It pays to check your wiring out yourself sometimes

[fat-buoy]

Just a quick story of mine that I thought I would share to highlight that it would be worth just checking stuff out for yourself for piece of mind.

I recently bought a second hand (2008) Signature boat with a Suzuki 90hp 4 stroke on the back and has the dual batts all set up etc.. All starts and runs ok but I noted that when I have pulled up at a spot for a while and restart the motor the sounder and radio would turn off... so yesterday I was checking the connections for the radio and sounder and all looked fine (albeit a bit dodgy)
Anyway a long story short I tracked the wiring back to the batteries only to find that the positive feeds from each battery to the isolator consists of a cable about 5mm in diameter including the insulating... even the link between the negative posts of the batteries is 5mm diameter..

I am amazed that the boat even starts to be honest and am glad that I started looking at why the sounder was switching off as this sort of dodgy crap can turn a good day bad very quickly...

I doubt that this was installed by a dealer as it all looks shonky and requires fresh cables all round...

Pays to look.

[timddo]

My nav lights were wired the wrong way - straight from the manufacturer

[lucee81]

I'm currently going through this at the moment.
My wiring is dodgier than a Tawainese ping pong show....
I litereally have a extension cord cut up and running a HDS, $4 wire running a $1000.00+ machine...
Who does that... obviously me but we are not pointing fingers here
In my defence i did buy the boat second hand and when wiring up my new sounder vhf etc i kinda ran out of wire and wanted to go fishing so i thought hey that'll work and it has and still kinda does.
I was efficiant enough to fuse everything though..... cause im that kinda professional

[WalrusLike]

I had a look at my wiring and the console switch bank has me puzzled.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335410554.537478.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335410852.750209.jpg

The bottom switch has a blue wires into it at the back but the dealer and I can't find any device it activates. Is anyone familiar with this brand of switch bank?

It has these wierd tiny wires on the side of every connection in addition to the wire for the device.

[Mossy247]

Oh man, Yep dodgy brother wiring for sure. I think I even done a fair bit of that myself. Never hurts to double check anything that someone does. Even just to see where it runs to etc so your not ducking around the boat trying to work out the wiring loom.

[Dicktracey]

Small red wires are LED display wires that light up when the switch is activated.
The blue wire may go to illumination bulbs in gauges either hooked into nav lights or ignition feed.
cheers
Dick

I had a look at my wiring and the console switch bank has me puzzled.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335410554.537478.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335410852.750209.jpg

The bottom switch has a blue wires into it at the back but the dealer and I can't find any device it activates. Is anyone familiar with this brand of switch bank?

It has these wierd tiny wires on the side of every connection in addition to the wire for the device.

[Jarrah Jack]

After spending a few years on here learning a few tricks then examining my various boats over that time all I can say is that most boats have dodgy wiring. Some are pityfull. I'll be doing mine properly over winter once I get some of those connections from Pererbo which he put in a thread not long ago.

Perhaps the last owner added the dual batteries himself hence the bad wiring fat buoy. Might pay to check any other attempts he may have made.

[WalrusLike]

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Thanks DickTracey. I will try a bit more night time experimenting.

The compass has a wire dangling which I assume is to a light inside it. I may use the spare switch for that if it's not actually connected to anything.

The compass is no doubt fairly inaccurate given its location right beside the electronics stuff.

One day I will try it out at the compass adjustment bouy if that buoy still exists.

[cormorant]

Has the bottom switch been set up as a "all accessories " on off switch? With one of your accessories turned on switch it and see. I'd worry if you are using a dealer who can't resolve what the blue wire is and what it does.

[WalrusLike]

Thanks for that.... Good idea. Yeah it's more a matter of they couldn't be bothered I think. But no worries they are too far from me to use again.

[WalrusLike]

In fairness I should add it was around the time of the tinni tackle show at ekka so they were flat strap at the time.

[charleville]

My wiring is dodgier than a Tawainese ping pong show....

Hmmmm! Not aware of that measurement scale.


Is that more dodgy or less dodgy than a Peter Slipper?



.

[cormorant]

If all the other wires are red then the blue one will likely be the earth wire which is required so the led lights in teh switches work or if teh switches are backlit.

If you want to know what the bottom switch does just follow the wires on either side ( if ant) and they will lead to a device. If they don't lead anywhere then you have free switch.

Compass lights can be a pain as they are often overbright. Compass is usually pretty accurate out of teh box - well good enough to find the mainland when in the ocean - yep head west.!! Most are wired up to the engine gauge lights so when the key is on the light is on in small boats.

Not sure how electrically clued up you are but here is a simple version

Boat is 12v.
Wire comes from battery goes to one side of switch . Red wire
Other side of switch the wire goes to light , radio or whatever. Red wire . This may have a fuse inline.
Other wire from light , radio whatever runs back to the battery. Black wire

Turn switch on and the circuit is complete

Now most boats run a bus bar. A bus bar is just a way to keep things simple. A heavy duty wire runs from each terminal on the battery to under the dash. That way you don't need a pair of wires from every bit of electronics going from dash to battery.

From one bus bar the red wires will go to switches and from the other busbar the black wires will go to electrical fittings all in thinner wires ( read cheaper / simpler) .

In fact your switch is probably set up like a bus bar with a single red power supply wire which then daisy chains to each lower switch?

[Grand_Marlin]

You guys are making me nervous

Cheers

Pete

[lucee81]

][QUOTE=charleville;1375964]Hmmmm! Not aware of that measurement scale.





didnt you read i fused everything
i will let you make that call... here is an example i scratched my head on how to hide the wires couldn't come up with anything fancy at the time so i got a hole saw and cut a hole in the battery box
But i am purchasing all new stuff tomorrow and it should turn out about as dodgy as Peter Slipper...


Nervous enough for you Pete