Wiring ? for dual ignition switch with single motor

[Flybridge3440]

Hello all. New to the forum. I have done several searches on the site and came up empty. I have a 74" Reinell 3440 Flybridge That I am restoring. When I purchased the boat, the gent (young kid) that I bought it from had taken the upper helm off of the boat because he did not like the looks of it. Plus the fact that his rather large friend had broken the ladder. during his removal of the bridge, he had cut all of the wires out before he realized there was a disconnect harness. All of that wiring is gone and cut out right up to the gauges and switch.

The gauge wiring is no problem. My problem is trying to figure out how to wire up the upper ignition switch. The boat has a single Merc 888. There are two ignition switches. lower helm and upper helm. Not just a lower ign. switch with an upper start stop setup.

Is it as simple as hooking the wires up direct from the lower switch to the upper switch so that the boat can be stopped, started by key from either helm? Just trying to wrap my head around this a little better. Any diagrams or info would be great!
Thanks in advance,
Todd

 

[JustJason]

Re: Wiring ? for dual ignition switch with single motor

All you have to do is daisy chain the keyswitches together. It's all low voltage so you don't have to worry about backfeeding a circuit or anything like that.

Welcome to Iboats.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Wiring ? for dual ignition switch with single motor

Daisy chaining can be interpreted as "paralleling" OR "series" wiring so let's be careful with terminology. If you parallel the two ignitions, you would need to start and stop the engine from the same key switch. In other words if you started it from the flybridge, it would need to be shut off from there. If you series connected them neither would work since the ignition circuit is "closed" for running, and "open" to stop and BOTH switches would need to be open or closed. Back to a parallel system -- if you started the engine at the helm, the ignition would be closed circuit. Therefore turning the lower switch off has no effect since the upper switch is still closed. You really need wiring akin to a three-way house switch or else incorporate a relay(s) into this system. Paralleling certainly will work with the "gotcha" of having to start/stop from the same ignition switch.

 

[Flybridge3440]

Re: Wiring ? for dual ignition switch with single motor

Thanks for the replies. I thought that it would be as simple as wiring them in parallel. I also figured that I would install some sort of "emergency" stops or lanyards in the system as well. I really don't see myself operating from down below too often but I figured that if we were out perching on Lake Erie, I would probably be down on deck. If an emergency would arise while I was on deck and needed to kill the engine, I would want to do that in a hurry without having to climb back up top. Thanks again.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Wiring ? for dual ignition switch with single motor

The kill switches could be wired in series with each other and that would work. Pulling either lanyard would open the ignition circuit and kill the engine. The actual ignition switches are more routinely used however and present the situation already covered.