wiring for bilge pump

[gwhjr98]

Question on the wiring for an Atwood 500 automatic pump. The automatic float has never worked. I am in the process of checking out the wiring to see if that is the problem. The pump has three wires. Black,Brown, Brown/white. The manufacture (larson) carried the brown and black to the bilge switch but the Brown/white wire is connected to an orange wire. My question is I assume that the bilge switch has an on(Manual on), off, an one setting for the auto float... How can I test the pump to get the float to work? Thanks

 

[Marc J.]

Re: wiring for bilge pump

I don't quite follow how it's currently wired GWH. I added a similar unit to my fishing boat recenty. I attached the brown to a constant (but fused) 12V and the black to ground. The striped wire should go to the manual switch, but I've got it taped up for now. Mine works nicely. I like the automatic operation as my bilge is closed and out of sight normally. If wired correctly, you can twist the knob on the side (to manually raise the float) to test operation. I hope this helps.

 

[gwhjr98]

Re: wiring for bilge pump

Thanks... that was my main question in that the striped wire goes to the switch. The manual process with the switch works fine. I need to find out why the solid brown wire does not allow the pump to run with the float. I will attach power directly to that wire and test the float switch.