userfiles/store/product/files/875/69370-c-sahara-pumps.pdf

 

[jbing81]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

lol thank you! I was just pulling them up. Up until now Ive been on the Blackberry and it wasnt pulling up the pdf file for some reason? But now that Im home I was able to pull it up, it make a lot more sense with pictures

 

[Woodbinekeith]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Perhaps a bit late but just went through this with an Attwood 500. I wanted to hook up the bilge via a bus bar and through a 3 way switch.

Black Wire is ground (-ve)
Brown Wire - for auto running
Brown/White Wire - for manual running

Black Wire from Center (control) of -ve Bus Bar to Battery -ve
Red Wire from Center (control) of +ve Bus Bar to Battery +ve

Black wire from bilge to a -ve port on bus bar
Wire from +ve port on bus bar - through 2 amp fuse - to center of switch (hot)
Brown Wire from bilge to one side of the switch
Brown and White wire from bilge to other side of the switch.

 

[Jungleboat]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

This thread has been useful to me too, as I've also just got one of those Sahara pumps.

My problem is not the wiring now, it's getting the thing to work properly...

Technically it works, if I hold it over the side of the boat and dip it in water it pumps, lift it out of the water and it stops. Cool.

But placed in the bilge area it never shuts off!

Sucks up just enough water to be sucking on air, yet leaves enough behind to keep the float switch activated. The result is that it just sits there making sucking and glugging noises, slowly sucking the life out of the battery.

When I just hold it in my hands it seems to work fine, at pretty much any angle. Raise the float it's on, let go and it's off, so it doesn't seem to be sticking.

Interesting point - I can manually use the little 'test' twiddly thing to turn it on or off when the water is low like that. Logically that shouldn't happen, I shouldn't be able to turn it off, if the water is high enough for it to be on - but I can. Likewise it can sit there off, but when I twiddle the float up, she starts and then keeps running, even though she's not pumping any water.

I've tried just about every angle I can think of but the problem persists.

Would a longer length of hose help it - or make it worse?

Is there some particular angle that works best? I'd presume 'dead flat' but that doesn't work at all.

Or is it just a cr*p design of pump?



JB

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Are there adjustments on the pump? Might be little screws or levers that indicate when the pump turns on or off.

 

[Jungleboat]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Nope, there's nothing like that, just the three wires and a round twiddly knob to lift the float for manual testing.

I've obtained some proper bilge hosing, though I doubt it'll make a difference. What I'm hoping will help is that I'm going to try adding that hose to the existing hose.

Hopefully, if I can create some kind of U bend effect or something, it'll be able to squirt enough water to switch off.

At present it seems to be causing the water in the bilge to splosh about in waves and eddies, constantly knocking the float into the 'On' position. I suspect some of that is water in the hose falling back down again while it's sucking on air. The current hose goes at a fairly steep angle.

With a surplus of hose, some of it laying flat, perhaps that splashed water will stay in the hose, giving the float a chance to drop?

If this doesn't work then I've no idea what to do with it. I suspect the actual bilge area is too small for this pump, hence the wave and turbulence effect.

I'll try the longer hose anyway, fingers crossed... It's just tricky to do, due to the tides. Where she's moored she's actually sitting on 2 logs and some old tires while the tide is out, meaning I can't throw some water in the bilge to see if it'll turn off. Obviously I can't leave it on auto until I'm certain, or I'll have a flat battery and boat full of water.

I don't want to give up on the thing as we're coming up towards 'rainy season' (monsoon) here. Potentially it can save me a lot of sitting in traffic and gas, just go empty the boat when it rains.

In the rainy season that'll be almost every day and heavy rain too

Fingers and eyes crossed...



JB

 

[jbing81]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Bilge pump is wired and working properly! Thanks again everyone!

 

[fish_on_the_deck]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

It has the three wires and I'd like to to run in automatic mode when the toggle switch is turned on at the helm.

I like to wire the float switch directly to a batter (w/fuse) so that the pump always comes on if there is water rising in the bilge... not just if I have the switch on or turned to "auto".

 

[jbing81]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Ok so I think I might have gotten a little ahead of myself...

Just so we are all clear, the pump turns on. However, it isn't exactly working correctly. First off I have it wired to a 3 way push/ pull switch. There is no designation for "auto and manual" so it didn't really matter which load wire when to which prong on the switch. Aside from the (+), that was designated.

When I have both brown and brown/white connected only the manual portion of the pump works. When I connect only 1 of the 2 load wires at a time the pump does what it is supposed to (kinda... We will get back to that in a minute). Anyone have any idea what the problem might be?


Now as for the "kinda". When the "auto" wire is connected by its self it does work but backwards. When the float is in the down position "dry" it turns on, when it is in the up position "flooded" it turns off. As if it wasn't confused before...????????? What could be doing this?

Please help
Jeff

 

[hawghead]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

Here is how mine is wired, just did this earlier this summer. I have a two way switch at the console. This allows me to run the pump whenever I want. Should be the brown wire.

The black wire goes to the common ground or (-) terminal on battery. The brown/white needs to connect to the float switch. The float switch is wired directly to the (+) terminal of the battery with an inline fuse. Both circuits that can power the pumped need to be fused. I don't have to worry about whether or not my switch is in the 'auto' position for that system to work.

Check out this drawing with the description I swiped from another thread.

"he brown fire running forward goes to the bottom terminal of the switch, the ground terminates at a ground bus (or your batt neg). the switch is fed from a 12V+ feed under your helm...
__________________
"

 

[jbing81]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

the model that I have has the float inside the pump. Its the Attwood 500.

 

[hawghead]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

it doesnt really matter where the float is located. Run the brown (auto) wire to the (+) terminal of the battery with an in-line fuse.

Run the brown/white (manual) wire to the switch to either the pull or push terminal on the switch, or just get a simple 2 way switch.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Bilge pump wiring question

At present it seems to be causing the water in the bilge to splosh about in waves and eddies, constantly knocking the float into the 'On' position. I suspect some of that is water in the hose falling back down again while it's sucking on air. The current hose goes at a fairly steep angle.

With a surplus of hose, some of it laying flat, perhaps that splashed water will stay in the hose, giving the float a chance to drop?

If this doesn't work then I've no idea what to do with it. I suspect the actual bilge area is too small for this pump, hence the wave and turbulence effect.

I'll try the longer hose anyway, fingers crossed... It's just tricky to do, due to the tides. Where she's moored she's actually sitting on 2 logs and some old tires while the tide is out, meaning I can't throw some water in the bilge to see if it'll turn off. Obviously I can't leave it on auto until I'm certain, or I'll have a flat battery and boat full of water.

I don't want to give up on the thing as we're coming up towards 'rainy season' (monsoon) here. Potentially it can save me a lot of sitting in traffic and gas, just go empty the boat when it rains.

In the rainy season that'll be almost every day and heavy rain too

Fingers and eyes crossed...



JB

Heres what I did, I installed a manual switched pump on the bottom of the bilge and an auto switched pump 3 inches higher on a block to keep the switch out of the puddle. No more flicking on and off.
If the auto pump switches on I turn the lower pump on.
Auto switched pump is wired directly to the battery and nothing else.