Newb Questions About 1984 Wellcraft Sportsman 228

Yep that was a day!! no pumps at all that day, but she floated still with a **** pit full of water!
after that my next boat had 3 pumps! I had two auto one manual, I also put the 2 autos on seprate batterys with the 2nd float a bit higher. This way if it started to leak at the mooring it would kill the first battery then the water would get the 2nd flot and have a full battery for the 2nd pump. hopefully it would give enough time that someone would see something was wrong before it sank!
 
My recommendation is buy a new lighted 6 or 8 switch panel. Cut a hole right where the switches are now & mount it there. Replace any questionable wire with MARINE GRADE wire. Don't skimp!

NAV&Anchor/off/Anchor (I'm assuming you have an AllAround white light.)

Horn (momentary ON) get a red switch cover for that one

Bilge1ON(manual)/off(both will be Auto)/Bilge2ON(manual) (wire them both AUTO to electronic sensor switches to the battery with in line fuses)

Wiper on/off

Deck lights on/off

Electronics On/off ( you want to be able to switch off the power to FF/GPS/VHF cables to prevent corrosion, ask me how I know...)

The Compass was probably originally connected to the Engine Key On power. If not, connect it to your Anchor light.

You didn't mention Fuel Gauge. They usually came with a momentary switch but an on/off is better for when you're by yourself...

SO...

The new question is "How is 12V power fed TO your switches?"

Do you have separate 12V feeds from battery, thru an inline fuse, to each switch or is there a fuse block fed by a heavy (8 gauge) wire from the battery?
Is the main feed fused at the battery?
 
Smoke, the switches I use are the on/off/on type you mentioned. Up position is manual on, off in the middle position and automatic in the down position. I also have a bright red LED light wired to the switch. When the pump on, it also turns the LED on, signaling me that the pump is running. That way if I have it in manual mode and I forget it's on, it reminds me to turn it off (so I don't run down the battery), and if it (the light) is on in auto mode it tells me to check and see why the pump is running.
 
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An indicator is a good idea...
Another idea, especially if you plan to moor or sleep on a boat is to hook up a horn or siren to a float switch mounted higher that the normal one and on a second battery... That way, if the maintenance pump doesn't keep up you get warned or woke up when things get serious.
 
SkunkBoat said:
My recommendation is buy a new lighted 6 or 8 switch panel.
Click to expand...

Done. You know, I was just going to do toggle switches until I read this...then it dawned on me how much sense it made! I'll know at a glance if a device is getting power, or not.


SkunkBoat said:
You didn't mention Fuel Gauge. They usually came with a momentary switch but an on/off is better for when you're by yourself...
Click to expand...

Yup! I have fuel, tach, water pressure, voltage and trim (I think I can do without trim). And I didn't even consider including them in my wiring schematic....told ya I was green!

SkunkBoat said:
SO...

The new question is "How is 12V power fed TO your switches?"

Do you have separate 12V feeds from battery, thru an inline fuse, to each switch or is there a fuse block fed by a heavy (8 gauge) wire from the battery?
Is the main feed fused at the battery?
Click to expand...

I have two batteries with a battery switch....please see the pics below of the cluster I'm facing. Disclaimer: When I looked at this crap, I felt overwhelmed. Instead of trying to jump in and immediately figure it out, I instead took pictures to analyze at home with a clear head. I'm feeling good again.

W2.jpeg


Connectors at the pos and neg with missing wires, more positive wires than there are negative wires!!!. That cream colored wire at the pos is going into the cabin....could be the lights...could be the stereo. Obviously, removal of the empty connectors, tracing all those positive wires and figuring out where the negatives are going is in order.

W3.jpeg


That little harness....:sad: That large black cable is the steering cable. I believe my first and easiest traces will be to identify all the thick black cables, as they SHOULD be steering, throttle and trim tab controls.

W1.jpeg


That thick white cable is coming from the cabin and running ALLLLL the way to the battery...nice...real nice.

w4.jpeg


The creme de la creme. And I have yet to find any busses near the battery. :oh:

Any input, comments, questions or jokes are welcomed!
 
destroyer said:
smoke, the switches i use are the on/off/on type you mentioned. Up position is manual on, off in the middle position and automatic in the down position. I also have a bright red led light wired to the switch. When the pump on, it also turns the led on, signaling me that the pump is running. That way if i have it in manual mode and i forget it's on, it reminds me to turn it off (so i don't run down the battery), and if it (the light) is on in auto mode it tells me to check and see why the pump is running.
Click to expand...

nice!!!!
 
looks to me like that big white wire contains the red & black feeds to the fuse panel? Maybe 12 gauge wire?(too thin in my opinion) Also, there are other wires connected to the + terminal. Are they coming from the battery also?(why) or are they feeding power TO devices?(wrong, should not feed From that terminal)

I would feed the panel from the battery (battery switch) with 8 gauge red & black wire. You should use a 30A Terminal fuse at the +battery post(or battery switch)
You should not run UN-Fused +12 feeds to the battery.

Remove all other feeds from the battery and use the Fuse panel to feed everything thru fuses. All Neg returns go to the Neg bus.
You go from fuse panel to center post on switches.


An exception is Bilge float switch +Brown and -Black. If the bilge pump is near the battery, power the float switch (with in line fuse) directly to the + battery and connect the Black bilge pump wire to the -battery. The Manual switch wire connects to the brown wire between the float switch and pump


here's a quick sketch

Oh and those are some heavy fuses in that panel. your circuits need 5A, maybe 10A for a VHF. Maybe 15 for the cigarette lighter socket.

Those wires will melt before that 25A fuse pops
 

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Once you get into it and figure out what you're looking at, eliminate all the junk that goes to nowhere, and start hooking up your new stuff it really isn't that bad. Be sure to spend a few extra bucks and take your time and do it right. It will pay off in the end. Also remember, K.I.S.S. Don't make the new system more complicated than it needs to be, you want to be able to look at it and know what it is if you ever have to make a repair.
 
And use marine grade heat shrink, marine grade tinned wire, and marine connectors. Keeping saltwater out of the wire and connectors goes a LONG way to making the wires last. It doesn't take but a few hours of electrolisis affecting copper wire to turn it black and cut down it's ability to conduct electricity. Pay a little more now, or pay a lot more in a short time to redo it. This is a lesson I have learned the hard(and expensive) way.
 
THEFERMANATOR said:
And use marine grade heat shrink, marine grade tinned wire, and marine connectors.
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:oh:

Now, y'all hipped me to getting tinned wire...but marine grade heat shrink? I didn't know there was such a thing. Now I know!

And I went to Radio Shack (going out of business sale) and bought some regular heat shrink connectors. Oh well, I can use them for something else.
 
Marine heat shrink has a sealer inside of it. When it is heated to shrink it, the inner liner turns to glue to completely seal the connection. It is some GOOD stuff, but hang on when you see the price. I remember buying it for $.25 a piece, and the last ones I bought 2 years ago were about $2 a piece. The problem I have found with the heat shring terminals is when you crimp them, you normally pierce the heat shring and leave part of the terminal exposed where the elements can get in. They're still good conenctors, just be careful crimping them. For your main feed wires, make sure and crimp, solder, and heat shrink them. If you crimp then solder the ends, it can still conduct electricity even if somehow you get a bad spot i nthe wire and it starts to turn black. If you just crimp it, that black portion inside the terminal wil lstop electricity from conducting, but when you solder it the black eelctrolisis cannot happen so the wire lasts longer(if that makes any sense, I'm pretty bad at describing things).
 
By the way, I've had good results with Harbor Freight heat shrink connectors. They have the glue in them also, and make a perfect seal.
Additionally, remember that liquid electrical tape is your best friend. As the name implies it's a non-conducting liquid that you can brush on any electrical connection. After it dries you have a 100% complete air and water tight seal. I pretty much use it for any connection I have to make, including covering the spade terminals where they go into the buss box.
Remember, you're not only trying to keep out any water, but also any air. Salt air is just as corrosive as salt water. It just takes a little longer, but the result is the same. So make those connections as airtight as possible.
 
SkunkBoat said:
You didn't mention Fuel Gauge. They usually came with a momentary switch but an on/off is better for when you're by yourself...
Click to expand...

I do have a fuel gauge (that I thought I had to replace...'nother story, 'nother thread), and it seems like it's grounded to a switch. Can you please shed some light as to why it would be and why it needs to be on a switch?

UPDATE:

I'm slowing, but surely working my way through it. I have discovered an additional bus bar that must be the original, and it is buried behind a tangle and does have heat coming to it....sigh.

The majority of the switches on that dash have been disconnected...no wonder why nothing works. As you can see in the earlier picture, there is a sad little wire harness that's running loose.

Also, my stern bilge pump (Sahara S750) isn't getting any heat, evidenced by the test knob that I turned. It may need to be replaced, as it was sitting in a block of ice a couple of days ago, and is now sitting in the middle of gunk.
 
I also second on the K.I.S.S method... I've got a complete re-wire project coming up on mine. I've got a few plans to run a dual battery system with a Automatic Charging Relay installed between the start battery and the house. Blue Sea Systems makes a really nice kit.

My thought on running a dual bilge pump system. Make sure that you run two separate switches/powersource for those. Just in case one pump goes, blows the fuse, etc... that way you have a way of running the back up one. There is nothing like trying to troubleshoot a blown fuse in an emergency.
 
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